For decades, the NPP has been a party rooted in strong ideological principles, unwavering loyalty, and an unshakable connection with the ordinary Ghanaian.

This connection has served as the bedrock of its electoral victories, galvanizing supporters from every corner of the country.

Yet, the results of the 2024 elections suggest that this foundation has been severely undermined, with the very people entrusted with maintaining the party’s link to the grassroots—the government appointees—failing to rise to the occasion.

A Breach of Trust with the Grassroots

Government appointees are often viewed as the face of the party in power, tasked with not only implementing policy but also bridging the gap between the leadership and the rank and file. Unfortunately, a significant number of appointees in recent years appeared more focused on personal gains than on fostering the unity and trust needed to energize the grassroots base.

Reports from key constituencies suggest that many appointees became detached from the struggles and aspirations of the ordinary party loyalist. Instead of engaging directly with communities, addressing concerns, and mobilizing support, some were accused of arrogance, inaccessibility, and neglect. This created a sense of alienation among grassroots supporters, who began to feel abandoned by the very individuals they had worked tirelessly to help appointed into office.

The Consequences of Disconnect

The political impact of this disconnect was clear during the 2024 elections. Party loyalists, once eager to defend and promote the party’s policies, became disenchanted. Many either stayed away from the polls or shifted their allegiance to other parties, viewing them as more attentive to their needs. Others expressed frustration at how issues that could have negative consequences on the party’s electoral prospects were overlooked further exacerbating the divide between appointees and the party.

The lack of effective communication between government appointees and party grassroots also resulted in poor management of key campaign messages. We failed to translate our economic achievements and policy successes into relatable stories that resonated with ordinary Ghanaians. Without the active engagement of appointees on the ground, the party’s campaign machinery lacked the momentum necessary to secure victory.

A Call for Introspection and Reform

As a party, we must take this moment as an opportunity for introspection. The outcome of the 2024 elections serves as a harsh reminder that government appointees are not only technocrats but also political representatives of the party we’re supposed to champion the party’s vision, values, and commitment.

Moving forward, the party must establish stricter mechanisms for accountability among appointees. Leaders who fail to engage with their constituents or prioritize the party should be replaced with individuals who are willing to listen, work, and serve. It is also imperative for the party to invest in capacity building for appointees, ensuring they understand the dual nature of their responsibilities—governing and politicking.

Moreover, the grassroots must be empowered to hold appointees accountable. Open forums, regular community engagements, and grassroots involvement in decision-making processes should become standard practice. The party leadership should also take the necessary steps to institute bold measures that will hold government appointees accountable.

Reconnecting with the Base

As the party looks toward the future, we must prioritize rebuilding our bond with the grassroots. The grassroots are not just voters; they are the lifeblood of the party. They are the volunteers, campaigners, and loyalists who carry the party’s message into homes, markets, and workplaces. Their voices must be heard, respected, and reflected in the party’s decisions.

The party’s loss in 2024 should not mark the beginning of its decline but rather a turning point. By addressing the failures of government appointees, the party can rebuild trust, restore unity, and reclaim its position as a party of the people.

The time for action is now.

Source: William Yamoah, Director of Finance and Administration, NPP HQ

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Their primary aim has been to support schools to improve the educational experiences of students.

The PTAs provide a platform for sharing information, discussing concerns and fostering open dialogue among parents, teachers, administrators and the school community at large.

Central to the aim of the association is to unearth the needs of the students and encourage dialogue between parents and teachers, with the objective of finding ways of catering for these needs.

For instance, a PTA often contributes financially to school projects, infrastructural development and periodic maintenance of a school since the government alone cannot do it all.

Advocacy

Teachers also form an essential part of an association as they, among other things, play an advocacy role.

They advocate for better resources, policies and facilities from local and national authorities. Additionally, many a time, teachers serve as advocates for parents’ interests in school policies and decisions.

Moreover, it is an undisputed fact that teachers in classrooms are in a better position to identify the problems of their learners more effectively than the heads of the institutions, as most students find it easier to communicate their challenges and needs to teachers than their heads.

Therefore, the current situation where teachers are excluded from PTA activities is unhealthy and there is, therefore, the need to immediately restore the inclusion of teachers in the association.

In addition to the advocacy role they play, teachers are effective in mobilisation, where most of them volunteer for various school activities and events that involve students and pupils.

In our towns and villages, teachers play vital roles in most community engagements that involve students. They include cultural activities and sketches on certain societal issues, which help sensitise the public.

Discipline

Again, teachers are at the forefront of fighting indiscipline in our schools as they mostly interact with students. Teachers can implement consistent disciplinary measures that can help create a more respectful and focused learning environment in school conducive to teaching and learning.

Therefore, it goes without saying that teachers must be reinstated in the association initially meant for parents and teachers.

Additionally, there is a need for flexibility in our school system as it is the only way to accommodate diverse learning styles, individual student needs and varying paces of learning.

Achieving this kind of flexibility requires involving teachers in decision-making in our schools to facilitate the personalisation of education, promote student engagement and foster a more inclusive environment, ultimately enhancing overall student well-being and academic success.

Policies

Now, when teachers are not involved in decision-making, the effects can be detrimental, as it can lead to a lack of buy-in for policies, decreased morale and feelings of being undervalued, resulting in lower job satisfaction, reduced collaboration and potentially hindering students’ learning outcomes as teachers may feel disconnected from the goals and direction of the school.

Since most of our teachers are at the mercy of policymakers because their voice is silenced, especially with regard to issues concerning themselves and the educational field they are in, there is a need for a collaborative effort to give them a sense of inclusion.

From all that has been mentioned, it can be concluded that teachers play an indispensable role in the various educational institutions and as such their voices cannot be stifled and their contributions cannot be downplayed.

The call is simple; we need teachers to be active in partnering with parents to ensure that our children realise the needed learning outcomes. In short, please bring back the PTAs in our schools!

The writer is a former Public Relations Officer of GES.

Standing behind a podium at his Cantonments residence at 9 a.m. on Sunday, December 8, 2024, Bawumia acknowledged the opposition National Democratic Congress’s (NDC) overwhelming victory in both the presidential and parliamentary elections.

This bold move, made in the face of internal opposition within his party, showcased the vice president’s courage, emotional intelligence, and deep commitment to Ghana’s democracy.

Violence and Political Tensions

The concession speech came amid heightened tensions following violent incidents across the country. Reports detailed the shooting of an NDC agent in Awutu Senya East, the death of a party member in Nyankpala, and a fatal stray bullet at the Damongo collation centre.

These events, compounded by widespread reports of gun violence at collation centres, had cast a dark shadow over the electoral process.

Against this backdrop, Bawumia faced fierce resistance from some NPP stalwarts, who urged him to delay conceding defeat. Many within the party hoped to challenge results in constituencies where losses seemed imminent, referencing a controversial “playbook” previously championed by the party leadership.

Defying the Odds

Despite the internal pressure, Bawumia stood firm. “The data I’ve seen douses any hope of a different outcome,” he reportedly told party members who opposed the concession.

His decision to deliver the speech stemmed not only from his leadership responsibilities but also from a moral obligation to preserve Ghana’s democracy.

“It was my face on the ballot, not those of the individuals asking me to remain silent,” Bawumia declared. “I will not allow my silence to be used as a cover for chaos.”

The eight-minute, fifteen-second address became a defining moment, halting the spread of violence and ensuring that the will of the people prevailed.

The National and International Impact

Bawumia’s early concession resonated far beyond Ghana’s borders. International observers, including U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who had warned against attempts to undermine Ghana’s democracy, commended the move.

By prioritising peace over partisan interests, Bawumia demonstrated statesmanship that earned him respect from both Ghanaians and the global community.

His private congratulatory call to President-elect John Dramani Mahama further eased tensions within the NDC, who, despite knowing they had won, were bracing for potential resistance from the governing party.

Breaking Stereotypes

Bawumia’s speech also dismantled harmful stereotypes about Northerners, challenging the notion that they are predisposed to violence.

By taking a stand for democracy and peace, he presented a counter-narrative: that Northerners are passionate about justice and governance but are not inherently violent.

“This was an opportunity to correct a longstanding stereotype, and Dr. Bawumia passed with distinction,” a political analyst observed.

A Statesman Emerges

For Bawumia, the loss was undoubtedly painful. However, his concession speech cemented his reputation as a true democrat and a leader who places national interest above personal ambition.

His decisive action not only preserved Ghana’s democratic integrity but also set an example for future leaders.

“The election defeat may sting, but Dr Bawumia’s demonstration of emotional intelligence and maturity has earned him the status of a statesman,” another commentator noted.

In the end, Bawumia’s actions ensured that Ghana’s democratic journey remained on course, averting potential disaster.

His leadership in a moment of crisis reaffirmed his commitment to the country, proving that true power lies not in holding onto authority but in doing what is right, no matter the cost.

Stretching along the shimmering waters of the Atlantic Ocean, this beach is not only a serene escape for residents and tourists but also a powerful symbol of the untapped tourism potential in the region.

From the gentle sway of palm trees to the rhythmic waves caressing the shore, Keta Beach is the epitome of natural splendour, deserving of both national and global attention.

Keta Beach boasts an unspoiled expanse of golden sand, soft underfoot and glistening under the tropical sun. Visitors are often drawn to the beach’s tranquil atmosphere, where the harmony of nature soothes the soul.

The breathtaking sunsets, where the horizon blazes with shades of orange and crimson, provide a picturesque view that has inspired countless photographers and romantics.

Tourists and locals alike frequent the beach, drawn by its unparalleled beauty. Some enjoy leisurely walks along the shore, while others relax in the sand, immersing themselves in the sights and sounds of the ocean.

However, the beach’s greatest charm lies in its simplicity, offering a perfect retreat for anyone seeking to reconnect with nature.

“Every time I come here, I feel an indescribable peace,” says Ellen Korku, a resident of Keta. “It’s the perfect place to unwind, and I hope it remains this way for generations to come.”

Complementing the beauty of the beach are the luxurious resorts scattered along the coastline, offering world-class hospitality. The Villa Amore Hotel, a serene and private escape just five minutes from the beach, stands out as a top choice for visitors.

Its peaceful environment, coupled with modern amenities and exceptional service, makes it ideal for couples, families, and solo adventurers. Other notable establishments include the Aborigines Beach Resort, Agblor Lodge Beach Resort, Emancipation Beach Resort, and Eli Beach Resort.

Each resort offers unique experiences, blending comfort with the natural beauty of the surroundings. Guests can indulge in fresh seafood dishes, relax by infinity pools, or enjoy recreational activities like beach volleyball and water sports.

These resorts have transformed Keta Beach into a destination for luxury and relaxation.

Beyond the tranquil sands and upscale resorts, Keta Beach offers visitors a glimpse into the vibrant traditions of the local fishing communities. One of the most captivating sights is the fishermen hauling in their catch of the day.

This communal effort is accompanied by traditional songs and chants, a mesmerizing display of teamwork and cultural heritage.

Visitors often pause, captivated by the harmonious blend of labour and art in this spectacle. It is a reminder of the beach’s deeper connection to the lives of the people who call Keta home.

“It’s not just about the fish,” says Joel Degue, a local tourism promoter. “It’s about the stories, the songs, and the culture that define who we are.”

While Keta Beach is a natural wonder, its potential remains underutilized due to challenges such as coastal erosion, inadequate infrastructure, and limited marketing. Local tourism advocate Joel Degue has passionately called for urgent action to preserve and enhance the beach. “Keta Beach is a goldmine,” says Degue.

“With the right investments, it could become one of Africa’s top tourist destinations, generating significant revenue for the region and the nation.”

Degue highlights several areas that require immediate attention: the construction of robust sea defense walls to combat erosion and protect the shoreline from further damage; planting coconut trees and other vegetation to stabilize the coast, provide shade, and enhance the beach’s natural beauty; building modern facilities such as restrooms, changing rooms, and shaded areas for tourists; and launching campaigns to showcase Keta Beach as a premier destination for international and domestic tourists.

“These steps would not only protect the environment but also create jobs and improve livelihoods in the community,” Degue adds.

Investing in Keta Beach goes beyond preserving its beauty; it has the potential to transform the area into a bustling economic hub. The tourism sector could provide employment opportunities for residents, from hospitality and transportation to artisanal crafts and food services.

Additionally, the influx of tourists would boost local businesses, from fishermen selling fresh seafood to artisans showcasing their crafts. “Keta Beach is more than a tourist attraction,” says Degue. “It’s an opportunity to change lives. With proper management, it can contribute significantly to Ghana’s economy.”

Residents and tourists agree that maintaining the pristine condition of Keta Beach is essential for its continued appeal. Regular cleanup campaigns and eco-friendly initiatives are necessary to keep the sands free of litter and pollution.

Community members have expressed their commitment to protecting the beach but emphasize the need for government support. “The beauty of Keta Beach is a gift we cannot take for granted,” says local resident Ami. “It is our responsibility to protect it, but we need the authorities to step in and help.”

Keta Beach stands as a testament to the raw beauty and potential of Ghana’s coastline. With its golden sands, vibrant culture, and luxurious resorts, it is a destination that captivates the heart and soul.

However, its future depends on the collective efforts of the government, private investors, and the local community.

As the waves continue to lap against the shore, Keta Beach calls out for urgent attention—a call to preserve its beauty, harness its potential, and unlock a brighter future for the region.

With the right investments, Keta Beach can rise as Africa’s golden paradise, shining brightly on the global tourism map.

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While there are multiple viewpoints, my goal is not to assign blame, but rather to highlight the chain of events that led to this outcome.

Whether party members showed up to vote or not, the reality is that the result is what matters in the end.

Per the results declared from 267 constituencies, excluding nine constituencies, Mr Mahama polled 6,328,397 votes representing 56.55 per cent of the valid votes cast to beat the current Vice President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), his closest competitor in the 12-candidate presidential election.

Dr Mahamudu Bawumia got 4,657,304 votes, representing 41.61 per cent of the valid votes cast. Voter turnout based on 267 constituencies is 60.9 per cent.

One argument that has gained traction is that NPP members failed to vote, contributing to the party’s loss under the leadership of Dr. Bawumia – making it look like the incumbent plied on the right path, but electorates only failed to show up.

However, this explanation is not logically sound. The question we must ask is: What led to the NPP members’ failure to show up at their respective polling stations?

Across several strongholds of the NPP, particularly in the Ashanti Region, there were numerous reports of members choosing not to vote. Why did this happen? The answer is simple: Many of them were simply tired of their party.

If they had faith in the party’s ideology and performance, they would have been motivated to cast their ballots.

Furthermore, those who were allegedly paid and bussed to various constituencies also displayed similar apathy, some even choosing to support the opposition.

This raises the critical question: Would these disenchanted party members have voted for Bawumia or any other candidate from the NPP? The answer is clear—no.

There were, of course, several contributing factors to the party’s defeat, including the weak fight against corruption, inflation, and internal political struggles within the NPP. In all, the NPP made the NDC party somewhat attractive over the years.

However, I won’t focus on these obvious issues. What is more important now is understanding that the loss is a reflection of the people’s discontent.

As the saying goes, “vox populi, vox Dei,” meaning “the voice of the people is the voice of God.”

This election result is a clear indication that the people were no longer willing to side with the incumbent party. A 56.55% win for Mahama, along with the NPP’s loss of a parliamentary majority, sends a strong message: “We are tired of you.”

Let the NPP not make excuses for this defeat. If people are unwilling to vote for you, it’s a clear sign of dissatisfaction with your performance. And to those who made the effort to vote, their decision should not be undermined.

While the shock of the outcome is undeniable, recovery is crucial for the NPP. The party must reflect on why it failed to rally its supporters, particularly those who should have been most motivated to vote for a party in power.

Nonetheless, the question remains: Why would anyone, with their party in power, choose not to vote?

It’s something worth pondering deeply.

Against this backdrop, the appointment of the next Governor of the Bank of Ghana is arguably one of the most far-reaching decisions the president-elect will have to make.

The central bank governor must not only have the required experience and technical expertise to stabilise Ghana’s economy but also the leadership skills and vision to rebuild confidence, chart a sustainable course for restoring stability and growth, and mitigate future crises.

Understanding the Economic Context
Ghana’s current economic landscape is marked by severe financial strain, with the Bank of Ghana (BoG) at the centre of the storm.

The next central bank governor must grapple with an institution facing not only immense economic challenges but also a precarious financial position.

Among the most pressing issues include persistent and entrenched inflation which is eroding purchasing power, worsening inequality, and creating uncertainty for businesses and households.

There is also the issue of currency depreciation, which is further eroding public confidence, deterring foreign investment, and driving up the cost of imports.

Third is the issue of Ghana’s public debt crisis, which has led to unsustainable debt levels that have heavily strained fiscal resources, with the central bank compelled to provide financial support to the government in ways that have weakened its own financial standing.

The BoG reported substantial losses in its balance sheet, raising concerns about its ability to maintain monetary and financial stability.

Lastly is the erosion of confidence in the central bank which resulted from clear political interference, opaque decision-making, and unaccounted actions, such as excessive money printing to fund government expenditures.

These have undermined the BoG’s credibility both domestically and internationally.

Need for Hands-On Central Banking Expertise
Given these dire circumstances, addressing these issues requires a governor with hands-on experience in central banking and a proven track record in managing crises.

The next leader must have firsthand knowledge of the mechanics of monetary policy, forex management, financial regulation, and institutional reform.

This crisis demands more than just technical knowledge – it requires an individual capable of restoring public trust, rebuilding the BoG’s financial health, and ensuring its credibility.

A visionary leader with practical central banking expertise is essential to stabilise the economy and lay a sustainable foundation for growth.

The incoming governor will need to simultaneously tackle immediate economic pressures while restructuring the central bank’s internal operations and financial footing to regain credibility and fulfil its mandate effectively.

The new Governor must be able to implement monetary policy to achieve macroeconomic objectives such as controlling inflation, stabilising the local currency, and contributing to economic growth.

The tasks of inflation control, currency stabilisation, and managing public debt require a deep understanding of monetary policy and crisis management.

Essential Qualities and Expertise
The next governor must bring a wealth of theory, expertise and professional knowledge.

An advanced degree, ideally a PhD in economics, finance, or a related field, is highly desirable for such a role.

A PhD provides the analytical and theoretical grounding needed to manage monetary policy and address complex economic challenges. It also equips the holder with critical skills.

For example, an advanced knowledge of economic theory and modelling will be key to designing evidence-based policies and making decisions based on sound economic reasoning.

Also, a PhD lends the governor additional legitimacy, instilling confidence in both domestic and international investors and other stakeholders.

Equally critical is professional experience in economic management, central banking, or finance.

The ideal candidate should have a proven track record of handling issues such as inflation control, currency stabilisation, promoting financial stability and fostering financial inclusion.

Crisis Management and Strategic Vision
Ghana needs someone who can quickly address immediate challenges while formulating a clear, actionable long-term strategy.

Innovative thinking will also be essential. The global financial landscape is evolving rapidly, and Ghana must embrace new tools such as digital currencies, financial technologies, and green financing to remain competitive.

An effective governor must understand Ghana’s unique economic landscape, including its key sectors and vulnerabilities, while maintaining a global perspective. Familiarity with international financial institutions like the IMF and World Bank will be invaluable, especially given Ghana’s reliance on external support.

A Call for Experienced Leadership
The incoming central bank governor must not only address today’s challenges but also anticipate future ones, steering the country toward sustainable growth.

By prioritising experience, expertise, independence, and vision, the president-elect has an opportunity to appoint a governor who will play a transformative role in Ghana’s economic recovery.

In the face of crisis, the right leadership can turn adversity into opportunity, positioning Ghana for a brighter economic future.

This decision will define not just the central bank’s trajectory but the entire nation’s economic path. It must be made with the utmost care, foresight, and commitment to Ghana’s long-term prosperity.

********

The writer is a journalist and a student of Financial Market Regulation.

Their futures hang in the balance as they wait for the release of their West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) results—results that remain delayed due to a massive debt owed by the Ministry of Education to the West African Examinations Council (WAEC).

For many students, the question is simple: Who cares about their future?

The cause of the delay is a GH₵118 million debt owed by the Ministry of Education to WAEC, which has severely impacted the exam body’s ability to complete critical post-examination processes.

Despite the marking of essays and practical components being completed in late November 2024, the process of scanning objective test cards has come to a standstill.

The scanners, crucial to completing the process, are broken, and WAEC has no funds to repair or replace them.

As a result, the release of the 2024 WASSCE results has been held up, leaving students, parents, and educational institutions in a state of limbo.

In a statement, WAEC clarified that results will only be released once all post-examination challenges, including the scanning of test papers, are resolved.

The Council is still awaiting the release of additional funds from the Ministry of Education to proceed with scanning and other necessary processes. But for many, the question is: Why has it taken so long to resolve this issue?

A Dire Situation for Students and Families
For students, the delay in receiving their WASSCE results means that they cannot proceed with their university admissions. With tertiary institutions set to reopen in a few weeks, many students are at risk of missing out on opportunities to further their education.

They cannot apply for scholarships, attend orientation sessions, or secure accommodation in university hostels—critical steps for those preparing to begin their academic journey.

Parents are equally distressed. Many invested time, effort, and resources into ensuring their children passed the WASSCE exams, only to find that their children’s future hangs in the balance due to a financial impasse between WAEC and the Ministry of Education.

For parents hoping to see their children enrolled in university programmes, this delay adds to the already overwhelming stress of preparing for the next stage of their children’s education.

“My daughter has been waiting for her results for weeks, and now I’m not sure what to tell her.

How do I explain to her that her future is in limbo because of a debt that hasn’t been paid?” says one frustrated parent. “It’s not just about her results—it’s about the opportunities she’s worked so hard for.”

Tertiary Institutions Face Uncertainty
The delay is not just affecting students and parents; tertiary institutions are also feeling the pressure.

Universities are poised to begin the new academic year, but they cannot move forward with student admissions without the WASSCE results.

The uncertainty surrounding the availability of these results complicates the admissions process, potentially leaving universities with empty seats and lost revenue.

The delay in WASSCE results due to unpaid debts raises larger questions about the state of funding and management within Ghana’s education system.

The GH₵118 million debt owed by the Ministry of Education is a staggering amount, and the fact that it has yet to be resolved highlights systemic issues within the sector.

At its core, this delay underscores how education—arguably the most important investment in a nation’s future—is being neglected.

As the government scrambles to find a solution, the human cost of these delays is far too real.

The hopes and dreams of countless students are being jeopardized due to a failure to prioritize the timely release of examination results.

Meanwhile, students’ futures are increasingly dependent on decisions that are entirely out of their control.

As the new academic year looms, the urgency of resolving the debt owed to WAEC could not be more critical.

Students, parents, and tertiary institutions are all calling for swift action from the Ministry of Education.

The time for excuses and delays is long past. The Ministry must settle the outstanding debt and allow the scanning process to resume, ensuring that the WASSCE results are released without further hindrances.

As the situation stands, the education system’s dysfunction is robbing students of opportunities. It’s no longer just an issue of delayed results—it’s an issue of lost futures, missed opportunities, and broken trust in an education system that is supposed to support, not undermine, its students.

Students, parents, and tertiary institutions are all left asking: Who cares? Because, for many, this isn’t just an issue of waiting for results—it’s an issue of waiting for a future.

About the author:
Kodwo Mensah Aboroampa (Amos Kwofie) is a journalist with Multimedia Group Limited, an education enthusiast, and a development communication advocate.

Surely, it had to be a mistake for it is unthinkable for a former Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP), with emphasis on COMMISSIONER, to be on National Television, advocating for junior officers to forcibly remove the IGP.

For a disciplined and hierarchical institution like the Police Service that demands discipline from even its former members, such a call for direct insurrection was shocking.

No sooner had yours truly dug deeper had persons who had worked with ACP Agordzo made clear that they were not shocked by his actions.

“Oh Agordzo, he is not correct. He wants to beat up Dampare like he beat his Regional Commander all those years ago”, one source said. This was a shocking statement; ACP Dr Agordzo once assaulted his boss?

Further inquiry showed a litany of bad behavior towards people in authority that eventually resulted in him having his rank reduced from Superintendent of Police to a Deputy

Superintendent of Police for Professional Misconduct.

