With the conduct of the special voting in 14 out of the 16 regions, the battle line is drawn. With two to go on Thursday for the security agencies and other specialised workers in the Eastern and Western regions, all is set for the grand battle on Saturday, December 7, 2024.
This is one election that the election management body, the Jean Mensa-led Electoral Commission (EC) cannot afford to joke with.
The stakes are very high, and although the EC is a human institution, it is our prayer that Jean Mensa will be able to conduct a very seamless and transparent polls on Saturday devoid of the mistakes it faced prior to the voting process.
We trust in the capability of the EC Team to deliver free, fair, credible and transparent elections. Ghanaians are not ready for any excuses, and the EC is aware of the charge.
Besides the operational matters, we think we have a bigger responsibility to remind the people about the essence of this year’s elections. The elections are about our future, as the right choice will be the compass to that bright future.
There are two leading contestants in this year’s race; incidentally they both hail from northern Ghana. The presidential candidate of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP), Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia holds the key to the future as the alternative, one-time President, John Mahama, candidate of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) portends gloom and doom, as well as the return to the dreadful ‘dumsor’.
It will be an abomination to return John Mahama to power as he has been unable to articulate any vision into the future ever since he tasted opposition in 2017. Sometimes politics has blinded people to the realities of our circumstances, and that is why John Mahama who superintended over one of our darkest periods in our economic history, making us sleep in ‘dumsor’ for four years, still has quite a sizeable following.
We should not be too worried about the people who have become cheerleaders for John Mahama, for after all, the devil has a following.
We think the obvious choice at this year’s polls is Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, because he is the compass of our future.
We are not saying it, but judging from the tonnes of praises being heaped on Dr. Bawumia by members of the clergy and traditional authorities, the NPP presidential candidate should have gone to sleep.
Be that as it may, it is a free contest where the people have the right to express their will, so despite the high regard in which the Vice President is held, we must still go through the process. Put on the same scale, John Mahama cannot stand Mahamudu Bawumia in any integrity test.
Former President John Mahama can run away from a debate with the Vice President. John Mahama did for the presidential debate, but he cannot escape the integrity test as there are reports out in the public domain where he is reported to have compromised his office.
In the case of the Ford Expedition, the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) found him to have been in a conflict of interest situation. Again, John Mahama was investigated for his alleged involvement in the Airbus saga, and although the Special Prosecutor exonerated him, it was established that he was Government Official One as reported by the international media.
The NDC and its apparatchiks have not spared the Akufo-Addo government in calling it friends and family affair, although John Mahama gave out the country’s bauxite reserves to his brother Ibrahim Mahama, days after he had lost power in 2016.
Since the advent of the Fourth Republic in 1993, subsequent governments introduced policies that have made impact in the country.
Late President J.J. Rawlings introduced the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund), former President J.A. Kufuor introduced the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) and other policies, and President Akufo-Addo introduced the Free Senior High School (FSHS), said to be the most audacious policy intervention in the history of the country.
Now while Mahamudu Bawumia is out on the campaign trail outlining what he will do to promote the country’s wellbeing, John Mahama has not been able to spell out any policy intervention, except his voluntary 24-hour economy.