Ghana heads to the polls on December 7, 2024, to elect a new president and parliamentarians for each of the 275 constituencies.
The year’s election is not only crucial but also historic. It is the first time a former president seeks re-election against an incumbent vice president.
The National Democratic Congress’ John Mahama, president of Ghana between 2012 and 2016, is coming up against Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, the New Patriotic Party’s 2024 flagbearer and incumbent vice president (2016 – 2024). The two represent the most dominant political parties in Ghana.
Beyond on-the-ground campaign tours, the digital battlefield has been heating up. Candidates and political parties are leveraging meta platforms—Facebook and Instagram—to reach voters, pumping tens of thousands of dollars into these platforms to promote their campaign messages. But who is spending the most, and what does this say about their campaign strategies?
Spotlight on the big spenders
Between the two individual candidates, Meta Ad Library data shows that John Mahama leads the pack, spending approximately $70,219 on Meta Ads over the last 3 months (September 4 to December 2, 2024), which is the final leg of their campaigns.
Mahamudu Bawumia comes behind with an estimated ad spend of $29,920 within the same period.
Empowering Ghana, Upper East Regional Minister Hafiz Bin-Salih, and Central GRID follow, with Meta ad expenditures of $4,175, $794, $696, and $606, respectively.
An overview of the top 10 political advertisers on Meta platforms—Facebook and Instagram between September 1, 2024, and December 5, 2024, revealed that the majority of the big spenders on Meta ads are promoters of the NPP.
| Account | Amount spent (USD $) | Affiliation and description |
| John Dramani Mahama | 70,219 | NDC – Flagbearer |
| Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia | 29,920 | NPP – Flagbearer |
| Empowering Ghana | 4,175 | NPP – Deleted page |
| Dr. Bin Salih Hafiz | 794 | NPP – Upper East Regional Minister |
| Central GRID | 606 | NPP |
| George Opare Addo | 444 | NDC – National Youth Organizer |
| Yellow Ghana | 385 | IND – Disqualified aspirant |
| Kofi Koranteng | 381 | *IND |
| Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh | 340 | NPP – Running mate |
| *IND – Independent candidate |
John Mahama’s Meta ad expenditure was on 43 advertisements, while Mahamudu Bawumia’s expenditure was on 77 adverts. This suggests that Mahama’s average spend on each ad is $1,600, while Bawumia’s is $389.
Advertisements from Bawumia included events or activities undertaken as vice president of Ghana that did not overtly indicate his campaign for the 2024 polls. This could explain why his ads nearly doubled those of Mahama.
Ad themes
An analysis of the ads promoted by the two leading candidates on Facebook and Instagram revealed that the content includes appeals for donations towards their campaigns, updates on their campaign tours, and snippets of their major policies.
For a more focused examination of the themes of interest to the candidates, a keyword analysis of the candidates’ ad content was on the following terms: “Education,” “Economy,” “Women” or “Girls,” “STEM,” “Jobs or Employment,” “Youth,” “Sports,” and “Arts” in each of the ads over the past three months.
The result is as follows:
The focus of John Dramani Mahama’s ads on Facebook and Instagram over the past three months has strongly emphasised job creation and employment, particularly for young people.
The content of his ads has also strongly highlighted economic empowerment and development for women and girls. His campaign ads have also touched on the Ghanaian economy.
Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, on the other hand, targets education, particularly Free SHS and STEM, which are highlighted in his ads, suggesting that as a priority campaign message to voters on Facebook and Instagram. There also appears to be an emphasis on youth development and the promotion of creative arts.
Demographics
The two candidates’ targeting of the meta advertisement provides useful insight into which audiences they find crucial to their election bids. From the available data, it is possible to gain insight into the message targeted at the different demographic groups.
Of Mahama’s 43 ads over the past 90 days, six targeted women of all ages in Ghana, four targeted men of all ages, and the remaining ads were promoted to the general population.
The ads specifically targeted women, including the “Join the movement for women’s empowerment! Download Resetting Ghana and volunteer to spread Mahama’s vision for Ghana” from October 18, 2024, to November 8, 2024.
Sample shot of one of John Dramani Mahama’s campaign ads on Meta
Give the NDC’s projection of running mate Naana Jane Opoku Agyemang
Dr Bawumia did not target any particular gender or age group for his Meta ads.
Regional interests
According to data from the Electoral Commission of Ghana, Greater Accra and Ashanti are the regions with the highest number of registered voters for the 2024 elections. Greater Accra has 3,765,303 registered voters, while Ashanti has 3,295,274.
Eastern Region, Central, and Western follow with 1,810,421, 1,752,165, and 1,288,871 registered voters, respectively.
An analysis of data from Meta’s platforms shows that the two leading candidates spent more than 50% of their ad budgets reaching Facebook and Instagram users in the Greater Accra and Ashanti region alone.
The rest of the budget was spent on the remaining eight regions (Meta still uses the original ten administrative regions in Ghana).
John Mahama has spent more money on election campaigns on Facebook and Instagram in all ten regions.
The huge Meta election campaign ad spend in the Greater Accra region suggests significant interest by both parties.
The significant spending in the Northern region (including the Savannah region) appears interesting, given that the northern region is considered a key battleground in the 2024 elections. Both Bawumia and Mahama were born in the Northern region.
Again, although the NDC has consistently won the presidential election in the Northern region, the victory margins have been reducing consistently since 2004.
The information above could be used to explain the regions of key interest to the two candidates; definite conclusions cannot be drawn from it as it is partially influenced by several other factors, including the number of Facebook and Instagram users in those areas and the number of people in that area saw the ad within the time frame it was scheduled to run.
Ad impressions
The ads from the two leading candidates targeted all audiences 18 and above. With 18 being the minimum age in Ghana, this can be interpreted to mean the ads targeted all Ghanaians of voting age. The amount spent on each ad impacts the extent of visibility, which explains why John Mahama’s ads reach a wider audience than Bawumia. However, it is worth noting that the candidates do not have much control over who specifically viewed the ads, especially as that is mainly determined by Meta algorithms.
Conclusion
Information on how much John Dramani Mahama of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and Mahamudu Bawumia of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) have spent on election campaign ads on Facebook and Instagram provides useful insight into the key messages they are sharing with different audiences and which regions and demographics they find more relevant for their messages. However, it remains to be seen if this will translate to votes at the ballot box.
Source: Ghana Fact-Checking Coalition