Dr Agordzo is alleged to have Physically Assaulted his Regional Commander when he was a Superintendent posted in the Upper East Region.

In fact, the assault was so severe that he was charged with 6 counts of Misconduct, tried, found Guilty and subsequently dismissed from the Police Service.

After appealing, his sentence was changed to a reduction in Rank to DSP.

A source said “Agordzo has always lacked discipline and had problems with his superiors. I was not surprised when he was arrested and cited among the MacPalm coup plotters. He has always had contempt for authority; He is lucky he got off on a technicality.”

When Dailymail.com inquired about why he particularly targeted the IGP, the first answer was “Jealousy”.

Some even suggest that his perceive envy of the current IGP dates many years back when the man had not risen to his current post.

Some of his associates say he dreamed of himself as the one who deserved the accolades and societal admiration that Dr Dampare enjoys and had been hoping to rise to such height.

He saw Dr. Akuffo Dampare as a competition and hated his guts. One source who is a student of Dr Agordzo stated that “All his examples when he is lecturing are on Dampare and Police Administration. Agordzo is obsessed with the IGP”

Jealousy and contempt for authority are an extreme mix, especially when you add a proven track record of Professional Misconduct.

Yours truly is not ending at First hand information holders on the conduct of Dr Agordzo. We shall be filing an RTI request to the Police Service in the coming days to confirm the veracity of these claims.

Until then, stay tuned

The battle intensified after the Speaker of Parliament declared four seats vacant, further complicating an already volatile situation.

The dispute over “who sits where” took center stage. This debate over parliamentary seating, often more symbolic than substantive, grew fierce and had a serious impact on the functioning of Parliament.

In fact, the issue was so contentious that it forced the Speaker of Parliament to adjourn sittings twice, as both parties remained at an impasse.

But why did this issue provoke such a dramatic response? The answer lies in the symbolism of parliamentary seating arrangements in Ghana.

Traditionally, the majority party occupies the right side of the Speaker, while the opposition, or minority, sits on the left. However, after the Speaker declared vacancies, both the NPP and NDC claimed the right to occupy the majority side.

The “Cursed Seats” Controversy

The situation escalated when Effutu MP and Leader of the NPP Caucus, Alexander Afenyo-Markin, publicly described the Minority seats as the “cursed seats” due to the perception that the NDC had occupied the Majority side despite being the Minority party in Parliament.

This remark sparked further debate, with both sides accusing each other of trying to usurp parliamentary conventions.

The NPP caucus argued that the NDC should no longer be allowed to sit in the majority section, while the NDC maintained that they had legitimate claims to their seats, especially given their numbers of MPs. The delay in seating meant that Parliament could not function as intended, and the national agenda was left in limbo.

Now that the 2024 elections are over and the dust has settled, the Speaker of Parliament has officially recalled Members of Parliament (MPs) to resume sitting on Monday. But the burning question remains: Who will sit on the “cursed seats”?

With the NPP and NDC each eager to claim the majority, the Speaker’s decision on the seating arrangements is likely to have profound political implications. The symbolism of the seats may be as important as the actual legislative work Parliament must now undertake.

Political analysts believe the outcome of the seating debate will set the tone for parliamentary relations in the coming months.

Will the NPP’s Alexander Afenyo-Markin, who referred to the minority seats as “cursed,” get his wish for a reorganization of Parliament’s seating? Or will the NDC’s claim to the majority position stand firm?

In many ways, the debate over who sits where in Ghana’s Parliament represents a larger struggle for political control and influence.

While the symbolic power of the Majority and Minority sides is significant, the true test will be whether MPs will set aside party lines and work toward the common good of the nation.

As Parliament reconvenes next week, all eyes will be on the Speaker’s decision. Whether the NPP or NDC occupies the majority side, the hope is that the contentious “cursed seats” debate does not become an obstacle to the crucial legislative work that the nation desperately needs.

But the big question now is: Who will take their place on the “cursed seats”? We’ll have to wait until Monday to see how the post-election showdown unfolds in Ghana’s Parliament.

About the author: Kodwo Mensah Aboroampa is a journalist with Multimedia Group Limited, an education enthusiast, and a development communication advocate.

I started to take a keen interest in Mussa’s work in connection with the 2024 Ghana elections after I heard him deliver a presentation sometime in April or May this year on the findings of the polling he had conducted at the time of the 2024 elections.

His data showed Mahama and the NDC beating Bawumia and the NPP handily even at that early stage of the season. When, during the Q&A, I was invited to comment on Mussa’s findings, I noted that, though the projected margin of victory appeared to me unusually high, I had no data or evidence to contradict his findings, as CDD had not yet conducted its Afrobarometer (“AB”) Ghana Round 10 survey.

Nonetheless, I added that, based on our AB Round 9 data from 2022 (where among respondents indicating their voting intentions most, for the first time, picked NDC over NPP) and the regions where Mussa’s data showed NDC significantly outperforming NPP, notably Greater Accra, Central and Western Regions, I found Mussa’s findings credible.

In August, CDD went to the field to collect data for our AB Round 10. The survey’s findings were released in October. Once I saw our own data, my mind went back to Mussa’s presentation earlier in the year.

Our AB data, though not a pre-election survey as such, contained more than enough information for one to draw firm conclusions as to where the elections were headed. And they generally and strongly confirmed what Mussa had found much earlier. I began to follow with keener interest, in his regular poll updates on social media.

Sometime in early November, I reached out to him privately so we could chat more directly about his polling. Since his polling was more granular and focused specifically on elections, they provided additional valuable ‘apɔ’ for curious minds like me. For example, I was interested to know how the parties and candidates stood in certain specific regions and constituencies, the kind of detail I could get only from Mussa’s work.

As D-Day drew to a close, some of the details he was sharing from his weekly and, in some cases, daily polling were just astonishing. If I was a betting man and had bet on any of his data regarding which constituencies NDC would flip, I would have lost badly. He got everything right that I was unsure of, including that, the NDC and Mahama would have a near-perfect sweep from coast to coast, that my own Tema West constituency would flip, and that the NDC would be exceptionally competitive in Ashanti and make nonsense of NPP’s voter turnout and vote margin or percentage targets.

My conversations with him were very enriching for me. And he was funny too, especially when I brought in other people’s “research” or commentary that painted a contrary picture. When I asked that his projected margin of victory for Mahama seemed exceptionally wide, his reply was, “Prof, these are not normal times.”

How could I disagree? (I have attached excerpts of some of our chats from a week or two or a few days before the elections). In all, I got a richer understanding of his methodology and came to appreciate both his technical competence and his integrity. Now that he’s been vindicated, I can only say to him, “Ayekoo”!

There is a second person whose analytical model predicting the outcome of the December 7 elections has received far less publicity but who also got it dead right! He’s Kwaku Antwi-Boasiako, one of the thoughtful and analytical sharp minds on Facebook.

Unlike Mussa, KAB is not a pollster. Kwaku’s methodology could be described, roughly, as a multi-variable analysis of the key factors or variables around which an election would turn, with each variable assigned a weighting based on its perceived importance to voters in the election. I’m sure Kwaku can do a much better job than I of describing his #GhPVModel – Presidential Election Prediction Model.

Kwaku first launched his tool in 2020, as a presidential election prediction model to predict Ghana’s 2020 presidential elections–and all future presidential elections. For the 2020 elections, his model predicted 47.07% for the NDC and 51.14% for the NPP in the presidential contest. The actual presidential results were: NDC 47.36%; NPP 51.30%.

Here, click on this link to see KAB’s predictions

On 17th November 2024, KAB’s model, which he shared privately with me and several other selected individuals, predicted 51.25% for the NDC and 46.67% for the NPP. He had shared an earlier version of the model with me in March 2024, to roughly the same effect. You can still find his March analysis on #GhPVModel. (He didn’t share his November 17 results publicly because of the sensitive nature of the work he was doing for a client at the time). In his earlier analysis, he also disaggregated his results by region, and it showed NDC winning in all regions but Ashanti and Eastern Region.

An important difference between Mussa’s work and KAB’s is that, because Mussa does granular level polling about voters’ voting intentions, using statistical sampling tools, he is able to predict not just who will win but also by how wide or small a margin. KAB’s is an analytical tool based on desk research, that focuses on the issues driving the elections and how the two leading contestants are likely to fare on each of those weighted issues, using both historical and current secondary data.

KAB’s work also helps us predict who will win; the margin of victory or defeat is not the key thing in his prediction, though he does supply an educated estimate. I recall that, sometime in November, when I shared KAB’s Model with Mussa, his comment, based on the fact that KAB’s Model showed a win for Mahama but only by less than 52%, was that “that would be the worst case scenario for JDM.”

KAB also fielded many questions from me about his methodology. As D-Day got close, and the disinformation campaigns heated up, I queried whether and to what extent disinformation and misinformation could affect his projections. He was sure they wouldn’t have much of an impact. He thought they would cancel each other out.

It would be interesting to see, now that the elections are over, what Mussa’s exit polls tell us about what voters said influenced their voting decisions and how these match up against KAB’s weighted variables.

In a country where political types would rather consult occultists, prophets and mallams about their electoral prospects or fortunes, Mussa’s and KAB’s work, as well as the success of their respective approaches, are an important victory for the use and superiority of scientific methods and analysis in understanding voter intentions, behaviour and dynamics. I hope that we use these avenues and resources more, not just to improve the quality of our electioneering, but to enhance both the quantity and quality of data and evidence that inform our policymaking and public decision-making in general.

#PowerIsNotKnowledge. Pay attention!

Mr. Abroenye: Good day to Prof. and his three musketeers. I admire your loyal and frank friendship. Prof., how are you reading all these newspapers before you?

Professor Nkwantabisa: Hey! Mr. Abroeneye; long-time long-see. I thought you have forever abandoned Ghana for the United States of America. It is very heart-warming to interact with you face-to-face. I am neck-deep in reading these newspapers because they are pregnant with salient information about Ghana’s 2024 General Elections.

Dr. Basabasa: Mr. Abroeneye, ‘akwaaba’ to Ghana. I hope Donald Trump’s resounding comeback is not threatening you to relocate to Ghana. I am legally living in the states. Americans are seriously building their nation; it is high time we seriously build ours.

Mr. Abroenye: I primarily came to Ghana on 6^th December 2024 to participate in the general election. I have always been a great believer in Ghana. Our nation will definitely resurrect from the economic, political and social mess it unfortunately finds itself. The stars of Ghana will rise again in glory.

Opanin Wisdom: Well said, Mr. Abroenye. Hope, love and faith are key commodities that will always remain. We need to keep hope alive despite the systemic leadership failures in Ghana since the country’s independence from the British.

Mr. Abroenye: There are several parallel key lessons we need to draw from the glorious comeback of Trump and Mahama in the USA and Ghana respectively. What caused the electorates in these nations to offer these written-off and rejected political leaders unprecedented second chance?

Dr. Basabasa: I think Trump and Mahama are mere victors of circumstances. Their palm kernels have been cracked by the ever-merciful God. The prevailing socio-economic, political and religious atmosphere in USA and Ghana have also paved ways for their glorious return. The fallen elephant in Ghana, for instance, was increasingly becoming proud, insensitive and stubborn hence its embarrassing fall! It didn’t make sense to maintain an elephant-size government and flamboyant expenditure in a post-COVID-IMF economy. Ghana was already a debt-stressed nation prior to the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war yet the country was being ran as if the ordinary Ghanaian can always be taken for granted. The elephant consistently blamed COVID-19 and the Russia-Ukraine War for Ghana’s socio-economic woes. It totally turned blind eyes to the glaring corruption, political opulence, balloon public spending and the continuous implementation of policies that clearly needed revision. The elephant also poorly managed the sensitivity of some Ghanaians concerning e-levy and other taxes, the LGBTQ+ banter, illegal mining and a number of cases taken to the corridors of the judiciary. I think the excruciating debt-exchange programme and the so-called banking cleaning exercise are the straws that broke the camel’s back.

Professor Nkwantabisa: I have read several pieces, opinions and editorials on the 2024 elections in Ghana and the USA. There seem to be some common threads running through the post-election public discourse. Electorates know the truth and there comes a time when they will punish some political leaders for dishonesty. Honesty is always the best policy.

Opanin Wisdom: Democracy tends to look like an ugly demon when its focus is shifted from satisfying the genuine interests and welfare of the people. Democracy eventually becomes unattractive if it is reduced to building partisan and personal empires. In such instances, the best of political campaign strategies and last-minute political projects cannot savage a fast-sinking government. Like a shooting star, the centre of a political party cannot hold once it begins and continues to disconnect from the realities bedevilling the ordinary citizenry and the masses.

Mr. Abroenye: Just like Donald Trump, John Mahama and his Umbrella Party must clothe themselves with utmost humility and honesty before God and humankind. They need to also learn and relearn from their own previous failures and from the failures of the Elephant Party in Ghana. One of the worst past failures of both the Elephant and Umbrella Parties is their inability to pay attention to the recommendations in the Constitutional Review Commission’s report which was submitted to the Government of Ghana on 20^th December 2011.

Professor Nkwantabisa: Year 2024 is ending in the coming days. The space between 2025 and 2028 is a fleeting-tiny shadow which is quickly approaching a beaming light. The very people who crowned the Elephant Party in 2016 and 2020 with victory clothes and honour have just stripped the party of its glory. Like a resounding rushing and revival wind, unguarded victory is transient! Victory can only be sustained by humility, honesty, grace, truth, selflessness, purpose-driven, real transformation, and daily connectivity with God and humankind.

Opanin Wisdom: The early concession to defeat in the 2024 General Election in Ghana by Dr. Bawumia has already ingratiated him in the heart and sight of well-meaning people as a true statesman. The same God and Ghanaians who have prepared a table for the Umbrella Party can also prepare it for another party in the future. God is neither a respecter of persons nor political parties. We need to reiterate the fact that no person or institution is indispensable in this life.

Dr. Basabasa: The decisive confidence reposed in the Umbrella Party is a clarion call for transformative, visionary and honest leadership. Ghanaians are not interested in blame-game and excuses; they are only interested in a transformational-economy that creates and sustains an atmosphere of decent living and human dignity. No more create, loot and share. No more senseless loyalty towards the Umbrella Party against the common interests of Ghanaians. To hell with blind and unaccountable leadership.

Professor Nkwantabisa: History and recurring events appear to show that politicians and political parties hardly learn from their past failures and mistakes. They are often sober and sensible when in opposition but suddenly grow horns when exercising political power. There is nothing wrong with political power in itself. Political power only becomes destructive when its purpose is abused by politicians and political parties. It is said that leadership will destroy a person whose heart or character is not prepared for it. A corrupt heart and a dead conscience can never use political power purposively and sensibly. It is not too late for Ghanaian politicians to seek God’s face for a clean heart and a renewal of a loyal spirit within them. To all newly elected political leaders, always remember that victory is just a means to a good end. The glory of a political victory resides in its glorious and transformational outcomes.

Richard Obeng Mensah, author of If You Think of Your Opposition You Lose Your Position. The writer is an award-winning prolific author of 8 books, and over 250 articles and op-eds on legal and non-legal themes. The writer is also a Fellow of the Brew-Hammond Energy Centre, KNUST, Kumasi. He is also a pastor, lawyer, law lecturer, certified life and leadership coach, and a blogger.

Email: richardobengmensah@gmail.com

Mobile: +233 (0)246 556 774.

Blog: https://richard-obeng-mensah.blogspot.com/?m=1

Google scholar link: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=zh3DbrkAAAAJ&hl=en

Publication History: Authored on 10/12/2024 and published on the author’s blog on 10/11/2024.

Acknowledgement: The writer appreciates the critiques and valuable comments of his Editorial Team to this write-up. He however holds the sole responsibility for the content of this write-up.

In a highly anticipated showdown between former President John Dramani Mahama and Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia, the former emerged victorious, securing a win that has resonated across the political landscape.

However, it was Dr. Bawumia’s early and gracious concession that won him widespread admiration, capturing the hearts of Ghanaians and the global political community alike.

After a highly contested race, former President John Mahama, representing the National Democratic Congress (NDC), clinched the presidency with a decisive majority.

Mr. Mahama’s win marks a significant return to power after he lost to President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo in the 2020 elections.

This victory underscores the enduring appeal of his political vision and leadership style, as well as the desire for change among a sizable portion of the electorate.

In his victory speech, Mr. Mahama emphasized the need for unity and healing within the country, calling for all Ghanaians to come together to tackle the pressing economic and social challenges.

“This is not just a victory for me, but for all Ghanaians who yearn for a new direction,” Mr. Mahama said, his tone one of reconciliation.

His call for national unity is seen as an attempt to bridge the divide that often characterizes the political discourse in Ghana.

Mr. Mahama’s campaign focused on addressing the economic challenges facing Ghana, with promises of job creation, economic diversification, and strengthening of healthcare and education systems.

His ability to connect with voters, especially the youth and the working-class, played a key role in his success, as did his unwavering commitment to peace and stability in the country.

While Mahama’s win marks the culmination of his political journey, Bawumia’s actions following the results have left a lasting impression.

Dr. Bawumia, the candidate for the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP), is widely respected for his intellect, charisma, and forward-thinking policies.

Throughout the election, Bawumia’s campaign showcased his expertise in economic management and technology-driven development, positioning him as a modernizer for Ghana.

However, despite his commendable efforts, Bawumia did not secure the presidency. In a move that garnered widespread praise, he offered an early concession, acknowledging Mahama’s victory with grace and humility.

His decision to concede early in the process was seen as a testament to his integrity, a rare demonstration of sportsmanship/statemanship that contrasted sharply with the often-contentious political climate across the globe.

“I congratulate President Mahama on his victory and wish him success in leading our nation forward,” Bawumia stated.

“Ghana’s democracy has spoken, and it is now our responsibility to support the new leadership for the betterment of our country.”

This gesture of respect and acceptance was lauded by observers both locally and internationally, further solidifying Dr. Bawumia’s reputation as a statesman dedicated to Ghana’s democratic principles.

The peaceful and orderly conduct of the election, coupled with the dignified behaviour exhibited by both candidates, speaks volumes about Ghana’s political maturity.

Amidst global concerns about democratic backsliding, Ghana continues to serve as a model for peaceful transitions of power in Africa.

Dr. Bawumia’s early concession and Mr. Mahama’s win represent more than just a political shift; they reflect the evolving nature of Ghana’s democracy.

This election season, although marred by economic challenges, has provided a platform for political dialogue and civic engagement.

Both Mahama’s victory and Bawumia’s concession are seen as pivotal moments that reinforce the strength and resilience of Ghanaian democracy.

As Mahama begins his second term, the country faces significant challenges, including an economy grappling with inflation, unemployment, and public debt.

However, Ghanaians remain hopeful, believing that their new leadership will rise to the occasion and steer the country toward prosperity.

Meanwhile, Bawumia’s continued presence in the political sphere promises a strong opposition that will keep the government accountable.

Already, transition is ongoing which is centered on rebuilding the economy and addressing the urgent needs of the Ghanaian people.

Meanwhile, Dr. Bawumia’s position within the NPP and his future role in the country’s political landscape will continue to spark speculation.

Despite the loss, Dr. Bawumia’s actions have undoubtedly earned him respect and admiration, making him a key player in Ghana’s political future.

Ultimately, the 2024 elections have proven that, in Ghana, politics can be both competitive and civil, with the country’s democracy emerging stronger than ever.

About the Author
Kodwo Mensah Aboroampa is a journalist with the Multimedia Group Limited, Education Enthusiast and a Development Communication Advocate.

The determination of President Nana Akufo-Addo to use all the means of state power at his disposal to deny you any chance of a free, fair and transparent election that would allow the electorate to voluntarily choose their next President was self-evident in rhetoric, action and deed even to the last hour of the vote.

The wise decision of the Ghanaian electorate in electing you with a massive vote in the first round of voting as our President was a demonstration of their determination to disabuse the minds of the political elite, deep state apparatus, the incumbent government and its presidential candidate of the presumption that the ordinary Ghanaian is a zombified yokel without common sense to make impassioned decisions based on his national self-interest in the face of incumbency incentives dangled before him just before elections.

The purposeful decision of the Ghanaian electorate not to create any situation for a run-off Presidential election shows the appreciation of the electorate of the dynamics of politics when faced with a government which has wantonly abused the trust they placed in it almost eight years to the date of the election on 7 December 2024.

The fact that the Ghanaian electorate made you, John Dramani Mahama, President-elect, the beneficiary of their decision and vote underscores their belief that you have learnt lessons from past mistakes as President of Ghana and they can trust you to clean the mess the President Akufo-Addo/Bawumia government has accumulated despite the promises and hopes held out to Ghanaians when they gave the pair the Presidency with their votes eight years ago.

President-elect, John Dramani Mahama, I congratulate you with all my mind, heart, and soul for your perseverance and for this victory that will allow you to make a positive and beneficial impact on the lives of the ordinary citizens on the streets as President of the Republic of Ghana. There is great enthusiasm and hope in the air for the people of Ghana, the ECOWAS sub-region and Africa in general for the peaceful election and change of government at the ballot box as portending an African renaissance of good governance under your leadership.

I have no doubt that as the President-elect you are aware that the people of Ghana expect your new government to conduct an audit of what brought the economy of Ghana into a mess and generated intense suffering for the ordinary Ghanaian while the government and its political elite lived a good life. You promised them to open the books to have the people informed of how their resources were used during the past eight years to instil probity, transparency and accountability in Government as demanded by the 1992 Constitution.

Your victory is mainly due to the confidence the people have in you to entrust to you their mandate to clean the ongoing economic mess and get our looted monies back to the Republic of Ghana in the shortest possible time. I pray that upon your assumption of office on January 7, 2025, you will as the President of Ghana with your Government, and the new Parliament of Ghana reciprocate the trust and confidence reposed in you at these elections by getting our looted monies back in the shortest possible time. The Agyapa Royalties Transactions which Parliament was promised on oath in 2021 will be investigated under the Nana Akufo-Addo/Bawumia government is still waiting for your government. Ghanaians are watching what kind of clean unsullied institutions you will use to fight corruption and economic crimes.

It is my hope that in endeavouring to fulfil your promises to the people of Ghana, particularly in auditing the past you will use state institutions that are independent, impartial, and professional in the discharge of their assignments underpinned by the presumption of innocence which every Ghanaian is entitled to under the 1992 Constitution. Fanfare and trials in the court of public opinion demean professionalism in auditing and investigations as instruments of impartial justice.

The landslide victory you were given at the polls exhibits the trust and the expectations of the electorate in and from you. May your experience, lessons learnt from the past, and diligence enable you to carry all Ghanaians along as their President including those who did not vote for you. This is the only way for you to leave a legacy of a government determined to achieve the common purpose of rebuilding a strong, motivated and united Ghana that will demonstrate the expected leadership on the African continent and the world at large. May God guide, guard, and bless you in the difficult task ahead to always put Ghana First.

Before his mother could respond, Adrian answered, “I haven’t eaten the school food since class two.” When I pressed for a reason, he explained, “The food is tasteless and not nutritious. Many of my classmates who used to eat it often fell sick. In my class of 51 students, only eight eat the food regularly.”

Shocked by this revelation, I decided to investigate further by visiting Adrian’s school. The headmistress, Lucia Boateng (not her real name), who spoke to me anonymously, confirmed Adrian’s account.

“In today’s Ghana, how can you expect someone to prepare a whole meal for just GH₵1.20?” she asked. “How is that even possible? Without investigation, you can already see the problem starts with the budgeted amount. These days, how much does a ball of kenkey cost? How much is an egg?”.

Madam Lucia went on to reveal her concerns. “I’ve had countless PTA meetings urging parents not to let their children eat the school meals because I, as the headmistress, cannot guarantee the quality of the food. We teachers are supposed to taste the food before it’s served, but I can’t do it. I can count the number of times I’ve risked tasting it. We’re deeply worried about the quality being served.”

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), a growing child aged 4 to 8 needs 19 grams of protein daily. This equates to at least two or three eggs per day, with each egg containing about 6 to 7 grams of protein. How many eggs or other sources of protein are included in these meals?

To understand the meal preparation process and its nutritional value, I followed Miriam Onyinah (not her real name), a caterer for the school feeding programme in the Kpone Katamanso Municipality. She agreed to share the details as long as her identity and school remained anonymous.

At 6:15 AM on a Monday, December 9, we headed to Ashaiman Municipal Market. Her task was to feed 300 out of over 600 students in her school. With GH₵360 allocated for the day, we began shopping.

A single medium-sized egg cost GH₵2.50. Ideally, to meet WHO’s protein requirement, she should have bought 600 eggs for the 300 children, totalling at least GH₵1,500, far beyond her budget. Instead, she managed to buy only 40 eggs for GH₵100.

With GH₵260 left, she purchased three bowls of rice at GH₵70 each, bringing the total to GH₵210. The remaining GH₵40 went toward vegetable oil, a few tomatoes, and some onions. Her budget was exhausted, and she hadn’t bought gas, water, fish, or vegetables. To make the jollof rice somewhat palatable, she used red oil and powdered shrimp.

Back in her kitchen, I watched with eagle eyes as she prepared the meal, heavily seasoning the rice and mashing the eggs to spread the protein. By 12:00 PM, the children lined up in front of their classroom block, waiting for their hot meal: a scoop of rice per child, without fish or stew. We counted 248 students who received a portion; the last child got virtually nothing.

I asked 10-year-old Halima Mohammed about the meal she had just eaten. “It wasn’t tasty, it wasn’t sweet, there was no fish, and the portion was too small. I could have eaten three times that amount, but the food ran out. I didn’t eat before coming to school because my mother is sick and doesn’t have money.”

Other children brought food from home. Ivan Gray, a class five pupil, told me, “I eat food my mother prepares. I don’t eat the school food because it’s not nice. The first time I ate it, I got sick, so my father told me never to eat it again.”

This grim picture is the norm across basic schools nationwide. Launched in 2005, the school feeding programme aims to provide a daily hot meal to public basic school pupils, ensuring they stay in school and focus on their studies rather than hunger.

In its 2024 budget, the government claimed the programme served over 3.8 million children in 10,000 schools, with GH₵5.4 billion allocated for social protection initiatives, including school feeding. Yet, many pupils still go without adequate meals.

During the 2024 election campaign, both major political parties raised some level of concern over this issue. The NDC promised to increase feeding grants, ensure timely payments, and implement reforms like decentralising management and using geographical data to expand the programme to deprived areas.

In contrast, the NPP’s 2024 manifesto highlighted an increase in beneficiaries from 1.6 million in 2016 to over 4 million in 2024 but offered no concrete plans for improvement.

Dr Clement Apaak, a member of the NDC’s education committee, assured me in an interview that the party is committed to enhancing conditions in basic schools nationwide.

However, for pupils like Adrian Kay and Halima Mohammed, these promises mean little unless the feeding grant is increased and the meals meet proper nutritional standards.

According to parents, caterers, and nutritionists, the current allocation of GH₵1.20 per child is woefully inadequate for preparing a nutritious meal.

Currently, the Ghana School Feeding Secretariat spends about GH₵4 million daily to feed 1.7 million pupils across 4,881 schools. Yet, the meals served lack both quality and quantity, raising serious concerns about whether taxpayers are getting value for money.

Dissatisfied caterers, fearful of backlash from the government, are calling for an increase in the feeding grant. As children reject the poor-quality food, caterers are forced to cut corners even further.

A nutritionist, Akua Asuamah Tawiah, told JoyNews that a nutrition-friendly school initiative by the government is being rolled out to assess whether children are receiving the required nutrition. However, she noted that since the programme’s inception, private schools seem to be performing better in serving nutritious meals to pupils.

“What the nutrition-friendly school initiative does is that we have experts from the health sector, including nutritionists, who go around educating caterers on the value of nutrients that the kids need. We taste the foods and examine the ingredients. If, after tasting, we realise the ingredients are lacking, we don’t award the school a certificate as a nutrition-friendly school.” she told me.

According to her, the initiative has shown a stark contrast: private schools provide more nutritious meals than public schools, largely because parents in private institutions pay higher fees.

She urged the government to increase the budgetary allocation for the school feeding programme to ensure children receive the essential nutrition they need to grow and thrive.

While officials of Ghana’s School Feeding Programme remain silent on the inadequacy of the current budget, it is clear that the meagre funds are undermining the programme’s effectiveness. This lack of resources deprives children of the nutrients crucial for healthy growth and academic success. Without immediate action, the nation risks compromising the potential of its future leaders.

I therefore ask, isn’t it time for a complete overhaul of Ghana’s school feeding programme? With GH₵4 million of taxpayer money spent daily, the government, especially the new NDC administration, must ensure that children receive meals that nourish both their bodies and minds while keeping them in school. Anything less jeopardizes not only their health but also the nation’s future.

First off, hearty congratulations on what is already shaping up to be a historic return to the highest office of the land. Even before the Electoral Commission officially stamps its seal on the results, the concession by your main contender, H.E. Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, underscores the clarity of the people’s choice. Sir, the road ahead is both promising and daunting. As we celebrate your return, it’s imperative to take stock of the monumental task awaiting your stewardship.

Your victory, while significant, is not a loud chorus of unwavering love for your person or policies. It is, rather, a stark indictment of the current administration’s failures. The electorate has handed you the reins, not out of romantic nostalgia for the days of dumsor or a craving for infrastructural debates, but as an act of desperation. The people’s fury at corruption, mismanagement, and unfulfilled promises has channeled their votes your way.

This is not blind faith; it is an act of protest. You, Mr. President, are the beneficiary of their anger and hope for redemption. The stakes could not be higher.

Your previous tenure was not without its missteps. The tag of “incompetence” haunted your administration, a label your political opponents wielded skillfully. Yet, time, as the wise say, is the ultimate arbiter. The very failings that once defined you have been dwarfed by the abyss into which the outgoing administration plunged the nation. From the depths of economic crises to the erosion of public trust, the bar was lowered to an unimaginable level, painting you as a saint by comparison.

But sainthood, however undeserved or thrust upon, comes with expectations. This second chance is not a blank check. It’s a lifeline cast by a disillusioned populace, a mandate to not only right the wrongs of the present but also to prove that you are not the man many once doubted.

This mandate is not yours to squander, Sir. Every step you take, every policy you roll out, will be scrutinised in a harsh light. The people are not looking for excuses or passing blame—they want results. The fight against corruption must be more than lip service; it must be swift and decisive. The economy, battered and bruised, needs urgent intervention. Jobs must be created, systems repaired, and confidence restored.

Your party, too, must recognize its position. This victory is not a ringing endorsement of its ideals. It is a second chance to rebuild a relationship with the electorate. The voter who queued in the blistering sun to make their voice heard did so not out of loyalty to your colors but out of desperation for something better.

Your redemption story is already being written, but the ending remains uncertain. Will you rise to the occasion, using this second chance as a springboard for greatness, or will history repeat itself in a tragic loop? The Ghanaian people have shown remarkable resilience and patience, but that patience is finite.
We are a nation in need of healing—a healing that begins with leadership that listens, understands, and acts. Your role, Mr. President, is to embody the change the people demand. To be the leader who understands that every decision made in the Jubilee House reverberates through the markets of Makola, the classrooms of Tamale, and the hospitals of Cape Coast.

As you prepare to be sworn in, remember that this moment is bigger than politics. It’s bigger than you or your party. It’s about people who have been battered by the tides of incompetence and are now looking to you to anchor them in calmer waters.

Be the leader who not only builds roads and bridges but also bridges the trust gap between the government and the governed. Be the leader who empowers the youth, fortifies our institutions, and restores the dignity of public service.

Sir, you cannot afford to fail.

The spotlight is on you, brighter than it has ever been. Ghanaians are watching, not with awe, but with skepticism. Prove them wrong, Mr. President. Show them that this second chance was not a mistake.
In your hands lies the opportunity to transform vindication into a legacy of leadership. May wisdom, humility, and a resolute spirit guide you on this arduous but necessary journey.

Yours in hope,

Nii Okantah Ankrah

This pivotal moment signals not just a change in leadership but a deeper transformation in Ghana’s democratic trajectory.

For a country known for its robust democracy and peaceful transfers of power, these elections reaffirm the strength of the people’s voice and their resolve to demand leadership that prioritizes their welfare.

1. A Mandate for Change

The 2024 elections were a referendum on the performance of the outgoing New Patriotic Party (NPP) government led by President Nana Akufo-Addo. Despite initial successes in areas like education, the government faced mounting criticism for economic hardships, corruption, and environmental degradation.

Economic Struggles
Rising inflation, a depreciating cedi, and soaring public debt had a tangible impact on Ghanaians’ daily lives. The austerity measures tied to an International Monetary Fund (IMF) bailout exacerbated these challenges, with many citizens feeling the economic squeeze. Jobs were scarce, businesses struggled, and purchasing power dwindled—factors that deeply influenced voter sentiment.

Corruption and Accountability Deficit
Scandals like the Agyapa Royalties deal and the government’s failure to address corruption eroded public trust. The perception that officials prioritized personal gain over public service became a rallying cry for change. Citizens demanded a leadership that would put the national interest first and uphold principles of transparency and accountability.

2. The People’s Revolution

The results of the elections underscore the power of Ghana’s electorate. This was not just a rejection of the NPP’s governance but an affirmation of the people’s capacity to hold leaders accountable.

Youth as Catalysts of Change
Ghana’s youth played a pivotal role in this transformation. Frustrated by unemployment and disillusioned with unfulfilled promises, they turned out in large numbers to demand a future that aligns with their aspirations. Social movements like FixTheCountry amplified their voices, emphasizing the need for systemic reform and sustainable development.

Grassroots Mobilization
The NDC’s victory was fueled by effective grassroots engagement. By addressing local concerns and presenting a clear vision for the future, the party managed to connect with voters across regions, including traditional strongholds of the NPP.

3. Change in Leadership, Change in Vision

The newly elected NDC administration has promised a governance approach centered on inclusivity, accountability, and development. While their victory signals hope, it also comes with immense responsibility.

Economic Recovery
The immediate challenge for the new government is stabilizing the economy. Priorities will include reducing inflation, creating jobs, and managing the public debt without imposing further hardships on citizens. Programs that empower small businesses, enhance agricultural productivity, and promote industrialization will be key.

Tackling Environmental Challenges
One of the most pressing issues is the galamsey (illegal mining) crisis, which has devastated Ghana’s environment and water bodies. The NDC must take bold steps to restore ecosystems, regulate mining activities, and offer alternative livelihoods to communities affected by illegal mining.

Restoring Public Trust
To rebuild confidence in governance, the new administration must strengthen anti-corruption institutions and ensure accountability at all levels. Transparent investigations into past scandals will be essential to demonstrate their commitment to ethical leadership.

4. A Model for African Democracy

Ghana’s peaceful transition of power once again cements its position as a beacon of democracy in Africa. The active participation of civil society, independent media, and a politically engaged youth has shown the world what a thriving democracy looks like.

The Role of Civil Society
Movements like FixTheCountry and investigative journalism have held leaders accountable, ensuring that the concerns of ordinary citizens remain at the forefront. The continued vigilance of these groups will be crucial in ensuring that this change leads to real progress.

The Power of the Ballot
The elections reaffirm the fundamental principle that power belongs to the people. For Ghana and the continent, this serves as a reminder that democratic governance can flourish when citizens are empowered to demand better from their leaders.

5. The Road Ahead

While change has come to Ghana, the journey is just beginning. The new administration faces high expectations and complex challenges. Delivering on promises will require bold leadership, innovative policies, and collaboration across political divides.

Key Priorities

1. Job Creation: Expanding opportunities for youth through entrepreneurship, technology, and skills development.
2. Education and Healthcare: Strengthening access to quality services for all citizens.
3. Infrastructure Development: Investing in sustainable energy, transportation, and urban planning to support growth.
4. Environmental Restoration: Combating the effects of illegal mining and promoting green development. A Partnership with the People
   The success of this new chapter depends not only on the government but also on the active participation of citizens. Holding leaders accountable, advocating for transparency, and engaging in constructive dialogue will ensure that this change endures.

Conclusion: A Brighter Future for Ghana

The 2024 elections mark the dawn of a new era for Ghana—a time when the people’s collective voice demanded a leadership that truly serves their interests. Change has come, and with it, the opportunity to build a nation rooted in justice, prosperity, and sustainability.

As Ghana moves forward, the lessons from this historic moment will serve as a guiding light for future generations. Together, the government and the people can chart a path toward a brighter, more inclusive future, proving that in a democracy, the will of the people is not just a concept but a powerful force for progress.

*****

Ernest De-Graft Egyir
Founding CEO
CEO Network Ghana

The book launch was attended by prominent political figures including Foreign Affairs Minister Shirley Ayorkor-Botchway and Transport Minister Kwaku Ofori Asiamah.

Also in attendance was Managing Director for Citi FM and Channel One TV Samuel Attah-Mensah, amongst other esteemed guests.

The book titled “Africa’s New Constitutional Leadership: 77 Stories that Defined Ghana’s 4th Republic“, addresses a critical question at the heart of Ghana’s political narrative: the evolution and significance of the country’s various republics.

By delving into 77 defining stories, Adom-Otchere seeks to provide readers with an overview of the constitutional transitions that have shaped Ghana’s modern political landscape. Titled to reflect its comprehensive scope, the book delves into 77 defining moments that have characterised Ghana’s modern political landscape. By meticulously documenting these stories, Adom-Otchere provides readers with an intimate look at the country’s constitutional transitions and democratic evolution.

A notable highlight from the book, presented by celebrated journalist Natalie Fort, focused on the groundbreaking Election 2000.

Fort read an excerpt detailing the parallels between Ghanaian and American political dynamics, emphasising how global media coverage, particularly from CNN, helped Ghanaians understand international electoral processes in Story 21 “Even though Ghanaians and Americans have traditionally voted in the same year; 1992 and 1996, it was only in Election 2000 that the real similarity in the Ghanaian and American election timetables became obvious to many Ghanaians. This realisation was first occasioned by the launch of the American media network Cable News Network (CNN), which was sometime in 1997.”

She went on to read “On the platform of Multichoisce, a South African satellite broadcaster, since its launch, Ghanaians could watch live news from the United States. CNN gave significant coverage to the American campaign and election in the year 2000.

Incidentally, the political matrix was also a co-terminus. While the democratic party’s incumbent President Bill Clinton was exiting on account of term limit, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) of similar political philosophy as the Democrats’ incumbent President Jerry John Rawlings was exiting by same reason of term limit.”

“Vice-President Al Gore had become the Presidential Candidate of the Democratic Party just as Vice-President Mills had become the Presidential Candidate of the ruling party. The similarities in the dynamics made CNN’s political broadcast exceptionally relevant to the Ghanaian political terrain during the campaign of 2000. Ghana had never in the history of the country organised or even seen a Presidential debate amongst competing presidential candidates with names like John Agyekum Kufuor, Edward Mahama, Attah George Hagan, Augustus Obuadom Tanoh, Dan Lartey and Charles Wereko-Brobbey…”

One of the book’s most significant assertions is Adom-Otchere’s evaluation of President Akufo-Addo as the most impactful president of the Fourth Republic. This claim is partly substantiated by Akufo-Addo’s graceful concession in the 2008 elections, where he lost by approximately 25,000 votes.

“It was in the right place to make some verdicts of happenings. A verdict was made in the book that ruled that President Akufo-Addo was the most impactful president in the Fourth Republic,” Adom-Otchere submitted.

Speaking at the launch, Foreign Affairs Minister, Shirley-Ayorkor Botchway who represented President Akufo-Addo, noted “Books are not only a source of life lessons but serve as a vehicle that transports us through time and beyond, the coming into being of the Fourth Republic was in no way automatic and it is with the utmost soberness that we must reflect on the knowledge that this democracy, with its widely-celebrated longevity was not originally guaranteed.”

She added “Our Fourth Republic did not come into being by way of external pressure either/or by the activism of well-intentioned foreigners. The Ghanaian people themselves through their institutions and political parties navigated the processes and parameters of democracy with great asidousness. They and we paid painstaking attention to detail, taking what we could and managing what was difficult to get to where we are.”

“This book tells a story of how this navigation occurred and details the specific role of particular individuals, political parties, the Supreme Court, the Electoral Commission and the Security Services The book also shows how we as Ghanaians have navigated our own political conflicts and how we eventually resolved them. We have been able to achieve an election outcome in 2008 whose difference was 25,000 votes out of over 8 million valid votes cast and we did not go to war because the loser and his party were magnanimous in defeat. We have gone through election petitions from either side of the divide and we did not go to war.”

She noted “Ultimately, we have on two separate occasions achieved a peaceful handover of power from one government to the other. This book tells the entire story of Ghana’s Fourth Republican democracy. The media in Ghana have been a significant support base for this Fourth Republican democracy and it is gratifying to observe that it is one of the prominent media actors who has documented everything that has made the Fourth Republic possible.”

Mr Adom-Otchere also recounted a moment he had with President Akufo-Addo in 2000, where he asked him who he thought was the best lawyer in Ghana; “In those days, President Akufo-Addo had conducted many Supreme Court cases for the New Patriotic Party, for demonstrations, for independent media and he had regularly been confronted by Dr. Obed Asamoah who was the Attorney-General in Court. So, when I asked this question, I thought that he was going to jokingly point to himself. But I was surprised, the president took the question quite seriously and he started thinking.”

“For about half a minute he didn’t say anything, he was still thinking. I began to throw names at him, I said JK Agyeman, he nodded, I said CBK Zwennes, he nodded again, then I wanted to get his attention and get the question answered so I said what about Obed Asamoah, then he smiled and said Obed is an able man, and that all the names I had mentioned are very distinguished but these were his words ” Because of 31st, he thinks for his generation the best lawyer was Peter Alan Adjetey.”

Portions of the Book

The book also explores critical moments in Ghana’s political history, including the launch of the Free Senior High School policy and the intricate political dynamics preceding various elections.

A significant portion of the text celebrates the role of independent media in shaping Ghana’s democratic narrative. Adom-Otchere chronicles how media institutions like Radio Eye, Peace FM, and Citi FM have been instrumental in fostering transparency and public discourse.

By weaving together personal anecdotes, political analysis, and historical documentation, “77 Stories, One Republic” offers readers unprecedented insights into Ghana’s democratic evolution.

Tuesday, 12th September, 2017—Akufo-Addo redeems a campaign promise by launching a Free SHS Policy (p457, 458).

Fast-forward a good few years to the 2016 election of Akufo-Addo into presidential office, and the Free Senior High School (FSHS) policy was launched on the 12th day of September 2017, at the West Africa Senior High School – Adenta.

It was the culmination of almost a decade of activism, campaigning and imploring—and for just about as long, it had been a campaign promise that many detractors and skeptics had disparaged; they professed the FSHS policy to thoroughly be a far-fetched and impracticable vote-winning ploy, devised by a politician who had already lost one presidential election (using that same ‘one trick’ policy), and by his second election defeat, was increasingly faced with the apparent bleakness of a political career close to its ‘Best Before’ date.

And so, perhaps, it was a season of great vindication when the policy was launched by President Akufo-Addo, through Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh (Education Minister as he then was but later Minister for Energy, and later still, running mate of NPP Presidential candidate Dr Bawumia).

The Political, Social and Legal Drama Preceding Election 1996 (p119, 120)

Obed Asamoah himself reports that despite awareness of Mills’ erstwhile alleged criticism of and opposition to the NDC Government, he, regardless supported Mills’ candidature on account of the ‘desperation’ with which the NDC leadership had been in search of a running mate of good standing in society, and with venerable professional credentials. But the fact remains, there was quite a bit of grumbling over the selection of Mills.

Now this is where things get quite interesting because having a grasp of the graveness of the issue as it occurred, one is inclined to ponder this burning question:

What would have happened had Owusu-Acheampong and the other discontented members of NDC leadership, refused to relent in their opposition to Mills’ selection as running mate?

Imagining a world in which the Owusu-Acheampong camp had pushed unrelentingly harder for a running mate from among the cadre ranks, means imagining a Ghana wildly different from the one we know today, for the following reasons:

Independent Media, the Fourth Republic, and the Dangers Of ‘Fake News’ (p534, 535)

The inception of the Fourth Republic saw the fledgling democracy of Ghana witness a new lease on many aspects of its life, and Ghanaian living across the board. Granted, there were bumps along the way of entrenching democratic propriety and the rule of law into the fibre of the nation-but by the contributions of a vibrant political opposition, the patriotism of key national security agents, the fidelity to constitutionalism shown by many Justices of the revered Supreme Court, and last but not least, the expansion of a vibrant new broadcast and print media paradigm, Ghana has managed to carve out a democratic and developmental status worthy of the hallowed 238,537 square kilometres of her territory.

Now, in truth, it would be a cardinal sin to take for granted the role of the media, as regards influencing the direction of the nation’s progress as has occurred over the 32 years of this Fourth Republic.

The early Radio Eye (however short-lived it was) and its successors, helped pave the way for the Peace FMs, the Citi FMs, the Starr FMs, and the Original FMs of the nation today.

Print media cannot be discounted either. In summary, mainstream media as a bloc has come to be a key part of shaping the path of the nation, via its information dissemination role and by placing spotlights on various events of interest and/or importance.

The book is available for purchase in bookshops and online.

It unleashed a torrent of diverse voices and perspectives, transforming the media landscape into a powerhouse of influence.

Today, Ghana boasts over 148 television stations, more than 450 radio stations, and thousands of newspapers and magazines, all underscoring the media’s pivotal role in shaping public opinion, fostering accountability, and strengthening democracy.

This evolution aligns seamlessly with the provisions of Ghana’s 1992 Constitution, which enshrines the independence of the media in Chapter 12.

Dubbed the “Fourth Estate of the Realm,” the press is tasked with holding power to account and serving as a watchdog for the people. In no sphere is this mandate more crucial than during elections, where the media serves as a beacon of transparency, fairness, and credibility.

The Media’s Unwavering Role in Elections

Since Ghana’s transition to democratic governance in 1992, the media has become the lifeblood of election coverage. Journalists provide timely, accurate, and impartial information, enabling citizens to make informed choices. Through debates, investigative reporting, fact-checking, and live updates, the press ensures the electorate is engaged, educated, and empowered.

The media’s efforts are instrumental in maintaining trust between political actors and the electorate. By analyzing party manifestos, facilitating political dialogue, and providing real-time updates during polling and vote collation, journalists strengthen the credibility of the electoral process. Ghanaian journalists have often been lauded for their professionalism, setting benchmarks for election coverage across Africa.

The Untold Challenges Journalists Face

Behind the scenes, the work of journalists during elections is fraught with risks and challenges. While their efforts are celebrated, the difficulties they endure are often overlooked. Election reporting in Ghana frequently places journalists in harm’s way, with threats ranging from logistical hurdles to outright violence.

Journalists face harassment from political actors, security agencies, and, at times, ordinary citizens. Instances of equipment being destroyed, reporters being detained, or even assaulted have become alarmingly common. These threats undermine the independence of the media and jeopardize the integrity of election reporting.

Navigating a Politically Polarized Landscape

Ghana’s deeply polarized political environment further complicates the role of the media. Accusations of bias, real or perceived, expose journalists to verbal and physical attacks. Some media outlets are labeled as allies of political factions, eroding public trust and jeopardizing objective reporting.

Election reporting is a grueling task, demanding extraordinary commitment from journalists. Long hours, late nights, and grueling deadlines define their work during election periods. The physical and emotional toll is immense, yet journalists persevere, often at great personal cost.

Despite these sacrifices, the media’s role is often taken for granted. The pressure to deliver accurate, timely, and balanced coverage is immense, but journalists remain steadfast, driven by a commitment to Ghana’s democratic ideals.

The Road Ahead: 2024 Elections and Beyond

As Ghana prepares for another electoral season, the nation once again looks to its journalists to uphold the principles of transparency and fairness. Their role is not just to report but to safeguard the sanctity of democracy.

Democracy is a collective bargain, and the media plays a pivotal role in protecting it. As the Fourth Estate, the press chronicles Ghana’s democratic journey and shapes its trajectory. In doing so, it becomes more than an observer—it is a guardian of the nation’s aspirations, deserving of recognition and support.

Let us not only depend on the media for accurate reporting but also celebrate their resilience and sacrifice. The democratic gains we cherish are often a testament to their relentless pursuit of truth. As the 2024 elections draw near, let us rally behind the press to ensure Ghana emerges as a victor once more, for democracy remains the cornerstone of our collective progress.

Source: Fiifi Nettey, Media consultant

READ ALSO:

• 2024 election: Free SHS no longer resonates with Ghanaians – Prof. Kobby Mensah
• CSOs decry EC’s refusal to grant election observation accreditation
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Will Ghanaians Reset Ghana as it is being champions by the presidential candidate of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), John Dramani Mahama or make Breaking the 8 Possible for the presidential candidate of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP), Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia.

These slogans are most topical in the country even though there are 10 other candidates vying for the presidency.

The Ghanaian voter is now sophisticated and is demanding more from politicians than falling for their flowery words and utopian promises.

Therefore, any political party which falls short of this and fails to put out policies to solve the bread and butter issues would be found wanting.

This situation is even worst given the unemployment rate in the country due to crippling economy.

Unemployment will be one of the deciding factors, especially for the youth of Ghana.

Former President Mahama has proposed juicy employment opportunities should he be given the nod.

Government on the otherhand is justifying why it must remain in power to continue the policies which will provide jobs.

Vice President and NPP presidential candidate, Dr. Bawumia believes digitalization is the only way to solve the employment situation in the country.

He said he has the magic wand to turn the economy around to make life better for Ghanaians.

However, people are questioning why the Vice President has failed to do magic now and is waiting to the President.

This has left a lot of doubts in the minds of Ghanaians about the feasibility of Dr. Bawumia’s policies since his government has failed to solve the unemployment situation in the country.

The 24-Hour Economy promise by Mr. Mahama has gained some prominence among the youth.

But critics have described it as vague because they claimed the former President has failed to outline a concrete plan for the policy’s implementation and explain how it would address Ghana’s pressing economic challenges.

This notwithstanding, the NDC is certain the 24-Hour Economy policy is a game-changer is Reset Ghana’s economy.

Victory for NDC, they say is the emancipation of Ghana and victory for NPP is the beginning of Ghana’s digital drive.

Today, December 5, 2024, the NPP will hold its “Possibilities Victory Rally” at the University of Ghana Stadium in Legon.

The NPP will use the platform to showcase the achievements of the Akufo-Addo administration and reinforce its vision under the presidential candidate, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia.

The opposition NDC takes place at Zurak Park in Madina for the rally, themed “Resetting Ghana – Let’s Finish Strong!”.

The party will showcase a message of renewal and forward momentum with two days to the general election.

As the political parties put finishing touches to their campaigns, the end will definitely justify the means.

I rest my case!!!

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

The author, Adwoa Gyasiwaa Agyeman is an Assisting Editor of Adomonline.com. She is also a global citizen who writes on socio-political issues of grave concern. You can reach her at adwoa1000@yahoo.com or Linkedin Adwoa Agyeman.

Ghana’s current electronic immigration management system is largely funded by the United States and supported by US contractors.

However, it is not true that the system is “controlled” by the US or that all the data is managed by the US. The existing arrangement provides for all the data to be managed by Ghana. The Ghanaian immigration authorities have in fact deployed on-premise servers to handle their own data. There is also a plan for support to be transitioned to the Ghanaian side. Only pure indolence and neglect have stalled this to date.

The US involvement has, however, created the perfect pretext for politically connected entrepreneurs and their politician-enablers to cook up all manner of schemes purportedly to restore Ghana’s sovereignty in immigration matters.

Eventually, the decision was taken to include the modernisation of the electronic immigration system (e-immigration) in the long-term World Bank program to digitalise Ghana dating from 2006, known as e-Ghana. e-Ghana was succeeded, and enhanced, by the e-Transform program, which commenced in 2014.

The e-Immigration component of e-Transform included both software for immigration, border, and visa management, and hardware for biometric e-gates.

e-Immigration is a subset of a broader trend towards the digitalisation of movement across borders.

But before Ghana’s e-Immigration program could fully take off, there was a change of government. Typical in Ghana, this led to some confusion about continuity. Nonetheless, significant amounts of money had been disbursed by 2019.

Here is how the World Bank, writing in April 2020, described progress:

Essentially, $16 million had been spent on a secure immigration system and e-gates by 2019, however an additional $2.9 million was said to be required to reposition the e-Gates in Terminal 3 of the international airport by 2020.

The government of Ghana itself made financial allocations to the project that it has so far failed to fully disclose.

Thales, the French IT giant, was hired and paid some of this money to integrate these components into a single, seamless, system.

The corporation claims that it did its work and completed handover formalities in 2020.

At any rate, this is how Thales, also writing in 2020, described its delivery:

Imagine, then, my surprise when during my investigations over the last two years at Ghana’s international airport and inside Ghana’s national security, I discovered that none of these systems are in fact operational. NONE!

I decided to probe.

I found, to my complete befuddlement, that notwithstanding all this project design activity, contracting, millions of dollars spent, delivery, etc., politically connected and favoured contractors had continued to push the government to “privatise the intervention” and find ways to insert them into the project to pave way for millions of dollars of fees.

In other essays, I have framed this situation as part of a political economy context in which World Bank and other donor projects constantly fail to deliver due to fundamental governance challenges.

Sometime in 2023, the Vice President’s office became the center of gravity of all these machinations.

Our deeply embedded sources there gave us detailed rundowns of machinations to undermine the smooth rollout of the official e-Immigration program, shelf it, and re-award contracts to the most beloved of digital contractors today, the Margins Group.

The same fast-growing entity in charge of Ghana’s privatised national identification system.

Here is the breakdown of the project design finally signed off in the Veep’s office:

Let me break it down for you, dear reader. Essentially, Margins Group enlisted the Veep’s powerbase to undermine attempts by another politically connected contractor, Securiport, to deploy an e-Immigration solution offering exactly the same features that have already been paid for, twice, by the World Bank and marked as successfully deployed.

A project that was said to have been fully and effectively funded with ~$20 million of World Bank money was now packaged as a $240 million undertaking necessitating the imposition of additional tax of $11 on air travellers to and from Ghana.

When the immigration authorities balked at the political implications of such a tax, the Veep’s office broached the prospect of the money being creamed off the current revenue generated by Ghana Airport Company and the Ghana Immigration Services.

In the words of one of our sources embedded deep in the security services, “this was outrageous!” Not only was it going to drain the immigration and related departments of resources, it amounted to a wholesale privatisation of Ghana’s national security system.

In short, all the spectacle that was deployed at the airport yesterday in the name of launching a biometric e-gate was simply to protect a $240 million deal for the Margins Group.

With time having run out for a parliamentary approval of the deal, these “state enchantment” tactics are meant to prevent any problems of future continuity by ensuring that all the relevant contracting is rammed through before this administration leaves office.

[This is a developing story.]

This pivotal election is set to not only shape the future of the country’s leadership but also test the strength of political engagement in the nation.

With only a few days left before the election, the race has reached a fever pitch, and the campaign trails have been anything but predictable.

Political parties have pulled out all the stops to secure support, with both number one and eight intensifying their efforts to sway undecided voters.

The question on everyone’s mind: Will it be Number One, representing the ruling party with its promises of continuity, or Number Eight, representing the opposition with calls for change and reform?

For many, this election represents more than just a choice between candidates; it is a referendum on the direction Ghana should take in the coming years.

It’s about priorities—whether voters will endorse the incumbent’s track record or embrace the opposition’s vision for the future.

One of the most significant factors in this election will be the youth vote. As a growing demographic, young Ghanaians are increasingly becoming politically engaged and are looking for leadership that speaks to their needs.

Issues such as education, unemployment, and the cost of living have taken center stage in this election cycle, with both number one and eight offering contrasting approaches to these challenges.

Many first-time voters are also feeling the weight of this decision, as they recognize that their choice could determine the direction of Ghana’s economic policies, social justice initiatives, and democratic institutions for years to come.

For them, Saturday’s vote is not just about political allegiance, but about taking part in the future of their country.

Number one, the incumbent, has based much of its campaign on the argument of continuity and stability.

They tout achievements such as infrastructural development, the implementation of social welfare programmes, and the country’s resilience in the face of global economic challenges.

The message has been clear: Let’s continue the progress we’ve made together – they call it UPGRADE.

On the other hand, number eight has positioned itself as the change that Ghana needs, emphasizing economic reforms, job creation, and better governance.

They argue that the country’s progress has stagnated under the current administration and that a new approach is necessary to tackle the pressing issues facing Ghanaians today.

Their slogan? RESET Ghana.

As Ghanaians head to the polls, they are weighing these two competing visions for the nation.

The future of the economy, education, health care, and infrastructure hangs in the balance, and voters are keen to choose a candidate who will address their concerns and priorities.

With the election just days away, concerns about the integrity of the electoral process remain a topic of discussion.

Allegations of voter influence and irregularities have already emerged, including reports of the incumbent MP for Ayawaso West Wuogon, Lydia Seyram Alhassan, distributing food to voters at a special voting event.

While these claims are being investigated, they have raised questions about the fairness and transparency of the election process.

Both local and international observers will be watching closely to ensure that the election is free, fair, and credible.

As voters cast their ballots on Saturday, the integrity of the election process will be as important as the outcome itself.

At the heart of this election is the question of what kind of Ghana Ghanaians want to live in. Voters are not only deciding between number one and eight, but also between two competing visions for the country’s future.

Do they want to continue on the path of stability, as promised by the incumbent, or is it time for a fresh start with the opposition?

Do they trust the current leadership to steer Ghana through the challenges of the next decade, or is it time to hand the reins over to someone else with a new perspective?

With election day fast approaching, Ghanaians must make a crucial decision. Whether it’s number one or eight, every vote counts.

As voters head to the polls on Saturday, they will be making a choice not just for themselves but for future generations of Ghanaians.

As the clock ticks down, the question remains: Which vision will the people of Ghana choose?

One thing is certain—Saturday’s election will be a defining moment in the history of the country, and the results will shape the future of Ghana for years to come.

In his most political piece, Julius Caesar, Shakespeare said through the respected Roman senator and conspirator, Brutus, that, “There’s a tide in the affairs of men which, taken at its flood, leads to fortune. Omitted, all the voyage of their life is bound in shallows and miseries.”

At that pivotal moment in ancient Roman history, Brutus goes on to say something that is both similar to and applicable in the crucial political and governance situation Ghana currently finds itself in: “On such a full sea are we now afloat; And we must take the current when it serves, Or lose our ventures.”

As Ghana approaches the crucial December 7th elections, the political dynamics between President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and former President John Dramani Mahama continue to dominate public discourse.

Recently, Nana Addo boldly asserted that he would ensure John Mahama does not return to power. Such a statement underscores the intense rivalry between these two leaders and even the antagonism the current president has for his predecessor. This raises deeper questions about leadership, power, and divine providence in Ghana’s democracy.

Interestingly, Nana Addo’s political journey offers a paradox. Despite his current assertion of control, his own ascension to the presidency in 2016 was not guaranteed. He benefited from the internal dynamics of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), particularly when Alan Kwadwo Kyerematen stepped aside to give him a clear path to leadership.

While this may not have been part of a “divine plan,” it was allowed by providence, reflecting the unpredictability of political outcomes.

Nana Addo’s rise to power serves as a reminder that leadership is as much about timing, opportunity, and providence as it is about ambition. His belief now in his ability to dictate John Mahama’s fate, however, seems to overlook a fundamental principle: the sovereignty of God in determining leadership.

Nana Addo now seems to have arrogated to himself the sovereign power of God through the franchise of the people to elect their own leaders. He is forgetting that, when all said it was impossible for him to ever become president, it took divine intervention for him to attain the highest office of the land.

Now that the shoe is on the other foot, Nana Addo is thinking and ranting that John Mahama cannot also become president. Indeed, he’s gone on to say that he’ll not hand over power to someone (JDM) he’s defeated twice in elections. Indeed, it was Lord Acton who famously said, “Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”

For John Mahama, these assertions should not be a cause for concern. Leadership is ultimately a divine appointment, and history is replete with examples of leaders rising despite human opposition. As Proverbs 21:1 reminds us, “The king’s heart is in the hand of the Lord; He directs it wherever He pleases.”

A case in point is the recent election and comeback of former U.S. President Donald John Trump. All the odds were stacked against him. With a felony conviction, poor poll ratings, and two assassination attempts, many did not give him a chance of a return to the White House.

But what may appear, in the eyes of men and the political establishment, as the dark horse may not be the same measure in the scheme of things for the intangible referees of life with whom the fate of man and the ordering of human affairs lie.

As Ghanaians prepare to vote, the nation is at a crossroads. Citizens must remember that political power is transient, but divine will prevails. If it is God’s plan for John Mahama to return as president, no amount of opposition can thwart that.

Leadership is a call to service, and Ghana’s new king—chosen by God and confirmed by the people—will emerge to lead the nation into its next chapter and divinely ordained destiny.

Hold my bissap! This line of argument always baffles me. Are we saying that unless someone has a ring on their finger, a complicated history of exes, or even a current situationship, they have no business weighing in on marriage and relationships? Have we now relegated the art of advice-giving to a secret club, exclusive to the romantically experienced? If so, let me introduce an intriguing outlier: the Catholic priest.

Yes, the man sworn to celibacy, often with no dating history to his name, is somehow the go-to for officiating marriages, counseling couples, and doling out sage advice about lifelong commitment. Now tell me—how does this add up?

Let’s first breakdown this idea that marriage and dating require some advanced level of expertise that only those “in the trenches” can understand. It’s not rocket science. It’s not a complex surgical procedure requiring years of residency to master. Anyone with a functioning mind, the ability to observe, and a bit of empathy can analyze relationships, spot patterns, and offer insights.

Take the Catholic priest. These men live lives of service, constantly immersed in the joys, struggles, and heartbreaks of their parishioners. They hear confessions, witness families fall apart, and help people rebuild. No, they haven’t dated, but they have a front-row seat to what works—and more importantly, what doesn’t. Their advice doesn’t come from personal experience but from collected experience.

Here’s the thing: experience is not the sole pathway to insight. If that were true, only former addicts could be drug counselors, and only retired athletes could coach. Yet we know this isn’t the case. Catholic priests, for instance, undergo extensive training, studying theology, psychology, and counseling techniques. They are groomed to listen, guide, and provide frameworks for healthy decision-making.

Think about it: most people don’t want advice that sounds like, “When I was dating, I did this, so you should too.” No, they want someone who can step back, see the big picture, and guide them without the baggage of their personal biases. The priest, untouched by romantic entanglements, provides exactly that—clear, impartial wisdom.

Now, let’s not pretend that everyone who gives advice—whether experienced or not—knows what they’re talking about. The onus is on you, the recipient, to sift through the chaff and extract the valuable grains. Whether advice comes from your single friend, your married boss, or your celibate priest, the trick is to pick what resonates and discard the rest.

If priests can guide couples and officiate their marriages without ever having a girlfriend, then surely anyone with a well-reasoned perspective can offer their two cents on relationships. To dismiss someone’s advice based on their relationship status is, frankly, lazy. The real question should be, “Is this advice sound? Does it align with my values and circumstances?”

So the next time someone says, “You don’t even have a girlfriend, so why are you talking about marriage?”—ask them this: Does a chef need to eat at every restaurant to know how to cook well? Do astronauts need to live on Mars to teach about space travel? Expertise is not always rooted in direct experience. Sometimes, it’s rooted in careful study, observation, and a willingness to engage deeply with the subject.

Marriage and dating are universal topics. They are not the exclusive preserve of the romantically involved. So, while I may not have a partner to flaunt, I will continue to share my observations, analyze trends, and offer thoughts on love and commitment.

As for those who dismiss me? Well, I’ll just keep sipping my bissap. Cheers!

From the fields of cassava and cocoa to the shores of fishing communities, agriculture employs nearly half of the population, feeds millions, and contributes roughly 20% to the nation’s GDP.

Yet, despite its centrality to Ghana’s economic and cultural identity, the full potential of agriculture remains untapped, locked behind a government that prioritizes kickbacks, and enjoys self-gratification and raw material exports over value addition.

The question is no longer why we fall short of producing the food we eat but how long will we tolerate lazy leaders who refuse to unlock the transformative power of agriculture.

To imagine a Ghana that processes its cocoa cans its pineapples, processes it yam, and freezes its cassava is not idealism—it is a moral and economic necessity.

As we discuss agriculture’s role in a 24-hour economy, we must dispel the myths and
misconceptions surrounding it.

No, it does not mean farmers toiling in their fields day and night – these are the concoctions of mischief.

It means a system where agriculture operates as a seamless cycle—planting, harvesting, processing, and exporting value-added products—around the clock.

This vision transforms farming into the foundation of a thriving agribusiness ecosystem, with agro-processing and manufacturing working tirelessly to turn raw produce into
goods that create jobs, increase incomes, and strengthen Ghana’s global competitiveness.

For too long, Ghana has been content with exporting its raw materials while other nations reap the benefits of processing them.

Take cocoa, for example when Ghana was the world’s second-largest producer of cocoa beans, it processed less than 30% of its yield.

Compare this to Malaysia, which imports cocoa beans from countries like Ghana and processes over 90% of its stock into chocolates, cocoa butter, and other high-value products.

The difference is staggering: while a ton of raw cocoa according to the International Cocoa Organisation fetches approximately $7,138.00 as of November 28, 2024, on the global market, the same amount of processed chocolate products can sell for up to $35,000.

Similarly, Ghana’s vast output of cashew nuts, shea butter, and oil palm often leaves the
country in raw form, forfeiting billions in potential revenue.

Contrast this with Vietnam, a country that shifted from being a raw agricultural exporter to the world’s largest cashew processor.

Vietnam turned its agricultural sector into a $3 billion yearly export industry by making significant investments in processing factories and establishing laws to assist smallholder farmers.

Ghana has the resources to achieve similar success, but it has failed to prioritize agro-
processing.

The NPP government, despite its lofty rhetoric, has done next to nothing or very little to create an enabling environment for value addition.

The much-touted “One District, One Factory” initiative promised to establish processing plants across the country, but many of these projects were non-existent, the few that started have either stalled or failed to materialize.

According to the Ghana Statistical Service, manufacturing’s contribution to GDP decreased to 4716.90 GHS Million in the second quarter of 2024 from 6191.70 GHS Million in the first quarter of 2024 with agro-processing accounting for only a fraction.

The concept of a 24-hour agricultural economy envisions more than just farmers producing raw crops.

It is a cycle in which cottage to medium and large scale processing plants are constructed
in carefully designed Agro-industrial enclaves that operate around the clock, supported by
economic incentives, technical support, efficient logistics, supply chain development
programmes, cold storage facilities, and export channels.

This will generate in its wake a large demand for agricultural output as raw materials, which drive further the demand for the agricultural products and for that matter huge investments and market opportunities for smallholder and large-scale commercial farmers.

Picture this: farmers produce output for a guaranteed market by the agro-industries and deliver fresh produce to nearby factories at any time of the day.

These agro-processing factories produce round-the-clock churning out processed goods—shea butter lotions, chocolate bars, canned pineapple juice, frozen cassava
flour—destined for local and international markets.

This is certainly not the absurd scenario of farmers working 24 hours as portrayed by the
clueless NPP government and their functionaries, but rather a call for creating a strong value chain, incentivizing agro-processors to scale up operations and ensuring that no harvest goes to waste.

It is about maximizing the potential of agricultural produce to create sustainable well paid
jobs as farmers, factory workers, technicians, and logistics managers.

It is about ensuring that farming communities benefit not just from selling raw goods but from the profits of processed exports.

Unfortunately, the Akufo-Addo-Bawumia-led government has repeatedly fumbled
opportunities to build such a system.

Under their leadership, the agricultural sector has been poorly managed. Key policies have been unsuccessful in improving crop and livestock productivity while little or no effort has been made to target the downstream processes of processing and marketing.

Worse still, corruption and inefficiencies have drained resources from initiatives meant to help farmers.

For example, the failure to implement an efficient input support programme has led to low crop yields, high food prices, and a worsening food security situation.

The inability of government to establish functioning storage facilities across agro-zones has heightened post-harvest losses leading to about 30% losses of perishable produce, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization.

Meanwhile, bad road networks, poor transportation services, and poorly maintained intercity road networks leave farmers at the mercy of a few cheating aggregators,
due to the farmers’ inability to transport agro-produce to the markets or processing hubs in time, thus deepening rural poverty.

Ghana must take a page from countries like Brazil, which transformed its agricultural sector by investing in agribusiness, research, and export diversification.

Brazil’s agro-industrial sector operates as a 24-hour economy, turning sugarcane into ethanol and soybeans into animal feed, all while creating millions of jobs.

To replicate such success, Ghana must focus on:
* Productivity Improvements:
The John Mahama/NDC government proposes Farmer Services Centers and the Farmland
Banks as one-stop shop input support programmes to accelerate farmer productivity and
significantly cut down production costs.

* Policy Support for Agro-Processing:
The incentives regime of the 24-hour economy and the Agro-industrial enclave programmes will tax incentives, credit support, and other social service incentives to encourage the establishment of processing plants in agricultural zones, especially in rural areas.

* Infrastructure Development:
Invest heavily in the expansion, rehabilitation, and construction of robust irrigation facilities, storage facilities, silos, cold storage facilities, reliable road networks, and reliable water and power supply sources to facilitate 24-hour operations.

* Training and Technology:
Equip farmers and processors with modern techniques and machinery to enhance efficiency
and productivity. As well as introduce advanced agro-mechanization technologies to
modernize our agriculture.

* Public-Private Partnerships:
The NDC shall pass a Farmer Cooperatives Bill and collaborate with the private sector to scale up investments in agriculture, agribusiness, and agro-processing.

* Export Diversification:
Through an Accelerated Export Council to be chaired by President Mahama himself, NDC
government shall invest in branding Ghana’s processed goods for international markets, moving beyond raw cocoa and cashews to finished products that command higher prices.

As the elections approach, let us remember that change is not just a ballot box decision; it has become a moral imperative.

Ghana needs leaders who understand the full value chain of agriculture, who can envision a 24-hour economy that empowers farmers and processors alike, and who will finally prioritize value addition over raw exports.

The road ahead may be long, but with the right leadership, brighter days lie ahead.

The time for change is now. Let us rise to the occasion.

Authored by:
Dr. Peter Boamah Otokunor, Ch.FE, F.ChE
NDC Spokesperson on Agriculture and Director of Interparty and Civil Society Relations, NDC.

The author is an Agricultural Economist, a Chartered Financial Economist, a Lecturer at the
Department of Economics and Actuarial Science, University of Professional Studies, a Fellow of the Association of Chartered Economists.

The press conference convened by the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA), and addressed by its President, Albert Dwumfour, is a shining example of the scepticism with which every patriotic citizen and organization should take the proposals and seemingly protective overtures extended to them by heads of public institutions who have been planted by the incumbent New Patriotic Party (NPP) government for purposes of doing their bidding during this year’s elections. The alertness and inquisitiveness exhibited by the GJA in questioning the real intention behind the decision by the Ghana Police Service to provide liaison officers at various media houses during the December 7 elections after a meeting initiated by and held at the Ghana Police Headquarters with selected editors without the knowledge of the GJA is an example to be emulated by patriotic citizens cherishing their fundamental rights to privacy and liberty from unnecessary state surveillance and interference.

The words of the President of the GJA in the exercise of rational optimism in considering the proposal of the Ghana Police Service during this election period are worth quoting for the sake of the reader who might not have read it already. Speaking on behalf of the GJA, he said, “One of the key issues is the promise made by the Police Administration to provide police media liaison officers at media houses for protection. While appreciating the initiative by the Police Administration to ensure the safety and security of media practitioners in the electioneering, there are some pertinent concerns regarding the initiative by the Police. First, is it a strategy to interfere with the work of the media? Is it a ploy to leak information from media houses? Which media houses have the Police enlisted to detail its media liaison officers to? We can see some dark clouds surrounding this initiative by the Police and answers to these questions will clear the sky.”

The Ghana Police Service would not have been selective and overlooked extending an invitation for such an engagement to the Media Coalition as the professional umbrella body of the media industry in Ghana representing the interests and concerns of media practitioners and media houses in Ghana if the invitation and proposals were actuated by the national interest and not a politically partisan election agenda under the smokescreen of impartial policing. Colonel Festus Aboagye calls the scepticism exhibited by the GJA to the proposals by the Police Administration over the heads of the GJA as the professional umbrella of media professionals an exercise in objective pessimism in his article “Democracy’s dangerous delusion: How Ghana’s electoral peace narrative masks growing violence” published on 3news yesterday, 28 November 2024 which every patriot should read.

This writer should be the first person to ascribe good intentions for any decision coming from the Ghana Police Service by virtue of his long association with the service as the Deputy Attorney-General and Member of the Police Council from 1989 to 7 January 2001 representing the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, as a Minister of the Interior and member of the service council, concurrently the Minister responsible for the Security and Intelligence Agencies, and as an Attorney-General and Minister of Justice who worked closely with several Inspectors-General of Police. Unfortunately, this writer has followed with disgust in the last seven years and nine months the politicization of appointments in both the higher and lower echelons of the Ghana Police Service by the incumbent government as part of the President’s election-winning long game for his anointed successor, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, who has also been the Chairman of the Police Council during this period.

The Bugri Naabu leaked tape which surfaced on 11 July 2023 involving a prominent police commissioner and some leaders of the governing New Patriotic Party allegedly plotting to remove the IGP exposed the politicization of the Ghana Police Service, the lobbying and manoeuvring among the top ranks of the Police Administration, especially when limited positions are available. The desire of the top ranks of the service to be appointed the IGP and the subsequent scheming to replace the sitting IGP has been endemic in the Police Service. Bugri Naabu, a former powerful Regional Chairman and now a respected elder of the NPP government, demonstrated in his evidence at the Parliamentary Committee that his real interest in running the stint operation was to protect the current IGP and the Chairman of the Police Council, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia the anointed successor of the owner of Ghana’s election-winning long game, President Nana Akufo-Addo.

In my published article: “The ‘Dampare must go’ Leaked Tape Recording is Diversionary for the Long Game” dated 15 July 2023, I stated and supported my contention that the current IGP, Dr George Akuffo Dampare was handpicked for the position of IGP on grounds of proven loyalty to this Government. I also stated that “I know as a matter of fact that Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia who chairs the Police Council and chaired the Council meeting which formally recommended Dr. Dampare’s appointment to the President was a staunch supporter of Dr. Dampare, long before the office of IGP became vacant.” I admonished further with objective pessimism that: “The leakage of the tape recording has achieved its objective because the NDC in particular, other opposition political parties, and security and intelligence operatives have diverted their attention to defending and extolling the virtues and perceived neutrality of the IGP. IGPs do not win elections and can scarcely influence the polls. What an IGP can and might do is to position Regional, Divisional, District, and Station Commanders who will control their men at the polls and relax their security alertness and surveillance on election day. Even such a move in a national election is not without hazards for the IGP as some Commanders may give him out to the other side. The Assin North constituency by-election cannot be used as a yardstick for measuring the neutrality of the Ghana Police Service in the coming national elections in 2024.”

President Nana Akufo-Addo’s anointed successor and poodle, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia is not only the Chairman of the Police Council, he is also the Chairman of the Armed Forces Council who knows what he has stepped on to boast that he is winning the 2024 presidential elections just as the President himself has similarly boasted publicly. Dr Mahamudu Bawumia has also positioned himself as the founder of digitalization in Ghana without informing the unsuspecting public of the downside of digitalization as a cheating government Orwellian Big Brother intelligence gathering and surveillance tool usable for selfish election interference by public institutions. How did Dr Bawumia get the telephone numbers and birthdays of several Ghanaians upon whose privacy he has been intruding with SMS, if not from our digitalised Ghana Cards? The other contesting candidates for the presidency on 7 December 2024 do not have that cheating advantage.

Consequently, when a public institution closely associated with an incumbent Vice-President contesting as a candidate to be the President of Ghana meets selected editors of media houses, the patriot has every reason to raise the alarm and alert the electorate to possible discreet interference with the vote under the colour of discharging legitimate official duties. Where was the then incumbent IGP when the 2019 Ayawaso West Wuogon Constituency by-election fatalities, and the 2020 Techiman South Constituency election day fatalities, took place in the name of free and fair elections under this government? The only guarantee that it not happen again is citizens’ alertness and objective rationality in asserting the sovereign power of We-the-People to ensure that our votes count without any politically motivated police surveillance before, on, and after election day.

Right now, I can report, as an aside, that between 11: 00 hours yesterday morning, 28 November 2024, and this afternoon gunfire is being exchanged in the Bawku township in the fratricidal chieftaincy and elections-related conflict deliberately mismanaged by the government during this election season with no intervention or patrols by the police and other security agencies. Three eligible voters are reported dead with the government supervising the day’s fatalities and mayhem because the votes in the six constituencies in the traditional area do not historically favour this government’s Presidential and Parliamentary candidates at elections.

I wish to repeat what I wrote on 14 July 2023 about the mandatory duty demanded of patriotic citizens by the 1992 Constitution for the impending 2024 elections which rhymes now more than ever before. I concluded my article by stating that: “Free and fair elections are the lifeblood of any democracy. I believe that the leaked recorded tape has achieved the opposite of what it intended by alerting patriotic citizens to the fact that no matter who is IGP everybody needs to be vigilant to ensure that the 2024 election is not captured by any President’s long game …. The vigilance of a patriotic citizenry is the truest bulwark against long games and election rigging come 2024. Let us defend the 1992 Constitution. Assalamu Alaikum!”

I invite all patriotic citizens and genuine defenders of the 1992 Constitution to join me in appreciating the selfless boldness exhibited by all of the members of the Media Coalition, the professional umbrella bodies of the media industry in Ghana who represent the interests and concerns of media practitioners and media houses, in standing up to the decision of the Police Administration that excluded them, for whatever reason, from the meeting with selected editors of media houses. As we count the remaining one week towards 7 December 2024 all lovers of free, fair, and transparent elections supervised by independent and impartial public institutions should remain more vigilant than ever before. GJA, Ayekoo, for putting Ghana First!

Martin A. B. K. Amidu
November 29, 2024

As the nation watches closely, the leaders now face the critical task of speaking directly to their supporters, urging them to uphold the spirit of unity, peace, and democracy.

The signing of the pact marks a significant milestone in the lead-up to the upcoming elections. It is a testament to the commitment of both parties to ensuring that the electoral process remains free from violence, intimidation, and divisiveness.

However, with tensions often running high during election seasons, it is crucial for both Mr. Mahama and Dr. Bawumia to leverage their influence and guide their supporters toward peaceful, democratic engagement.

As key figures in Ghana’s political sphere, Mr. Mahama and Dr. Bawumia are not just symbols of their respective parties; they are also leaders who wield the power to shape the tone and direction of political discourse across the country.

With the recent signing of the pact, they are now tasked with ensuring that their supporters—many of whom are passionate and sometimes polarized—remain focused on the ideals of democracy and peaceful coexistence.

In the heat of election season, it is easy for rhetoric to escalate and emotions to run high. Both leaders understand that their words and actions can significantly influence the behavior of their supporters on the ground.

This is why their statements and engagements with the public are critical in setting the stage for an election that is fair, transparent, and free of violence.

In the past, Ghana has been hailed as one of the most stable democracies in West Africa, with its peaceful transitions of power serving as an example for many other nations in the region.

But this peaceful record must not be taken for granted. The world is watching, and it is incumbent upon both Mahama and Bawumia to remind their followers of the importance of protecting the integrity of the election process.

As Ghana prepares for the elections, the choices made by Mahama and Bawumia in the coming weeks will be crucial in determining the country’s political climate.

If both leaders use their platforms to advocate for peace and unity, they will have the power to guide the nation through a smooth election period.

However, if their messages are divisive or inflammatory, it could ignite tensions that threaten the peaceful coexistence that Ghana has worked so hard to achieve.

The signing of the pact is just the first step in a larger journey toward ensuring the country remains united in the face of political differences. Now that the pact has been signed, it is time for both Mahama and Bawumia to walk the talk.

The country eagerly awaits their next steps, which must include powerful, peace-driven messages to their supporters.

Both leaders have a shared responsibility to ensure that Ghana’s democracy remains resilient and the will of the people is respected in a peaceful, fair, and transparent election.

As the political climate heats up, Mahama and Bawumia must rise to the occasion, not just as party flagbearers, but as statesmen who are committed to the greater good of the nation.

It is their time to lead by example, promoting the ideals of democracy, peace, and unity that will continue to define Ghana’s political identity on the African continent.

The nation watches. The world is listening. The time for action is now.

About the Author

Kodwo Mensah Aboroampa is a journalist with the Multimedia Group Limited and a Development Communication Advocate.

Known for its stability in a region often fraught with political turmoil, Ghana has long been a beacon of peace and democratic maturity in West Africa.

However, as Election Day draws near, there is a growing sense of unease, with questions about whether peace—Ghana’s most cherished asset—will remain intact.

Ghana’s democratic reputation has been built on peaceful electoral transitions, even when results were contested. Since the first multi-party elections in 1992, Ghana has witnessed four peaceful transfers of power, including a historic transition in 2000, when the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) defeated the incumbent National Democratic Congress (NDC).

That shift marked a milestone for democracy in Africa. But as the 2024 elections loom, the big question remains: can Ghana maintain its record of peaceful elections?

Historically, the country has demonstrated resilience in handling election disputes, with the Judiciary playing a crucial role in resolving conflicts, and civil society providing oversight.

However, the political landscape in Ghana today is markedly different from years past. The environment is increasingly polarized, and the stakes seem higher than ever.

In this tense atmosphere, there are genuine concerns about the erosion of trust in the political process and whether this could jeopardize Ghana’s hard-won peace. In 2024, Ghana faces a deeply divided electorate.

The two major political parties, the NPP and the NDC, continue to battle for dominance, and the rivalry between the two has intensified. Allegations of corruption, poor governance, economic hardship, and rising social inequalities have fueled political discontent across the country.

Each election cycle brings its own set of challenges, but this time, the economic pressures seem particularly severe. Ghana is grappling with an economic crisis, inflation is soaring, and many Ghanaians feel let down by the political class.

This sense of disenchantment, combined with increasing tribal and regional divisions, is heightening the potential for violence and unrest.

Additionally, the role of social media in shaping political narratives has taken on a new dimension.

The rapid spread of misinformation, cyber-attacks, and the rise of online hate speech could inflame existing tensions, making the electoral process even more volatile. Political leaders must ensure that their supporters don’t fall prey to inflammatory rhetoric that undermines national unity.

Peace isn’t simply the absence of violence; it’s the presence of inclusivity, fairness, and trust. As Ghanaians prepare to cast their ballots, it is crucial that political leaders and civil society organizations continue to emphasize the importance of maintaining peace. Ghana’s peace hinges on the goodwill of political players who respect the rule of law and the democratic process.

In this respect, Ghana’s Electoral Commission (EC) has a pivotal role to play. Its independence, transparency, and ability to manage elections credibly remain the foundation of peaceful elections. Any perception of bias or manipulation risks not only the integrity of the election but the very peace that has defined the nation for decades.

Equally important is the responsibility of political parties and their supporters to avoid violence, provocation, and inflammatory rhetoric. Leaders must set the tone for their supporters by committing to non-violence, respecting election results, and upholding democratic values.

Ghana’s peace cannot be taken for granted, and it is imperative that every individual—whether a voter, political leader, or security personnel—understands the weight of their actions in the lead-up to the election. While political leaders play a significant part, peace is a collective responsibility. It requires the active participation of every Ghanaian citizen.

Civil society groups, community leaders, and the media must continue their work of educating the public on the importance of peace during elections. This includes encouraging citizens to stay calm and united regardless of the outcome and promoting a culture of tolerance and respect for diversity.

Organizations like the National Peace Council and other non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have been doing commendable work in promoting peace. Their outreach programs, aimed at communities across the country, encourage dialogue and conflict resolution at the grassroots level. These efforts need to be strengthened in the coming months.

One of the most effective ways to preserve peace is through building a culture of dialogue, mutual respect, and understanding across party lines. Strong institutions, including an independent judiciary, free media, and effective law enforcement, are also key to ensuring peace during the 2024 elections. The police and security agencies must be prepared to handle any form of electoral violence with professionalism and neutrality. Excessive force or partisanship could escalate tensions and undermine public trust in the electoral process.

Equally important is the role of the media in ensuring a peaceful election. While the media serves as the fourth estate, it also has a responsibility to report accurately and responsibly. Sensationalism, false reporting, and partisan journalism can stoke unrest and create an environment of fear and mistrust.

The media must act as a unifying force, providing balanced coverage and promoting peaceful engagement during the election period.

As we head toward the 2024 elections, one thing is clear: peace is not guaranteed, and it must be actively preserved. Ghanaians must not take peace for granted but rather, work together to safeguard it.

This means rejecting the politics of division, eschewing violence, and embracing the core values that have made Ghana a model of democracy in Africa. It is imperative that all Ghanaians—regardless of political affiliation—remember that their actions in the coming months will define the nation’s future.

The stakes are high, but so is the potential for a peaceful and prosperous future. Let us heed the call for peace, now more than ever.

Ghana’s peace is our collective responsibility. If we hold steadfast to unity, respect, and fairness, the 2024 elections can be another testament to our nation’s unwavering commitment to democracy.

Peace, where are you? Peace is here, if we choose to keep it.

Year after year, the Finance Ministers of the ruling government have stood before Parliament with straight faces, declaring that the port’s construction is “visibly in progress.”

Yet, for residents and stakeholders in Keta, this so-called progress remains as elusive as rain in the harmattan season.

Perhaps our leaders have a vision we lack. Maybe they see the progress through special lenses invisible to the ordinary Ghanaian.

For those of us without such privileges, the project seems to exist only in brochures and budget line items.

The Finance Ministry might argue otherwise, but we’re yet to see a single cargo ship, container terminal, or even a groundbreaking ceremony worthy of mention.

Your Excellency, the President, we humbly ask: Will this legendary port also be miraculously commissioned before the December 7 elections, after the projects at UHAS and the interchanges?

Or perhaps by year’s end, just in time to “open the port for business”?

The suspense is palpable, as we see the bustling anchorage of the fleet of ships eagerly awaiting to berth after the grand opening of Keta’s invisible harbor.

Until then, we’ll keep an eye on the fleet of ships waiting in Togo waters on anchorage.

That is humility. It indicates that to err is human. However, some are extremely sure of their predictions.

Others have built a certain level of confidence based on their success over the years.

Aren’t you amazed at how the current American elections confronted pollsters?

Some had predicted a neck-and-neck situation, and one pollster, who had been successful in predicting the past eleven elections, saw his prediction in favor of Kamala fail miserably.

Trump didn’t just win; he won massively. Men must make room for God. Peter said to Jesus, “Master, we have worked hard all night and caught nothing. Nevertheless, at your word, I will let down the net.” Peter was a professional fisherman. He was well aware that night was a better time for a catch than the day. Nevertheless…

We often find ourselves in situations where our own wisdom is not enough. Many have built their tomorrows on their wisdom, only to realize they had it all wrong.

We pray that the results of our upcoming elections will not throw us into confusion because of some polls.

Of course, we trust that all those in power will do what is necessary and right for the results to be accepted by all.

Thanks to everyone for reading. I also appreciate the interactions and even disagreements. We have only one more write-up to go.

Please watch out for my Christmas series. God bless our homeland, Ghana. Vote wisely and be an informed voter.

“One of the most controversial personal presidential campaign promises of the last thirty-plus years has been the pledge by the then-candidate Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) to himself that he will build a National Cathedral to the Lord our God, when he is voted into office as the President of the Republic.

“Launching the National Cathedral Fundraising Campaign on Friday, 28^th December 2018 at the forecourt of the State House, Accra, two years after his 2016 electoral victory, President Akufo-Addo said as pertained to Solomon’s dedication of the first temple to God as taught by the Bible, saying he knows that God cannot be contained in a physical edifice. (GhanaWeb)

“Rather, and again like Solomon on that occasion, the building of the National Cathedral is to serve as a gesture of thanksgiving to God for his blessings, favour, grace and mercies on our nation, and to give me an opportunity to redeem a pledge I made to Him before I became President,” he said.

“The president made a personal contribution of GH₵100,000.00 towards the construction of the edifice at the event.

“The National Cathedral, the president explained is more than just another piece of infrastructure or national monument.

“It will provide us with an avenue to call the nation to prayer, to worship, to celebrate, and to mourn.

“It will house a Bible Museum and will be an iconic infrastructure for national, regional and international pilgrimage and tourism. It will create jobs, and serve as a catalyst for technology and skills transfer into our country,” President Akufo-Addo stressed.

He continued, “The Cathedral will also provide a platform to promote deep national conversations on the role of faith in building the progressive and prosperous Ghana we all want. I am convinced that out of these conversations would emerge the ideas and values that should help us build a new Ghanaian civilization. This is the basis on which I identify it as a personal priority.” (GhanaWeb)

“Reiterating his earnest wish that the building of the National Cathedral should not be a burden on the state, President Akufo-Addo noted that it was for this reason that the Christian community, home and abroad, is being mobilized in partnership to raise the needed resources to build the Cathedral.

Whilst respecting the views of those who differ with him on the matter of the construction of the Cathedral, the President indicated that: ‘I am comforted in my decision by the vast numbers of enthusiastic supporters of this project, whose spiritual dimension is limitless.” (GhanaWeb)

“The President was confident that ‘like the statement of the Prophet Nehemiah in the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem, it is Almighty God who will prosper us and make us succeed in this endeavour. I am confident of the support of the Ghanaian people for this coalition of churches, corporations and individuals in bringing this project into fruition.” (GhanaWeb)

THIS DEFINITELY WAS A PERSONAL VOW TO GOD BY NANA ADDO DANKWA AKUFO-ADDO, A GHANAIAN & AN AKYEM, IN THE PURSUIT OF HIS PERSONAL SOLEMN PROMISE IN THE FORM OF AN OATH TO GOD THAT, SHOULD HE BE ELECTED AS THE 5^TH PRESIDENT OF THE 4^TH REPUBLIC OF GHANA, HE WILL, BY A PERSONAL INITIATIVE FOR TOTAL FUNDS MOBILIZATION, BUILD A CATHEDRAL TO HONOUR GOD.

“Called the ‘Cathedral of Scandals’, the planned US$400m supposedly now state-funded church has become hugely controversial in Ghana even as the country pursues an IMF loan due to huge debts and economic woes. (Aljazeera)

“About 700 metres (765 yards) from Ghana’s Parliament sits one of the world’s most controversial craters, a hole surrounded by weeds into which USD$58m has already been sunk for the building of an interdenominational national cathedral. (Aljazeera)

“I (PERSONAL) made a pledge to almighty God that He was gracious enough to grant my party, the NPP, and I victory in the 2016 elections after two unsuccessful attempts, so I will help build a cathedral to His glory and honour,” President Nana Akufo-Addo said at the sod-cutting ceremony in 2020. (Aljazeera)

“The interdenominational national cathedral will help unify the Christian community and thereby help promote national unity and social cohesion,” he said. (Aljazeera)

“But construction of the president’s pet project, due to cover 3.5 hectares (9 acres) of prime Accra real estate, has stalled since June due to lack of funds. If it weren’t for the cranes and artistic impressions of the project surrounding the construction zone, it could pass for an abandoned illegal mining site.

“Ghana, a major cocoa producer and leading exporter of gold, is facing its worst economic crisis in decades and has racked up a debt of US$45bn by the end of November 2023. (Aljazeera)

“The cost of living is high in the West African state with inflation hitting a record 54 percent in 21 years. Rents, fuel and transport prices have risen, and about a quarter of the population live below the poverty line, according to the United Nations Development Programme and the Ghana Statistical Service.

“Funding for the national cathedral has been shrouded in secrecy, but last year, the secretariat in charge of the project said the cost, initially estimated at US$100, has now quadrupled due to inflation.

“While presenting the 2019 budget to parliament, Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta promised the cathedral would not “put financial burdens on the state”.

“He said most of the costs would be covered y donations and the government was providing only the land (which is at great costs with compensations to be paid amidst litigations) and an unspecified amount of ‘seed money for the preparatory phase’. (Aljazeera)

“However, that has not been the case. Most of the US$58m spent so far has come from the national coffers, Ofori-Atta himself told parliament when it summoned him in November for censure hearing.

“A month later, parliament blocked a budget allocation of US$6.3m that the government had wanted to continue the project even as Ghana struggles to restructure its debt to qualify for a US$3bn loan from the International Monetary Fund.

Strategic Project Or Misplaced Priority

“The government argues the cathedral will bring enormous long-term economic benefits while transforming Ghana into a religious hub, creating jobs and accruing more revenue for the state.

The plan is for the cathedral’s 5,000-seat, two-level auditorium, which could be expanded to have an additional capacity of 15,000, to serve as a sacred space and facility for national events like state funerals and presidential inaugural services. It would also be home to Africa’s first Bible Museum and Documentation Centre. In addition, the cathedral would have a music school, an art gallery, shops and a national crypt for state burials. (Aljazeera)

I have gone to this extent, copiously to place the whole subject of the matter into proper perspective for all of us to appreciate what the issues are against the different contexts, especially as I have been fascinated by all the shadow boxing skirmishes going on round about us.

We all seem to be missing the real intent of the arguments and or the noises, considering the fact that the majority of Ghanaians are Christians and therefore such an enterprise, worthy as the underlying primary motive is – ‘building a house for the Lord’.

The real issue is that we were all hoodwinked by NADAA, after he had made a purely UNSOLICITED PERSONAL, PRIVATE & PARTY PLEDGE to the Lord our God that:

“…if the Lord was gracious enough to grant my party, the New Patriotic

Party (NPP), and I victory in the 2016 elections after two unsuccessful

attempts, so I will help build a cathedral to His glory and honour”.

This has nothing to do with the people (excluding the NPP, its executives & family and friends of NADAA), the state, other political parties, their national, regional, district and local executives as well as their registered memberships; and he could not have made any such pledge for and on behalf of anybody else.

Sincerely, I can understand NADAA and his pledge as well as the efficacy of this kind, from eternity to eternity and in the affairs of all religions, most importantly, the Christian faith; such pledges work and why NADAA and his party, NPP won the 2016 National Elections.

Throughout the Old Testament, Kings who have invoked the power behind the financing and building temples for the Lord our God have always used personal wealth and riches and not from the taxes and resources of the state and or kingdom.

King David had throughout his war exploits with all the booties, after his soldiers had received their shares, kept them till he became King of Israel and then he was instructed that he should leave the building of the first Temple to his son, Solomon to execute (reference the books of Kings and Chronicles) – “I intend, therefore, to build a temple for the Name of the Lord my God…” 1 Kings 5:5 and “Solomon gave orders to build a temple for the Name of the Lord…” 2 Chronicles 2:1.

Furthermore, the Book of Ezra records King Darius issuing a decree for the rebuilding of the temple (Ezra 5:13-15) after he had encountered the prophet Daniel and releasing his personal resources for the work with the support of his rich elders.

At no time did Kings Solomon and Darius use state resources for the either building the Temple on the promise of King David and or the request of Prophet Daniel; and therefore, NADAA got it all wrong with the approach of committing US$58m state funds to create the ‘world’s most expensive crater’.

I am most petrified by not only the insensitivities of the President and his party, the NPP on whose behalf the pledge was made but the deafening silences of Ghanaians, particularly the clergy and civil society, on the colossal state debt any future government is going to inherit, considering.

For a start, we should, as a people and as a state, begin to explore how we are going to block the payments of all gratuities plus all other benefits to be owed all members of NADAA government for the two terms (2017-2025) by way of garnishment, including all properties located across the globe.

We need to use this to set the precedents for how to deal with the political class as to corruption and other infractions, mindful that the final indebtedness for us as a nation and as a people to retire will include the compensations to underwrite the costs of all properties destroyed in order to prepare the site for the construction of the proposed National Cathedral.

Need I say more…

With just 10 days to go, we are reminded that the strength of our democracy lies not only in the ballots we cast but in the peaceful manner with which we conduct ourselves throughout the election process.

Let us remember that elections are about choices, but they are also about unity.

Whether we vote for one candidate or another, our collective responsibility is to ensure that our country remains a beacon of peace, respect, and stability in Africa.

The true winners of this election will not be determined by the number of votes, but by our commitment to peaceful coexistence and mutual respect.

We have always been proud of our democratic values, our free speech, and our ability to resolve differences with dignity.

These values must continue to guide us, even in moments of tension and disagreement.

To Our Political Leaders: Let Your Campaigns Be a Testament to the Highest Ideals of Democracy in the Final Minutes to the Polls

Engage in healthy debate, promote dialogue, and ensure that the voice of every Ghanaian is heard with respect and fairness.

To the People of Ghana: Let Us Choose Peace. Let Us Embrace the Diversity of Opinion That Makes Us Stronger as a Nation.

Let us reject violence, and let our actions on December 7 reflect the Ghanaian spirit of tolerance, understanding, and respect for the rule of law.

Let us also remind ourselves that after the election, we must come together as one people, united in purpose and vision for a brighter future for our children, our communities, and our country.

Together, We Can Uphold the Legacy of Peace That Has Defined Us for Generations. Together, We Can Build a Ghana That Is Stronger, More Prosperous, and More United.

Peace, Unity, and Democracy for a Better Ghana!

About the author

Kodwo Mensah Aboroampa is a journalist with the Multimedia Group Limited and Development Communication Advocate

In 1993, at the Bochum Stadium, the Black Stars found themselves celebrating against Germany. In the 44th minute, Prince Polley scored from a deflected pass by the Maestro Abedi Pele. The players celebrated, lying on the field and on top of each other. But the game still had the second half to go. Ghana had scored one goal in the first half, but within just 27 minutes in the second half, they conceded six goals.

Some victories begin with defeat, while some defeats start with victory. Sometimes you score not because you are better, but because your opponent is worse. What happens when the opponent corrects their mistakes?

This experience has since been named the “Bochum Disaster.” Similarly, some celebrate the winning of a contract by spending ten percent of the money before the real work begins. But such contracts may never be completed.

Many soccer teams have lost because they scored first and became complacent. It beats my imagination when players celebrate in the opponent’s half instead of focusing on the next phase of the game. They often go to greet spectators — but why not save that for the end of the game?

Similarly, a political victory is only the beginning of the game. The real victory will be at the end of four years. As the Bible says, “Better is the end of a thing than its beginning.” Politicians should see their win as the equivalent of scoring a goal in a four-year game. The true measure of success will come at the end of those four years. Some politicians, by their manner of celebrating alone, can set the stage for disaster.

Go to the home of your opponent and appreciate them. If possible, include them in developing projects. Remember, when you walk alone, you can go fast, but when you walk with others, you can go far.

Do not tease your opponent. Do not increase your enemies.

Sure, there might be some unpopular policies to sidestep (without offending the president, the government, or their party’s track record).

But it shouldn’t be this hard. Yet here we are, watching our vice president, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, literally performing a parkour to sell himself as the man for the job.

One day, he’s the humble mate of the metaphorical trotro bus, claiming he’s merely assisting the driver (and thus, not responsible for the government’s failings — which, trust me, we’ll get to soon).

Next, he’s proudly sitting in the driver’s seat, demanding applause for things like getting the NHIS to cover dialysis treatment a few weeks before the 2024 elections.

To be fair, having worked in Ghana and seen how power relations work across sectors, I know that titles do not always translate to control. In many cases, the real power lies with the boss and his inner circle.

Let’s take President Akufo-Addo for example, the man once appointed a PRO for a public agency. If a president micromanages down to this level, I don’t see how he is going to let his veep steer the ship.

I also remember when President Akufo-Addo told a community their issues weren’t addressed because they didn’t vote for his party’s MP candidate.

Any leader capable of such a thoughtless comment is unlikely to let a deputy take the reins on major decisions. So, when Bawumia insists he wasn’t pulling the economic levers despite being part of the “economic management team,” he’s not entirely wrong. After all, didn’t his flagship digitization program get undermined w? A government genuinely invested in Bawumia’s vision would have considered the implications of the tax on his efforts to establish a digital economy. So yes, I’ll give him this one. He’s been the mate, not the driver.

Of course, being the mate doesn’t disqualify you from one day becoming the driver. Many mates eventually take the wheel, and some do it spectacularly well. In Bawumia’s case, though, the problem isn’t that he lacks the potential to drive.

The problem is that Akufo-Addo’s “driving style” has left the bus sputtering, and staying on board is no longer the safest option.

After all, if the driver is this bad, what hope do we have for the mate he couldn’t even bother to train properly? Under the Akufo-Addo administration, of which Bawumia has been an integral part, Ghana is facing its worst economic crisis yet.

The country has defaulted on its sovereign debt, triggering hyperinflation and those dreaded “haircuts” on investments. Ghanaians who entrusted their savings to government bonds have seen their returns slashed (after numerous promises by the president that there would be no haircuts).

The crisis has plunged over 800,000 Ghanaians into poverty in 2022. Even if we accept their argument that this crisis is due to external forces, the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war, the government’s own failings are impossible to ignore.

Take Akufo-Addo’s promise to make Accra the cleanest city in Africa. Instead of becoming a beacon of cleanliness, the city remains buried in filth. Not just the capital, but most of the country is buried under tons of waste.

Then, there was his pledge to stake his presidency on ending galamsey (illegal mining), which has ravaged Ghana’s forests and poisoned its water bodies.

Yet, large swaths of forests and farmlands are still disappearing while water bodies, sources of drinking water, still run brown with pollution.

The president’s vow to “protect the public purse” also rings hollow when you consider some of the jaw-dropping financial scandals under his watch.

One glaring example is the Frontiers Healthcare contract with the Ghana Airports Company where Ghana received a meagre $6.4 million while Frontiers Healthcare Services Limited walked away with a staggering $80.6 million.

Then there’s the Cecilia Dapaah case where a public official was found to have stashed millions in her home, yet it was the Special Prosecutor who faced harassment for attempting to investigate her.

Time and space won’t allow me to catalogue the breadth of corruption, shady deals, outright self-dealing, incompetence, disrespect and bad behaviour that have flourished under Akufo-Addo’s administration.

From wasting millions on the national cathedral and erecting a golden statue of himself while the economy wobbles, to demanding that chiefs stand to greet him, to outright ignoring the detention of unarmed protesters calling for an end to galamsey, this has been a masterclass in hubris.  And then there is the incompetence.

Our public schools remain in a state of disrepair, our hospitals are overburdened and underfunded, and our roads are crumbling. Things are so bad that coming across functioning traffic lights and clear road markings now feels like a luxury.

This is from a president who appointed over 100 ministers in the name of transformation. Even electricity, a problem we believe was solved, has become unreliable.

We had to rage online and offline to get the government to clear drugs and vaccines donated to the country by the Global Fund from the port.

I know from Ghana’s history that we’ve faced dark days before. Things aren’t as catastrophic as they were between 1969 and the 1980s, but if there’s been a period since our return to constitutional rule where the country has regressed beyond recognition, it’s this period under Under Akufo-Addo. All of which brings me back to Dr. Bawumia’s plea for trust.

The problem isn’t Dr. Bawumia’s competence or capacity to lead; it’s what his candidacy represents. A vote for him in this context is akin to saying, “We loved Akufo-Addo’s reign! Encore!”

For me, whether or not Dr Bawumia could steer Ghana in a different direction besides the point. The mere prospect of any iteration of this government continuing is terrifying and fills me with dread for Ghana’s future.

Here’s the thing: If Dr. Bawumia wasn’t running on the back of such an awful legacy, and at such a challenging time in our history, his candidacy would have been a significant positive.

As a Muslim man from northern Ghana, his presence on the ticket could have been a powerful symbol of religious pluralism and a step forward in deepening our democracy. But symbolism isn’t enough, Ghanaian Muslims are suffering too.

I can hear a loyal NPP supporter ask,  “Whom should I vote for, then?” Or perhaps someone who lived under John Mahama’s administration might ask, “Isn’t voting for JDM just a return to the same issues you’re complaining about?”

To NPP supporters I say this: If you truly believe in your party’s vision, take a hard look at where Akufo-Addo has landed us now.

Has Dr. Bawumia offered any clear plans to change how we live, work, or play in Ghana? This is a man who has proposed paying chiefs, giving more perks to religious institutions, and floating other juvenile ideas—all in a broke country. Broke, as in, too broke for silly, populist schemes.

Besides, the NPP, the party you love now has an Akufo-Addo problem. Not only does he dominate it fully but he has filled its ranks with people most of you wouldn’t send on errands, let alone run a government.

Many of these people owe their positions not to competence or vision but to their loyalty to Akufo-Addo. Your party has been hijacked by opportunists and sycophants who are slowly wrecking it.

If you truly care about Ghana and your party,  you need to vote against Bawumia. Yes, I’m saying you should hold your nose and vote for John Mahama.

And no, I don’t say this lightly. I remember the Mahama presidency very well.

The economic challenges, the corruption scandals (hello, GYEEDA and SADA), the filthy towns and cities, the endless flooding of Accra despite numerous promises to clean the Odaw River, and the silly decision to airlift money to Brazil. John Mahama wasn’t great.

But for all his faults, John Mahama never condescended to Ghanaians. He didn’t check out while the country burned. He wasn’t obsessed with statues or perks or silencing critics.

Say what you will about the “dead goat” comment, but at least he showed up. And in a political landscape as broken as ours, even that low bar is preferable to what we have now.

So no, I’m not reassured that Mahama wouldn’t revert to old settings of misgovernance, corruption, or neglect.

But faced with the terrifying prospect of continuity under Bawumia, I’d rather gamble on a leader who has experienced deep criticism and has, if nothing else, proven that he’s willing to take a beating and keep going.

Sometimes, when the bar is this low, showing up really is half the battle. And let’s be honest, the fact that John Mahama is even our most viable option now is a damning indictment of Akufo-Addo’s leadership.

If he, Akufo-Addo had delivered on the sweeping mandate Ghanaians entrusted him with on December 7, 2016, John Mahama—who was trounced in that election wouldn’t dare put his face on a campaign poster today.

When Ghanaians voted Mahama out in that landslide victory for Akufo-Addo, we weren’t just saying, “Enough is enough.” We were trying to set a new, higher standard for governance.

We believed we could demand better and that Akufo-Addo was the man to deliver it. But as Akufo-Addo has painfully demonstrated, voting a party into power is only one part of our civic responsibility.

To truly hold our leaders accountable and ensure they serve the people, we need to consistently demand transparency, integrity, and performance throughout their time in office.

Unfortunately, we’ve fallen short on this front, and Ghanaian politicians have continued to operate without the healthy fear of the electorate that democracy requires.

Thankfully, December 7, 2024, offers us a chance to revisit the promise we made to ourselves in 2016.

By voting against Akufo-Addo’s legacy—by rejecting Dr Bawumia’s candidacy—we can take another step toward raising the bar for governance in Ghana.

This isn’t just about elections; it’s about reminding every politician that their seat isn’t a throne but a responsibility, one they can lose if they fail us.

And voting for John Mahama might be the only way to ensure accountability for the staggering corruption, destruction, and theft that have defined Akufo-Addo’s administration.

Without this, we risk undermining the very foundation of electoral accountability that sustains Ghanaian democracy.

By: Nana Ama Agyemang Asante. She’s a Ghanaian journalist and a writer.

Email: nnyamewaa@gmail.com

If, in the same vein, prophecy, polls, and prediction were lined up, which would be the most reliable, the most confusing, and the most troublesome? Well, prophecies and polls can be predictive, but a prediction may not necessarily be a prophecy or a poll.

Prediction can also disguise itself as prophecy. Could it be that many of the prophecies today are predictions? Could that be the reason they are all going in different directions? How can one person (God) say different things about the same situation?

Truthfully, some of the prophecies are too easy. Even a lotto forecaster could get it right. Considering the fact that the race is mainly between two people, at least from my personal observation, prophesying about which of the two will win is as simple as predicting whether a pregnant woman will deliver a boy or a girl.

Already, you are 50% accurate. Prophesying about who will be last is equally important. Why are we all focusing our prophecies on only the winner? Are we expecting anything from the winner after?

If so, can we move to a higher level and give details of the percentage win and regional contributions? What makes prophecy attractive is its improbability, so to speak.

Crucifixion was introduced by the Romans. At the time Jesus’ death was prophesied in Psalms and Isaiah, the Romans were not in power.

So, the details didn’t make sense. They spoke about a sword piercing His side, none of His bones being broken, and many other details. These details were specifically related to crucifixion.

Kwame Bediako, Allan Kyerematen, Osofo Kyiriabosom, and all others deserve prophecy. They add to the competition, and I’m sure God is interested in them, too. Who knows if one of them will surface and surprise us?

Prophecies must wear the coat of mystery. They should be mind-blowing and jaw-dropping. Let’s go deeper.

Pollsters have always tried to predict political situations through research. They predict with margins of error. That is humility. It indicates that to err is human. Others, however, are extremely sure.

Some have built a certain level of confidence by virtue of their success over the years. Aren’t you amazed by how the current American elections confronted pollsters?

Some had predicted a neck-and-neck situation, and one pollster who had been successful in the past eleven elections had his prediction in favor of Kamala fail miserably.

Trump did not only win; he won massively. Men must make room for God. Peter said to Jesus, “Master, we have worked hard all night and have caught nothing. Nevertheless, at Your word, I will let down the net.”

Peter was a professional fisherman. He was well aware that the night was a better time for a catch than the day. Nevertheless…

We always find ourselves in situations when our own wisdom is not enough. Many have built their tomorrows on their wisdom, only to realize that they had it all wrong.

We pray that the results of our coming elections will not throw us into confusion because of some polls.

Of course, we trust that all the powers that be will do what is necessary and right for the results to be accepted by all.

Well, for those of us who do not speak Akan, ‘mempene’ simply means ‘I won’t agree.’

When the African politician says such, the UN must be ready to set up refugee camps. Mempene from a politician can mean many things.

Most prominently, the politician’s MEMPENE could mean, “I do not care how many people die,” because the way we do our politics is ‘life and death.’

Only God can tell the number of human beings that are literally sacrificed in political pursuits. When they start with human sacrifice, they will end with the same.

Well, I must confess I am not privy to any particular politician doing that. Neither have I received any revelation from God.

But come to think of it, if teenagers can kill their own friends for a small amount of money, then what else cannot be done in our country? It should not be surprising.

The cost of political campaigns is huge. The one-on-one distributions alone! So, it is ‘eye-redening’ when a politician loses.

That is why some African politicians do not care if a whole population will be wiped out, so they can become presidents over nobody, so to speak. It has happened in a number of our neighboring nations. We give God the glory for Ghana.

All because politics seems to be a more assuring investment than even the bank. People will sit on the radio and talk politics for hours.

They do not consider that they could spend the same time setting up a business to create employment for just two people. Unemployment and economic hardships are the reasons they are sitting on the radio anyway.

The season is busy, like some wedding ceremonies I have heard of. A couple of days after the wedding, the photographer, the caterer, and the manager of the events center will show up, demanding their money.

Similar situations may happen after December 7. While many will have legitimate reasons for a ‘mempene,’ others may purely be financial. If you cannot spell it, please don’t write it. Mempene almost always bears a sword.

Mempene shows up everywhere. The last time it showed up in that marriage, it fell on rocks. It showed up among two anointed pastors, and the church was divided into two.

It showed up between a son and his father, and the case ended at the police station. In God’s nation Israel, in the glorious days of Solomon, it showed up.

Two mothers were probably at the maternity ward waiting to be discharged. The unfortunate happened: one lost her son.

This bereaved mother may have waited for a son all her married life. She may miss the family’s inheritance without a son.

Like Hannah, her rival may have teased her continually. She had thought all these were over until her baby died.

In desperation, she needed a solution. The only one that came to mind was to exchange the dead with the living. She executed the plan so perfectly.

But as fate would have it, the real mother realized that her living son had been exchanged with the dead one. It was ‘mempene’ by both until the case got to King Solomon.

The sword always lurks around wherever there is mempene. So Solomon took the sword. “Bring the baby, let me divide it into two for them,” he commanded.

What are you going to do with a baby with divided intestines? What use was having two legs without a chest and a head? Mempene always likes it that way.

The fake mother was happy at the ruling. None of us should have it. If I don’t get it, you neither. Are we talking about the constituency you have heavily invested in? Your CHP compound? That school block?

The road? Similar were the feelings of the real mother. Her bowels of mercy began to churn. “NO, King,” she interrupted.

“It is more about life than death. Please let the baby live.” Chills may have run through the spine of King Solomon. “What manner of love is this?” he may have pondered.

The fake woman may have stretched her hands to receive the baby. She was surprised to hear the real ruling. “Give him to the other woman. She is the real mother.” King Solomon! King Solomon! King Solomon!

One thing mempene is surely afraid of is wisdom.

We have over 270 educated parliamentarians, plus the Speaker and clerks in parliament.

It can be emotionally draining to be on the losing side. Staying positive and calm during a loss calls for employing all our inner strengths. However, on such occasions, the slightest show of grace in conceding defeat is so profound.

In a particular marathon race, the leading runner stopped short of the finishing line and started celebrating. The second-placed runner could have passed him to win.

Amazingly, the second-placed runner slowed down and gently pushed the frontrunner toward the real finishing line. Internationally, that act of graciously accepting second place was more celebrated than the win.

Abraham had lived with Lot until they had both prospered. It got to a time when the available pastures could not contain both shepherds.

This resulted in a misunderstanding between Abraham’s employees and those of Lot. They were a family, as many Ghanaians are.

There are Ashantes named Okyere. The Kwahus, the Akuapems, the Guans, and many other tribes all name Okyere. We are one big family. We need not fight. To help the situation, Abraham allowed Lot to choose his portion of pastures first.

Lot should have protested the offer because Abraham was the elder. But Lot looked around and chose the best of pastures without leaving an apparent good portion for Abraham. Both Lot’s and Abraham’s followers may have seen Abraham as weak and stupid.

But we should never forget the fact that peacemakers are wiser and blessed. Make peace this election season.

The Fantes have a proverb. It says when your friend eats faster than you, he leads you in seeing ‘ghosts.’

In our primitive family house settings, we ate together. All the boys brought suppers from our mothers, and we ate each other’s meals together at a time.

Obviously, the fist folds and the ‘circumference’ of opened mouths were in different categories of sizes.

It means some stomachs will be fuller than others at the end of the rounds. Fuller stomachs lead the queue to the washroom. In those days, we did not have toilets in the home.

The main toilet was at the edge of town. So, when the need arose at night, you would walk through the darkness with the possibility of seeing a ‘ghost.’ What it means is that every opportunity grabbed comes with a responsibility. So, if your opportunities are more loaded than mine, your risks are higher.

Behind Lot’s greener pastures was Sodom. In fact, the Bible says he pitched his tent toward Sodom.

Sodom was obviously the beginning of Lot’s woes. They were trouble upon trouble. His troubles recorded both homosexuality and incest.

Many politicians will do everything to win by hook or by crook. Political power is a huge responsibility. There are unseen battles waging. It is better not to win than to win unfairly.

A fair win still comes with its own challenges. These occupational hazards, coupled with an inward guilt of unfairness, are not a good way to go.

If it is not fair, it is not firm. Truth is the only foundation, and it endures the test of time.

Abraham had calmed the situation; all parties dropped their swords. Lot chose his lot and left toward Sodom.

He was in trouble too soon because the community was captured in a raid, and Abraham quickly went to his rescue.

But early on, after they had parted, God visited Abraham and told him to lift up his eyes. God showed him pastures that the greedy eyes of Lot had not seen. The biblical passage reads this way:

“The Lord said to Abram, AFTER LOT HAD SEPARATED FROM HIM, ‘Lift up your eyes and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward, for all the land that you see I will give to you and your offspring forever.'” (Genesis 13:14-15)

Lot chose his portion, but Abraham’s portion was given to him by God. God Himself protects what He gives to us.

I believe in hard work, I believe in adventure, but they are all uncertain if God is not in them. All that Lot gathered perished in Sodom. It was so painful that Lot’s wife did what she had been warned not to do.

She turned back and turned into a pillar of salt. Some will certainly lose the election, but they may be given a better opportunity by God. There are divine directions better than an election.

“Kae d3, s3 wo yonko sen wo edzidzi a, osen wo nsamanhu.”

As we look towards the next twenty-five years, the question looms: What will it take for us to achieve a prosperous and equitable society?

The answer lies in an old African proverb that speaks to the three guiding principles we need: courage, sense, and insight.

First, we need courage to inspire leadership that will govern selflessly, safeguard our democracy, and implement sound policies.

We need the sense to understand the global landscape and the shifting economic dynamics of today’s world, such as the outcomes of the recent US elections and how they will affect Ghana and African countries in general.

Finally, we need insight from our past experiences to shape our future—understanding what policies and strategies have worked and learning from those that have not. As another African proverb that I have often quoted reminds us: If you know the beginning well, the end shall not trouble you.

Over the past few years, through the Compact for Ghana’s Political and Economic Transformation, I have led a broad initiative aimed at analyzing Ghana’s political and economic development over the past three decades of the Fourth Republic.

The process has yielded valuable insights that will guide us moving forward.

Ghana’s Political Landscape and History of Stability

Our history of peaceful transfers of power between the two dominant political parties has positioned Ghana as a beacon of democracy in Africa.

These achievements reflect our commitment to stability and civil engagement.

Yet, despite these democratic credentials and our international acclaim as one of Africa’s success stories, we still face significant challenges.

Political polarization often places party interests over national ones, and we struggle to effectively convert our abundant natural and human resources into the economic and social well-being of our people.

Our youth remain disengaged and underemployed while our economy is marred by huge budget deficits, excessive borrowing and currency instability.

A Citizens Driven Approach

From developing technical papers by leading policy institutes to building robust partnerships and engaging citizens, the Ghana Compact process has been citizen-driven and has crystalized a vision for the future we want for our dear nation.

Our consultations culminated in a Citizens’ Convention held in June 2024, where over 500 participants, representing key stakeholder groups, came together to craft a shared vision.

From this emerged a Citizens Declaration of a Social Contract—a blueprint outlining our collective aspirations, responsibilities, and goals for 2050.

For the government, the Social Contract calls for fiscal discipline, a focus on long-term planning rather than changing course every four to eight years and prioritizing the well-being of people over politics.

For citizens, it emphasizes the need to hold government to account for progress and recommit us to the values and ethics of hard work, service, and patriotism that must define our country.

The Fierce Urgency of Now

Building a Ghana that all of us can be proud of requires the commitment of all Ghanaians, regardless of background, religion, political party affiliation, age, or gender.

We must unite around a common roadmap that will allow us to realize our collective vision for our nation, and work with fierce urgency. The time to act is now.

We must therefore urge the newly elected President to convene a National Convention within the first few months of taking office.

This gathering should bring together young leaders, representatives from all political parties, traditional authorities, religious figures, civil society, and stakeholders from the Citizens Convention.

The central purpose of the National Convention will be to establish a lasting consensus on the Future We Want and formally endorse the Citizens’ Declaration of a Social Contract.

In short, this convention or “Indaba” will foster unity after the elections and create the collective ownership of Ghana’s future that is needed to tackle the urgent and pressing economic challenges facing the nation. The objectives of the National Convention will include:

• Alignment of Policy: Ensuring consistency and alignment of the key policy actions and promises of the political party manifesto of the new government with the goals and targets of the Citizens’ Convention Social Contract Declaration, considering what Tony Blair recently said about a party’s manifesto: it is a guide to winning but rarely prioritize with the rigor necessary for
• Good Governance: Adopting a code of good governance to address the pervasive corruption, inefficient public administration, and inadequate regulatory frameworks—all of which collectively erode public trust and impede effective
• Political Party and Campaign Financing: Reaching consensus on the main elements of robust campaign and political party financing as a precondition to tackling the existential threat of galamsey or illegal mining and related procurement and public financing challenges.
• Decentralization: Supporting the recommendations of the Constitutional Review Consultative Committee, including decentralization of functions and resources to the district and community
• Fiscal Discipline: Maximizing fiscal flows while maintaining fiscal discipline to facilitate economic transformation by accessing the right mix of external finance from international finance institutions and the private
• Civic Education: Promoting a mindset shift that emphasizing patriotism, hard work, integrity and honesty, supported by robust funding for the National Center for Civics Education
• Accountability Mechanism: Establishing an accountability mechanism to ensure that the Social Contract evolves to meet the needs of all Ghanaians, including a public online dashboard to track development progress through 2050, with a key role for citizens and civil

A Call to Action

Through this National Convention, we will send a powerful message of unity, resolve, and commitment to a prosperous, peaceful future.

It will be a first step in strengthening the culture of dialogue between citizens and the authorities.

Because democracy is more than voting every four years.

The Ghana Compact will allow citizens to remain engaged and ensure that the next government and subsequent ones stay focused on our collective goals.

The challenges we face may seem daunting, but I believe that if we embrace this vision and prioritize our national interests, we can transform our nation.

A brighter future is within our reach, for ourselves and most importantly for the generations to come.

Together we can demonstrate that even in turbulent times democracy is worth the fight—and a that a social contract allowing citizens to engage in the future we deserve is worth the effort.

The time for change is now. Let us embrace it with courage, sense, and insight.

The extreme cost of dialysis, coupled with inadequate healthcare infrastructure, has left patients feeling hopeless and resigned to a tragic fate.

Kidney disease is a serious and long-lasting illness that is becoming a significant problem in Ghana, affecting many lives. But it is not just about the numbers. Patients face many difficulties every day, including physical pain, emotional struggles, and financial troubles.

Kidney disease sneaks up quietly, often presenting as tiredness, swelling, or mild pain. By the time you notice something is wrong, it might be too late, as is the case for many kidney patients.

Ghana’s healthcare system lacks resources, and many people are unaware of kidney disease, leading to patients often going undiagnosed and untreated until the disease reaches its end stage.

Health reports reveal that approximately 13.3% of the Ghanaian population suffers from chronic kidney disease (CKD), meaning hundreds of thousands of Ghanaians are affected. The problem is worse among people with high blood pressure and diabetes, with 1 in 6 (16.9%) suffering from kidney disease.

Even more alarming, 14-15% of homeless and slum dwellers in Accra have kidney problems. Many of these individuals don’t receive the help they need due to lack of access to healthcare, poverty, and other challenges. Overall, kidney disease is a significant health concern in Ghana.

Ghana’s renal care infrastructure is woefully inadequate, with only a handful of specialized centers, mostly located in urban areas, making it even more difficult for those in rural areas. The financial burden of dialysis is crippling, costing GH¢500-1,000 per session, and these patients are expected to repeat these sessions two to three times every week.

Countless individuals, ravaged by this illness, are compelled to plead for assistance with tears streaming down their faces, hoping for a chance to cheat death and continue living. Tragically, the outcome is not always certain.

For some, the cries for help are answered, and they receive the vital support they need to reclaim their fragile grip on life. However, for others, the response comes too late. Silently, they slip into eternity, leaving their families shattered and their dreams unfulfilled—the abrupt end to promising lives.

The government, healthcare providers, and international organizations must prioritize renal care and address the financial burden. Subsidizing dialysis costs or providing free treatment for vulnerable patients could alleviate suffering.

Establishing more renal care centers, particularly in rural areas, would improve access. Implementing health insurance programs that cover kidney disease treatment and encouraging public-private partnerships to improve healthcare infrastructure are crucial steps.

Recently, the government unveiled an initiative to provide free dialysis starting December 1, 2024. This program seeks to alleviate the financial strain on kidney patients, offering relief and hope to those struggling with the economic burden of renal care.

This initiative has received a lukewarm response from the public. On one hand, some people are thrilled, commending the government for its efforts to alleviate the financial burden on kidney patients. On the other hand, others believe this move is merely a political stunt, aimed at garnering votes with the December polls just around the corner.

The skepticism is understandable, given the timing of the announcement. With elections looming, it is natural to question the motivations behind such a significant policy change. However, it’s also important to consider the potential benefits of this initiative, which could bring relief to countless individuals struggling with kidney disease.

Ultimately, the true intentions behind this initiative will unfold in time. For now, it’s crucial to acknowledge both perspectives. For the love of humanity, we hope and pray that our leaders will not add this very crucial problem to the litany of other issues exploited for political gain. Every delayed decision leaves lives hanging precariously in the balance.

Ghana’s kidney patients are crying out for help. By implementing solutions and increasing awareness, we can alleviate suffering, restore hope, and ensure these individuals receive the care they deserve. May our leaders prioritize the well-being of humanity and address this critical issue with sincerity, rather than exploiting it for political gain.

He openly confronts some journalists and media houses recently, almost swallowing them for not hallowing him as the ‘Majority Leader’ in Parliament.

But on this motion, the Efutu Member of Parliament (MP) is absolutely out of order, and, happily, his targets of attack have been resolute and unruffled.

If Afenyo-Markin, a lawyer and lawmaker, finds it vexatious or grievous that journalists or media houses are denigrating his status by not addressing him as ‘Majority Leader’, he may rush to court and speedily secure an injunction against the unrepentant lot, or hurl them to the Privileges Committee of Parliament, or file a complaint against them at the National Media Commission (NMC), or exercise his constitutional right to rejoinder, or sue them for defamation.

Instead of ranting, the Leader of the NPP Caucus in Parliament must take counsel in the sages thus: “Action speaks louder than words”!

Confused script

In the first of two confrontations with journalists and media houses, Afenyo-Markin, while addressing the parliamentary press corps after the Speaker’s announcement of four vacant seats in Parliament, reprimands Joy FM, saying: “You people are known for a lot of mischief”.

He then proceeds to fire salvos indiscriminately: “Joy News, your role as a media house is to help our democracy. Joy is becoming notorious. Joy FM is becoming notorious for misinforming and doing mischief. Yesterday, they were quick to say that there is now a Minority Leader and a Majority Leader. I will not take any of that”.

By mixing up Joy FM and Joy News, it is obvious that either the learned man does not know the difference between the two or he is so incoherent in laying his charge.

I appreciate Afenyo-Markin’s knowledge of the law but I pardon his ignorance of the media, believing that whether he cites Joy FM or Joy News, so long as there is “Joy”, his discomfort is headlined.

But the lawyer and lawmaker ought to know that in the bosom of the 1992 Constitution, particularly Article 162(4), it does not lie in his powers, even as the Leader of the NPP Caucus in Parliament, to control or harass journalists and media houses for their editorial opinions and views.

For the avoidance of doubt, Article 162(4) provides unambiguously (without requiring the invocation of the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court for interpretation): “Editors and publishers of newspapers and other institutions of the mass media shall not be subject to control or interference by Government, nor shall they be penalised or harassed for their editorial opinions and views, or the content of their publications” (emphasis mine).

While calling out the Joy brands and urging them that he doesn’t really care if they go ahead to do anything to destroy his own brand, Afenyo-Markin firmly asserts his rights: “I will say it; you can go and bash me. But I will assert my right. It’s my bona fide”.

He, however, fails to appreciate that asserting his rights may not oust the rights of others, and that the reign of his rights may not rein in the rights of others.

That is not to suggest that journalists and media houses are above reproach and cannot be called to order; or Afenyo-Markin does not have the right to criticise Joy (whether FM or News).

But exercising such right via confrontation, and insisting that journalists and media houses (who also have rights and duty to tell the story) must do his bidding is clear harassment and interference, in my humble opinion.

Rejoinder is a constitutional right, but under Article 162(6), although media houses are obliged to publish rejoinder from aggrieved persons, if any, the Constitution does not contemplate confrontation and intimidation as pathways to that end.

Call for remarking?

In his quest to demonstrate that the evildoing of the Joy brands is crystal, Afenyo-Markin directs them to other media houses for professional edification.

“City FM does it well; Okay FM does it well; Peace FM does it well…. There are other media houses; they express their opinions but they do the right thing….”

However, barely two weeks later, in what will affirm his incoherent expression of grievance, Afenyo-Markin, after a Supreme Court ruling, invades a live television reportage by Channel One (also reporting for Citi FM, a media house he had earlier acclaimed as “does it well”) to protest against the reporter’s reference to him as the Leader of the NPP Caucus in Parliament.

“Stop misreporting. I am the Majority Leader…. Say it. You’ve been saying it [Leader of NPP Caucus] consistently, and I’ve been correcting you that the court has pronounced; stop describing me as Leader of NPP Caucus. You should know better,” he tells the Citi FM / Channel One reporter, as his right hand conducts his ruffled demeanour.

In law, to approbate and reprobate (or vice versa) is deemed to be vice that may lead one to ‘hell’, but in Scripture, repentance is deemed to be virtue that may lead one to heaven.

Either way, the admonition of Alexander the Great, the powerful and famous King of ancient Macedonia, is quite profound:

“How should a man be capable of grooming his own horse, or of furbishing his own spear and helmet, if he allows himself to become unaccustomed to tending even his own person, which is his most treasured belonging?”

The crux of the matter

Afenyo-Markin is upset with some journalists and media houses for either not addressing him as ‘Majority Leader’ or calling him the Leader of the NPP Caucus in Parliament.

Indeed, before going to the Supreme Court to secure an injunction against the Speaker’s announcement, during the pendency of the substantive case in court, and after the ruling on same by the Supreme Court, it is not erroneous to address him as Leader of the NPP Caucus in Parliament or even as the Efutu MP.

So, he cannot compel journalists and media houses to clothe him with titles he prefers to wear, and if he feels aggrieved, he can only trek the righteous path to seek redress.

It is worthy of note that in the case of Citi FM / Channel One, the reporter, even in the face of intimidation and harassment, offers Afenyo-Markin the microphone to express his divergent views and dissenting opinion as the media are enjoined to do under Article 163 of the 1992 Constitution.

It is also gratifying to note that in both instances of confrontation, the reporters do not flinch, as they keep their composure to do their job.

But for the intimidation and hostility in the case of Joy FM / Joy News, Afenyo-Markin would have scored high marks for allowing the reporter to proceed with his question.

The intrigues 

It is intriguing that Afenyo-Markin does not have any problem with his own colleagues addressing him as ‘Leader’.

Amusingly, as the Efutu MP is vehemently chastising Joy FM / Joy News for not addressing him as ‘Majority Leader’, his colleague MP who calls the Joy reporter to ask his question, addresses him as “Leader”.

The MP for Agona West, Cynthia Morrison, responding to a question on GHOne regarding her purported stepping down as independent parliamentary candidate, said: “It is not true. My ‘Leader’ said he’s spoken to the media; I don’t know which media it is….”

Perhaps, it is time to serve Afenyo-Markin an injunction from the Supreme Counsel of Jesus Christ in Matthew 7:3-5:

“And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye” (KJV).

It is also fascinating to observe that Afenyo-Markin declares ‘no confrontation’ with National Democratic Congress (NDC) MPs in the Chamber of Parliament, not even to secure his ‘Majority Leader’ seat.

But he eagerly launches confrontation with journalists and media houses in the public square to secure his ‘Majority Leader’ title. Huh!

Again, whilst the Leader of the NPP Caucus in Parliament is sprinting to the Supreme Court in the interest of Cynthia Morrison and others amid firing of salvos at journalists and media houses, supporters of the independent candidate and the NPP in Agona West are firing gunshots at each other, causing fear and panic in the constituency.

Obviously, there are deep cracks in the NPP and what Afenyo-Markin must confront are the major cracks in his party, not the minor issues in the media.

And per my assessment of his commitment to majoring in the minors in the matters discussed herein, his is a failed script.

Writers Email: kofiyebo@yahoo.com / The writer is the General Secretary of the Ghana Journalists Association and Communications Lecturer at Wisconsin International University College, Ghana

I commend you for your service to your beloved country. I write in relation to the recent standoff between the legislature and the judiciary of Ghana.

After the Speaker of Parliament’s attention was drawn to the actions of the four Members of Parliament (MPs) namely;

• Andrew Asiamah                     –         MP, Fomena (Independent to NPP)
• Cynthia Morrison           –         MP, Agona West (NPP to Independent)
• Kojo Asante                              –         MP, Suhum (NPP to Independent)
• Peter Kwakye Ackah     –         MP, Amenfi Central (NDC to Independent)

He gave effect to the constitutional provision that their actions had invoked. These aforementioned MPs have filed their candidacy to run in the upcoming 2024 general elections.

The reason for the three who are running as independent candidates is obviously borne out of animosity with their estranged political parties.

The notice of polls released by the Electoral Commission (EC), the authorised body in charge of elections in Ghana indicate a switch in tickets. Article 97(1) (g) and (h) address this instance. It reads,

(g) – “A member of Parliament shall vacate his (their) seat in Parliament – if he (they) leave(s) the party of which he (they) was (were) a member at the time of his (their) election to Parliament to join another party or seeks to remain in Parliament as an independent member; or

(h) – if he (they) was (were) elected a member of Parliament as an independent candidate and join(s) a political party.” [pronoun and verb revision mine]

Your Lordship, you were interviewed on the matter on the 12^th of November, 2024 by JoyNews.

In your submission, you emphatically stated that the matter should have been directed to the High Court and not the Supreme Court as indicated under article 99(1) of the Constitution, 1992. You further stated that the Supreme Court only has referential jurisdiction.

This means, in the event that the High Court deems a constitutional provision worthy of interpretation as a result of ambiguity or any mischief it may serve, then the matter in respect of the interpretation only will be referred to the Supreme Court. After which the interpretation will be used to reach a verdict at the High Court.

When asked what you would have done when the suit was filed, you responded that you will have directed the plaintiffs to the High Court.

However, if the provision is drafted in clear language devoid of any ambiguity or mischief, then there will be no reason for a Supreme Court interpretation.

It is my conviction that you agree that the wording used by the drafters of Article 97(1)(g) and (h) is clear, likewise is 99(1).

Your Lordship, you had premised your submission by explaining that the Constitution provides specific guidelines regarding judicial authority over parliamentary vacancies. Citing Article 130 clauses 1 and 2, you categorically stated the legal principle verba generalia specialibus non derogant, meaning that general provisions should not override specific ones.

Accordingly, Article 130 offers general provisions, but the Constitution explicitly designates the High Court to handle matters regarding vacant seats in Parliament under Article 99(1).

That established, the Supreme Court flagrantly disregarded the very Constitution which bars them from interfering in the matter of parliamentary vacancy.

They proceeded to rule on a matter that they did not have original jurisdiction whatsoever. This was not only a violation of the Constitution but also an affront to the separation of powers which propels the rule of law.

Your Lordship, you have stated after the ruling that the Speaker of Parliament must respect the decision of the Supreme Court and that he risks a ten-year jail term if he disregards it.

This is in reference to Article 2(5) of the Constitution, 1992 whish states that, “A person convicted of a high crime under clause (4) of this article shall

• be liable to imprisonment not exceeding ten years without the option of a fine; and
•  not be eligible for election, or for appointment, to any public office for ten years beginning with the date of the expiration of the term of imprisonment.

The law prevents anyone from benefiting from an offence as espoused in the Latin maxim, ‘ex turpi causa non oritur actio’. Kindly, assist me to comprehend what punishment is to be meted out to the Justices of the Supreme Court whose actions have been in clear encroachment, contravention and violation of the Constitution?

Yours faithfully

NANA FREDUA-AGYEMAN JNR.

Citizen, Republic of Ghana

At that time in Senegal, high-profile crimes did not have regular court sittings. Judges were assembled periodically to handle the cases they could manage. When Alice arrived at the prison, some inmates had been detained for six years without trial. You couldn’t be in a hurry to get your case tried. So, when Alice was finally called for trial after three years, four months, and two weeks, it was nothing short of a miracle.

The then Minister for Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, Hannah Tetteh, had tried unsuccessfully to help. Her counterpart in Senegal was not responding to her letters. It seemed he did not want to interfere in their judicial system.

I was told that a miracle occurred one day when Ex-President John Mahama visited Senegal for an ECOWAS Summit. During his visit, Madam Hannah Tetteh hinted at our case, and I was informed that Ex-President Mahama was so willing to help after hearing our story.

Shortly after, President Macky Sall invited Mr. Mahama for lunch, and it was there that the two presidents discussed our case. Mr. Mahama did not know us personally, and he didn’t have to trust our side of the story, yet he was very eager to help. When he returned to Ghana, he sent a petition to the President of Senegal.

I strongly believe that this letter did two things for us. First, it caused our case to be called earlier than expected. Second, it gave us hope for a fair trial because the judicial system would have been aware that others were closely watching how the case was handled. Senegal’s customs officials wanted to win the case by any means necessary, and without that letter from a powerful source, they could have bribed their way through the judges.

On May 2, 2017, exactly 40 months after Alice’s incarceration, she was acquitted and released.

This favor from Ex-President Mahama opened my eyes. He was not just an NDC president; he was the president of all Ghanaians.

Our ordeal in Senegal, as well as our blessings, could fill an entire book. After Alice’s release, we stayed in Senegal. President Nana Akufo-Addo won the 2016 elections, and in May 2017, he visited Senegal.

The hardworking Ambassador Mrs. Maamah organized a dinner in his honor, and as fate would have it, Alice and I were given an opportunity to attend. For the first time, I could see Akufo-Addo within close proximity. As a typical Ghanaian, I could boast from that day that I “knew” President Akufo-Addo. I could even say he is my uncle, as we share an Akuapem background. Before the members at our table could realize, Akufo-Addo joined us.

He had heard Alice’s story and asked where we were seated. He left his “presidential” table and came to ours. “Ohemmaa,” he addressed Alice. “I have heard your story. Do not mind them. When are you coming to Ghana? Please, when you come, visit me at the presidency.”

At our table, he also recognized Mr. Sapati because, as I later learned, they had worked together before. He stayed at our table for quite a while, and I took the opportunity to tell him that the late former Ayensuano MP, Godfred Okyere, was my brother. He remembered him and asked how he was doing.

Rev. Owusu-Baafi also took time to talk about his relationship with Mr. Mac Manu, and Akufo-Addo almost became angry when one of his aides tried to interrupt our conversation.

This is Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, the man whose first name has been “replaced” with the word “arrogance.” He is perhaps the most vilified politician in Ghana’s history, given many disgraceful names. Yet, here I was meeting him for the first time and seeing an entirely different side of him.

How can partisanship make us so bitter that we demonize our neighbors, turning them into Satan himself?

If you cannot define what President Akufo-Addo did at that dinner as humility, then what could it be? In many people’s minds, he is the most “useless” president Ghana has ever had. Really? No wonder we, as a nation and as Africans, often fail to recognize the good when it’s right in front of us.

I am not saying he is a perfect president; all I am saying is that, as a human being, he has done some good things. Politics is a pursuit of faith and adventure. Presidential and parliamentary hopefuls are from a special breed. They often analyze the possibility of victory as if it were magic. They invest, and the grassroots benefit.

“Boossu,” everyone says, “you will win. Please give us some money for the boys.”

Isn’t it amazing that we can all predict who will win, yet those in the race often cannot predict if they will make it? I remember one election season when an aspirant’s own vote did not even show up in the counting. It was mysterious. He had zero votes at the place where his entire family had voted.

As we approach this season of spiritual and emotional intensity, there will be both celebration and disappointment. The hatred between political opponents will intensify. Some may challenge the results in court. There will be bitter feelings between the aspirant and his grassroots because the money he spent didn’t reflect in the votes.

There may be arguments between worshippers and the idols, and between adherents and prophets. When prophecies don’t come to pass, let’s remember not to harm the “prophet.” His mouth is not a weapon. When he opens his mouth, you choose to listen.

It will also be a time to audit and verify if the grassroots received the financial support they were promised. Mistrust will grow among friends. The situation is more complex than dollarization; it goes beyond reducing the price of kenkey.

A wife may consider divorcing her husband over money wasted on an unsuccessful political campaign.

This season must be one of intense prayer, calm, forgiveness, and a resolve to move forward in unity.

Folks, my tears are dropping on my phone. Who will be your president?

Leadership is key.

A battle has been raging in the hearts of many Ghanaians. It is a fierce one. Hoping it will not escalate into a battle of guns and swords.

The situation looks like a football fanatic trying to score a goal from the stands. He is so anxious that, at times, he kicks the spectator in front of him.

He is more anxious for a goal than the man on the field. Woe betides you if you miss the penalty.

We always think that political violence is created by the politician. Hmm, at some times, it is created, as it were, by the “supporter off the field.”

His cheering can not go unrewarded. He is not entitled to any winning bonus, but the emotional joy that comes from a win is equally important and satisfying.

Many will not allow their politicians to concede defeat. No way! The sponsorship had come from a loan to be paid back. “You dare not concede,” they threaten.

Because of these series, I have personally encountered the fears and the anxieties in people’s hearts about what happens on December 7, 2024. Many have not made room for alternative outcomes.

From their homes, they have already counted the votes and declared the winner. Others have done that by prophecy. There is, therefore, a question many do not want to entertain: What if….?

Somebody wants to break the 8. But what if…? Another has been in opposition for eight years and another four years in opposition can not be thought of.

But what if…? Many are tired of NDC/NPP. But what if…? We all have gotten to a point where we may not even allow God nor the majority to choose a leader. But what if…?

Thankfully, it does not seem to be a battle of the tribes. It is only a battle in the north. But what if one part of the north wins against the other?

The stakes are very high, but we should not place a ‘suicidal’ confidence in the politician. We have seen them come and go. The front runners, this time, are not new to us. Please don’t collapse if…

God has brought us this far; He will not abandon us. We sailed through COVID.
“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.” ( Jeremiah 29:11)

As one of the only two female presidential candidates in this election, I am deeply aware of her singular role and the voice she provided for many who often went unheard.

My personal journey in championing the affairs of the marginalized through Caring Kids International began long before my path crossed with Madam Akua Donkor’s.

Her courage and unwavering commitment to improving the lives of Ghanaians resonated with me as we both shared a common vision for inclusive governance.

Her life and work remind us of the power in uplifting others.

Madam Akua Donkor’s legacy reaches beyond politics; she embodied resilience, compassion, and an undying desire to see all Ghanaians thrive.

Her memory will remain a testament to the strength and determination required to be a voice for change.

Rest in peace, Madam Akua Donkor. Your spirit will continue to inspire us all as we work toward a more just, inclusive, and prosperous Ghana.

Damirifa Due, Menua.

Sincerely,
Nana Akosua Frimpomaa
Flagbearer of the CPP.

 

Known for his unwavering commitment to justice, accountability, and the empowerment of the ordinary Ghanaian, Rawlings also left behind a robust legacy of economic reforms, infrastructure development, and environmental stewardship.

Major Policies Across Sectors

Jerry John Rawlings played a pivotal role in laying the foundation for Ghana’s socioeconomic transformation. Some of the major policies he initiated include:

• Economic Recovery Program (ERP) and Structural Adjustment Program (SAP): Confronting a dire economic crisis in the 1980s, Rawlings implemented the ERP in partnership with the World Bank and IMF. This program stabilized Ghana’s economy, reduced inflation, and revitalized key industries like cocoa and mining. Though controversial, it laid the groundwork for Ghana’s financial resurgence.
• Decentralization Policy: Rawlings introduced a comprehensive decentralization program that empowered local governments, ensuring that development initiatives reached rural communities. This policy encouraged grassroots participation in governance, enhancing transparency and accountability.
• Education Reform: Under his leadership, Rawlings expanded access to education through policies such as the Free Compulsory Universal Basic Education (FCUBE) program. He also supported the establishment of polytechnics and other technical institutions to address the country’s skill gaps.
• Health Sector Initiatives: His government improved healthcare accessibility through the establishment of district hospitals, health centers, and rural clinics, reducing disparities between urban and rural areas.
• Agricultural Modernization: Recognizing agriculture as a cornerstone of Ghana’s economy, Rawlings promoted policies to modernize the sector, improve irrigation systems, and provide subsidies for farmers.

Infrastructure Development Across Sectors

Rawlings championed a cohort of infrastructure projects across key sectors, leaving a lasting imprint on Ghana’s development.

• Energy and Power: His administration embarked on the expansion of the Akosombo Dam and initiated the Aboadze Thermal Plant project to address the country’s energy needs. These initiatives laid the foundation for Ghana’s industrial growth.
• Transport and Roads: Rawlings prioritized the construction and rehabilitation of roads, including the Accra-Tema Motorway and feeder roads in rural areas, to improve connectivity and trade.
• Housing and Urban Development: His government invested in affordable housing projects, such as the development of flats in urban areas, to address housing deficits.
• Education Infrastructure: The construction of numerous schools, libraries, and teacher training colleges reflected his focus on education as a tool for national progress.
• Water Supply and Sanitation: His administration initiated projects to expand access to potable water and improve sanitation in rural and urban communities, recognizing their critical role in public health.

Environmental Stewardship

Jerry John Rawlings was deeply committed to preserving Ghana’s environment. He was a vocal advocate against illegal mining (galamsey), deforestation, and pollution, recognising the threat they posed to the country’s future.

He consistently called for stringent measures to protect Ghana’s forests, rivers, and farmlands, warning that environmental degradation would undermine the nation’s progress.

A Lasting Legacy

Rawlings’ leadership embodied ethical governance, sustainable development, and an unyielding commitment to justice. His policies and infrastructure projects reshaped Ghana’s economic and social landscape, while his environmental advocacy remains a clarion call in today’s fight against illegal mining and deforestation.

As we commemorate his passing, let us honor his memory by striving for integrity, justice, and sustainable development in all spheres of national life.

May his soul rest in peace, and may his enduring legacy inspire generations to build a stronger and more prosperous Ghana.

******

Osagyefo Ernest De-Graft Egyir
Founding CEO
Chief Executives(CEO) Network Ghana.

The issue is straightforward and I will delve into it with a breakdown of analysis.

The Member of Parliament (MP) for Tamale South, Hon. Haruna Iddrisu on the 13^th of October, 2024 stated at a rally in the Tamale North constituency that on Tuesday, 15^th October, 2024, when parliament reconvenes for government business, he will lay before the house, the constitutional provisions under article 97(1) (g) and (h).

He further stated that the effect will result in a swap in the majority and minority caucuses.

The seemingly contentious article 97(1) (g) states, “A member of Parliament shall vacate his (their) seat in Parliament – if he (they) leave(s) the party of which he (they) was (were) a member at the time of his (their) election to Parliament to join another party or seeks to remain in Parliament as an independent member; or

(h) If he (they) was (were) elected a member of Parliament as an independent candidate and joins a political party.” [pronoun and verb revision mine]

Now, let’s analyse, in legislative drafting, whenever, the word ‘shall’ is used, it means the pronouncement is mandatory, compulsory or unavoidable. Hence, the aforementioned article is undoubtedly applicable in that regard. At this juncture, a historical detour is necessary to appreciate the rationale behind the provision in tussle. The constitutional provision was inserted to prevent MPs from switching sides popularly known as ‘cross-carpeting’ during their term in parliament.

It sought to discourage and prevent MPs from betraying the people who voted them into office and the party on whose ticket they sort to be elected.

This was post the 1960 Constitution. In the current case of the four MPs, three are contesting as independent candidates and one is on the ticket of a political party in the upcoming general elections.

This is a clear case of conflict of interest. How can they be part of caucus meetings when they are currently campaigning against the political parties who form these caucuses. This is a recipe for disaster and that is what article 97 seeks to cure.

Some legal analysts have sort to interpret it as a futuristic provision. This is a very flawed position as the matter will be moot rendering the provision useless. The outcome of an election is only known after the election and not based on conjecture or research.

Composition of Parliament

Chapter ten of the Constitution, 1992 captioned, ‘The Legislature’ under article 93(1) makes provision for the composition of parliament. It states, “There shall be a Parliament of Ghana which shall consist of not less than one hundred and forty elected members.”

This means Parliament can only be duly composed by an election of its members; simpliciter. That established, article 97(1) outlines the instances when a seat becomes vacant.

Since sub-clauses (g) and (h) have been already stated, the others will be added. A member of Parliament shall vacate his seat in Parliament -(a) upon a dissolution of Parliament; or

(b) if he is elected as Speaker of Parliament; or

(c) if he is absent, without the permission in writing of the Speaker and he is unable to offer a reasonable explanation to the Parliamentary Committee on Privileges from fifteen sittings of a meeting of Parliament during any period that Parliament has been summoned to meet and continues to meet; or

(d) if he is expelled from parliament after having been found guilty of contempt of Parliament by a committee of Parliament; or

(e) if any circumstances arise such that, if he were not a member of Parliament, would cause him to be disqualified or ineligible for election, under article 94 of this Constitution; or

(f) if he resigns from office as a member of Parliament by writing under his hand addressed to the Speaker;

It is important to note that the Constitution does not task any person or group of persons to report an MP who falls within the scope of article 97(1)(g) and (h).

The prospective vacancy does not have to inure to the benefit of anyone in order to report or draw the attention of parliament; any Ghanaian can do so.

It is incumbent on the member so affected to honourably vacate the seat, if the title of ‘Honourable’ is anything to go by. It is akin to a strict liability offence like violating a red light in traffic. No explanation is needed afterwards; the vacation is automatic.

Jurisdiction of the Court

Consequently, when a parliamentary seat becomes vacant and there is a contention, a suit should be made at the High Court since it has original jurisdiction per the Constitution.

Article 99(1) states unequivocally, “The High Court shall have jurisdiction to hear and determine any question whether –

(a) a person has been validly elected as a member of Parliament or the seat of a member has become vacant; or

(b) a person has been validly elected as a Speaker of Parliament or, having been so elected, has vacated the office of Speaker.

(2) A person aggrieved by the determination of the High Court under this article may appeal to the Court of Appeal.

The Court of Appeal is empowered as the final forum for appeal. The Supreme Court is not mentioned anywhere in the Constitution as a forum to settle any dispute that may so arise in the event of a parliamentary vacancy.

Hence the apex court lacked the locus to entertain any suit thereof. It simply does not have the jurisdiction.

Also, a stay of execution is granted after a court order or ruling is being appealed or contested. The Supreme Court did not give any order or ruling to Parliament to be stayed.

Composition of Parliament (After Vacancy)

As stated under article 93(1) above, parliament can only be duly composed by an election.

Hence, under article 112(5), “Whenever a vacancy occurs in Parliament, the Clerk to Parliament shall notify the Electoral commission in writing within seven days after the vacancy occurred, and a by-election shall be held within thirty days after the vacancy occurred.”

This is after the vacancy is determined without opposition. However, 112(6) stipulates, “Notwithstanding clause (5) of this article, a by-election shall not be held within three months before the holding of a general election.”

Separation of Powers

In the case of Tuffuor v Attorney-General [1980] GLR 637, the Supreme Court ruled inter alia that, once Parliament has completed its business, it is considered final.

The court upheld this objection, reasoning that the judiciary is not empowered to question parliamentary proceedings. This is referred to as non-justiciable political questions in constitutional law.

In conclusion, the Speaker of Parliament only gave effect to the obvious on the 17^th October, 2024, based on the notice of polls released by the Electoral Commission (EC) ahead of the 2024 general elections.

To have entertained the suit in the first place and secondly adjudicate on it with such alacrity and exuberance as manifested is worrisome and questionable.

In the wording of their unwarranted interference, it is evidential the Supreme Court acted unconstitutionally.

Let us recall the following:

2016 – John Dramani Mahama

• $1 = 4 cedis
• 1 bag of cement = 24 cedis
• Ghana at the IMF, but the government did no ‘pickpocketing’ of savings of Ghanaians and pensioners through the debt exchange programme.
• Debt from 1957 to 2016 = 120bn cedis

2024 – Bawumia and Nana Addo

• $1 = 17 cedis. Mate/Driver Bawumia.
• 1 bag of cement = 105 cedis.
• Ghana at the IMF, got there in stitches, plus over 40 painfully higher taxes, wicked financial haircuts — government literally pickpocketed the savings of Ghanaians and pensioners through the debt exchange programme. (Atutuobutom paaa).

Debt between 2016 and 2024 – a staggering 763bn cedis.

Unemployment, twice as high as during John Mahama’s term, more people facing hardcore poverty, and environmental homicide on a scale never seen before.

Supervised the highest 54% inflation rate ever since 1992, nearly 40% interest rates, and over 40 punishing taxes since 2017. The greatest sin of all, precociously disenfranchising defenseless citizens like SALL using judicial and legal plunder.

These, my friend, Alhaji, are the credentials for earning the badge of economic dishonor.”

Above all other things, your worth as an asset was going to be determined by how much you contributed as a farmhand.

For starters, I had to run errands – fetch water, bring a cutlass, herd the cattle, this and that – as soon as I could steadily place one foot in front of the other.

It was pretty much the same for every family.

But some of that changed quite significantly in 1991 when the 31st December Women’s Movement (DWM) built the village’s first school, a Day Nursery.

Suddenly, there was a fresh incentive for parents to consider the prospect of formal education.

It wasn’t so straightforward, as some needed persuasion to enroll their wards. Even fathers – the sole decision-makers traditionally, in what is very much a patriarchal society – were urged to volunteer a child each to assemble the inaugural batch of pupils.

That included my father, who, at the time, had just one child.

Surely, he had every reason not to heed that call – and Lord knows there were more than a few who tried to get him to decline – as, after all, others who had children in the tens could afford to send half of them to the school and barely feel the pinch on the farm.

The odds were stacked against my father – and thus, against me – but, ultimately, he made the difficult decision to take me to school. I was.

I made it just in time for the school’s commissioning day, an occasion graced by no other personality than the then-First Lady of Ghana, Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings, who also doubled as the Founder of the DWM.

With a nursery full of children, and a charge to put on a proper show, the teachers got to work, teaching us basic nursery rhymes.

I was quite good at those. And that, perhaps, was where my lifelong interest in the English language began.

I was one half of a duo picked to perform those well-rehearsed rhymes for the sufficiently impressed First Lady and her entourage; Nuratu, a cousin, was the other. It is, to date, my most vivid recollection of my otherwise unremarkable childhood.

I remember the reaction after I was done performing ‘A Lion’.

I was no older than five years, yet I could see that everyone present – my beaming father, especially – was really proud of me. Oh, there were people from neighboring villages as well. The atmosphere was almost like what you could expect to feel at a political rally.

And maybe it really was, unofficially, some sort of rally.

The general elections, Ghana’s first since mid-1979, were coming up the very next year, and Mrs. Agyeman-Rawlings’ husband, Flight Lieutenant Jerry John Rawlings, was reportedly eyeing a transition from military dictatorship to becoming the first democratic president of Ghana’s soon-to-be-born Fourth Republic.

Mind you, I have only come to appreciate all this history years later, with the benefit of hindsight, of course.

What I did know for a fact back then, though, was that this event presented me with the first opportunity to see a 4×4 vehicle. Lots of them. And I sat in one, beside the then First Lady.

Mrs. Agyeman-Rawlings took Nuratu and me in her car after the program and proceeded to ‘campaign’ in other parts of the district before bringing us back to our village.

The joy of that ride lasted a few days before all that joy was replaced by creases on my rather prominent forehead – and for good reason.

We had been told the day’s events would be on national television not long afterward, hence each evening found us gathered around Mr. Dintie’s battery-powered TV, hoping to catch the news item and bask in the glow of it.

Yet weeks passed with nothing in sight, and my father – every bit as disappointed as I was – eventually stopped taking me on those news-watching, thrill-seeking visits.

The first day we didn’t show up, as fate would have it, was the very day the news report we had so eagerly sought aired on Ghana Television (GTV).

Some of the older folks had sent one of my cousins running to our house to inform my father about the ongoing broadcast, sending us running almost immediately in the opposite direction.

We couldn’t get there fast enough, though; by the time we arrived, breathless yet full of spirit, the focus of the news broadcast had shifted.

I had missed out on a chance to see myself on television. I didn’t know it then, but I would spend much of my adult life in the news – more specifically, chasing the news and telling the world about it. Maybe, subconsciously, my career path was determined by that episode, as I continuously pursue the news.

I have always enjoyed watching the news every evening. While every kid always seemed to crave something else on TV, the news was all I ever wanted to see.

I loved the news.

The vicarious satisfaction my father felt while I took the stage stayed with him for quite a while, long after the fanfare had dissipated.

He needed no more convincing that my place was not on the farm, but in school. The original idea was to take me away from school once the Konadu fanfare was over. But now, he saw that my future lay in the classroom, and so he kept me there, and the rest, as they say, is history.

And none of this would have been possible without that singular initiative from Mrs. Rawlings. I have never had the opportunity to thank her or give her this personal testimony. But I know people who know her will send her this piece. I am grateful.

I am telling this story as a reminder to everyone that a program aimed at expanding access is always a laudable idea.

Those 31st December Women’s Movement Day Cares were crucial interventions, just like a program such as Free SHS.

They may not be perfect, but you cannot deny that they give kids like myself a chance at getting an education and influencing a whole community.

So, to Mrs. Rawlings, thank you again.

By the way, I am still searching for that news item from 1991. If anyone knows how or where to look, point me in that direction.

About the author; Fentuo Tahiru Fentuo is a sports journalist with the Multimedia Group Limited.

You may vote for one person, but another may win.

The interesting thing is that after an election victory, a candidate ceases to be the flagbearer of a particular party and becomes the president of the nation we all belong to.

I almost did not realize that the president I did not vote for was still my president, whether I liked him or not.

Accepting Donald Trump as the president of the whole of America may be a bitter pill for many to swallow.

He may have wrongfully accused you of eating your neighbors’ cats and dogs, but he is still your president.

Many refuse to accept a president when the one they voted for does not win. That is why there is always resistance from the opposition—whether from the New Patriotic Party (NPP) or the National Democratic Congress (NDC).

Each wishes that the one in power fails miserably, so when the other comes to power, they refuse to recognize what the predecessor has done.

The way we are polarized politically, I can prophesy that many will suspend recognizing their president for the next four years after January 7, 2025.

I don’t have the prophecy of who will win, though some prophets have already given all the prophecies, leaving none for some of us.

What will be the signs to show that you have suspended having a president?

In the first place, the president can never do anything right in your eyes.

Secondly, you will always forward the negative things published about him on all platforms.

Thirdly, you will not feel happy when he succeeds. “For the ball to enter the net, you would prefer a corner kick instead.”

Also, you will insult him/her as the most useless Ghanaian citizen. Forgive me for stepping on your toes.

In this area, many Christians have been very hypocritical. God still demands sincerity from all of us.

Please don’t be offended, but I too, at some point, suspended recognizing the president after my elder brother, who was a father figure to me, suffered during the days of the revolution.

But for the kindness of Major Courage Quarshigah, he might not have returned from Gonda Barracks.

Of course, after four years of interdiction, all his entitlements were paid to him because he was exonerated.

Years later, he became an MP for Ayensuano during Ex-President Kufuor’s eight-year rule, which made me more NPP-inclined.

My elder brother, the late Godfred Okyere, was not the only one who suffered.

One day, my elder sister Christie saw my late brother Kofi run into her sitting room, covered in “kenkey pepper.”

“Kofi, what happened?” Christie asked. “Hmm, sister, ask again,” Kofi started. “I was going to buy kenkey, and some soldiers came complaining that the price of the kenkey was not controlled.

My punishment for buying kenkey at an uncontrolled price was to carry the bowl of kenkey pepper, squat, and stand intermittently.

It was so embarrassing that, while the soldiers’ attention was off me, I ran through the crowd, pouring the pepper all over me.” That day, Kofi became the kenkey, with pepper all over him.

Experiences like these can influence our choice of a political party.

At times, such reasons are so painful that we don’t want to hear the name of the source of our pain.

So when someone from another persuasion wins the presidency, it is difficult to accept him as your president.

We understand your pain. We empathize with you. Also, we trust that over time, God will heal you. 3y3 zu; eshie wrado wrado wrado.

There are three main qualities I urge the good people of Ghana to look out for in our next leader: 1. Personal Character, 2. Policy Direction, and 3. Track Record.

The current Vice-President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, has put himself forward for election as the next leader in our democratic dispensation. He is no stranger to Ghanaians.

Having occupied top positions in the country, including Deputy Governor of the Bank of Ghana, running mate of the largest opposition party in three presidential elections (2007–2016), and now Vice-President, Dr. Bawumia has been in the spotlight for a long time.

In the three key qualities of leadership mentioned—Character, Policies, and Track Record—Dr. Bawumia scores very high marks.

He is incorruptible, with no questionable character or moral issues. He is consistent with his policy positions, has clarity of thought, and engages in issues-based politics. In terms of track record, he is results-oriented.

His personal character reflects resilience and dedication—traits that resonate deeply with citizens seeking an empathetic and grounded leader. Beyond character, Dr. Bawumia’s policies and programs are designed to uplift the economy, drive technological advancement, and address social inequalities, setting a foundation for long-term national growth.

His track record, underscored by successful reforms in digital finance and public service modernization, demonstrates his ability to deliver meaningful results.

For Ghanaians aspiring for progress, Dr. Bawumia represents a trusted choice for the future—the Ghana we want.

Jobs

Demographically, youth make up the majority of Ghana’s population, and statistics show that the most pressing need for young people is jobs.

A cornerstone of Dr. Bawumia’s vision for Ghana is the creation of sustainable jobs that empower individuals and strengthen the nation’s economy. Recognizing the urgent need to tackle youth unemployment and underemployment, his agenda prioritizes expanding job opportunities across various sectors.

This commitment includes support for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which are critical engines of growth and employment. Dr. Bawumia also emphasizes vocational training and skills development to equip Ghanaians with the tools needed for a competitive job market.

By investing in job-creating industries like agribusiness, manufacturing, and information technology, his policies aim to build a more inclusive workforce capable of meeting the demands of a global economy. His focus on meaningful employment opportunities is rooted in the belief that every Ghanaian deserves a dignified livelihood.

Digital Economy

Dr. Bawumia has been a staunch advocate for a digital economy, recognizing its power to drive growth, enhance transparency, and simplify governance.

His vision for digital transformation includes integrating technology into sectors like finance, healthcare, and education, making these services more accessible and efficient for all Ghanaians.

Initiatives such as digital identification, mobile money interoperability, and digitization of public services are designed to simplify transactions and bring more people into the formal economy.

By enhancing data infrastructure and promoting tech innovation, Dr. Bawumia’s digital economy plan not only improves efficiency but also creates opportunities for tech-based employment and entrepreneurship. This focus on a robust digital framework reflects his belief in a modernized Ghana that embraces innovation as a path to sustainable development.

Expanded Infrastructure

Infrastructure development is central to Dr. Bawumia’s promise to enhance the quality of life for all Ghanaians.

His approach includes comprehensive investments in roads, bridges, and transport systems, particularly in underserved areas where access is limited. Improved infrastructure will ease transportation, support trade, reduce the cost of goods, and foster regional integration.

Dr. Bawumia’s commitment extends to energy and water infrastructure, recognizing that reliable access to utilities is essential for economic progress and public health.

His policies aim to close the infrastructure gap in both urban and rural areas, driving equitable development across the country. With an eye on future growth, his vision promises a Ghana with modern infrastructure capable of supporting business, tourism, and improved living standards.

Youth, Sports, Creative Arts, and Tourism

Dr. Bawumia’s vision for Ghana’s youth, sports, creative arts, and tourism sectors emphasizes the untapped potential within these areas to foster national pride, economic growth, and global recognition.

For the youth, his manifesto promotes skills training, mentorship, and entrepreneurship programs, ensuring young Ghanaians have pathways to success.

Sports development is also prioritized, with plans to build and rehabilitate sports facilities, nurture talent, and support competitive leagues.

Recognizing the economic and cultural value of the creative arts and tourism, Dr. Bawumia pledges to invest in the creative industry, support artists, promote Ghanaian heritage, and enhance tourism infrastructure.

By fostering growth in these sectors, he aims to create jobs, attract international interest, and celebrate Ghana’s cultural vibrancy. His policies reflect a commitment to harnessing the creativity, ambition, and energy of Ghanaians for national advancement.

An All-Inclusive Society

Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia’s vision for an inclusive society reflects his commitment to a Ghana where every citizen, regardless of background or status, has the opportunity to thrive.

Central to this vision is affirmative action, with policies aimed at leveling the playing field for marginalized groups, including women, persons with disabilities, and rural communities.

His plans emphasize robust support for the elderly, ensuring they receive adequate healthcare, pensions, and community services, reflecting a society that values and cares for its senior citizens.

Education and healthcare are equally prioritized, with promises to improve access to quality schooling and healthcare facilities across the country, particularly in underserved regions.

Dr. Bawumia’s approach to education includes investments in skills training and digital literacy programs that prepare young Ghanaians for the future, while his healthcare reforms focus on enhancing infrastructure, providing affordable treatment, and prioritizing maternal and child health.

Through these initiatives, Dr. Bawumia’s policies embody a comprehensive approach to inclusivity, building a Ghana where prosperity is shared, dignity is upheld, and every citizen has the resources to lead a fulfilling life.

In conclusion, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia’s policies collectively reflect a people-centered and business-friendly vision, poised to drive Ghana to greater heights.

His emphasis on job creation, digital transformation, expanded infrastructure, and support for youth, sports, and the creative arts aims to build an inclusive society where every citizen can prosper.

The commitment to affirmative action, care for the elderly, quality education, and accessible healthcare further underscores his dedication to a Ghana that values its people and provides equal opportunities for all.

These policies are designed to expand the rebounding economy, fostering a sense of national pride as Ghana becomes a model of progress and resilience.

Under Dr. Bawumia’s leadership, the nation is positioned not only to achieve economic growth but also to create a future that every Ghanaian can be proud of.

Top on former President Mahama and the NDC’s list is to: ‘abolish the double-track system to restore a stable one-track academic calendar.’

Any attempt to abolish the double-track calendar will deny an estimated 1,800,000 students access to free senior high school and technical vocational education and training (FSHS/TVET).

The double-track schools now operate a transitional calendar, which allows schools to make maximum use of their available spaces.

A transitional calendar allows schools to operate without dividing any year group into two or double tracking any year group: No Green or Gold Tracks.

However, to maximize the use of their infrastructure, two out of the three-year groups will be in school at any given time.

Under the previous trimester system, teacher-student contact hours in an academic year were 1,080 hours and 3,240 hours for the three years.

Under the double track/transitional calendar and semester system, teacher-student contact hours in an academic year are 1,134 hours and 3,402 hours for the three years.

This means, under the double track/transitional calendar, students do 162 hours more than the old system.

This has reflected in their excellent performance in the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) of the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) since 2020.

How Double Track/Transitional Calendar Works

To better understand and appreciate the importance of the double track/transitional calendar, let us take a school with 3,000 available spaces.

Under the old single track/trimester system, the school could enroll a maximum of 3,000 students per academic year. That is, an average of 1,000 students each for Form 1, Form 2, and Form 3.

Under the double track/transitional calendar and semester system, however, the school is able to enroll 4,500 students using the same 3,000 spaces; each of the three-year groups is able to enroll 1,500 students.

This is made possible because two out of the three-year groups will be in school at any given time.

As an all-year-round school calendar, the double track/transitional calendar provides these scenarios:

• Form 1 and Form 2 in school, Form 3 on vacation
• Form 2 and Form 3 in school, Form 1 on vacation
• Form 3 and Form 1 in school, Form 2 on vacation

With about 300 schools running double track/transitional calendar and semester system, a change to the old system means some 450,000 students will be denied access to FSHS/TVET each year.

Over the next 4 years, from 2025 to 2028, an estimated 1,800,000 students will be denied access to FSHS/TVET.

The implementation of the transitional calendar has become possible due to the massive infrastructure interventions on senior high schools campuses across the country since 2017.

The government of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), through the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund) and other initiatives, has completed over 4,000 projects, including dormitories, classroom blocks, and many other facilities as of September 2024, on secondary and technical school campuses.

Further, to maintain quality teaching and learning, the government has employed over 50,000 teaching and non-teaching staff to augment the existing SHS/TVET staff and provided teaching and learning materials to students.

With the continued increase in patronage in the FSHS/TVET, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia and the NPP say they will protect and enhance the Free Secondary Education policy, with a strong emphasis on TVET and STEM, by continuing to fully fund the policy.

Further, Dr. Bawumia says he will leverage improved infrastructure to phase out the double track and harmonize the academic calendar across secondary schools.

The double track/transitional calendar is the nucleus of the free secondary education policy. Any attempt to tinker with the double track/transitional calendar without proper planning will collapse the entire free secondary education policy.

The proposal by former President Mahama to abolish double track within 100 days in office is a subtle way of saying the NDC will cancel free secondary education.

With a target of 100 percent transition from junior high to senior high in mind – currently at 83 percent – there is no need for any party or individual to be in a haste to abolish the double track/transitional calendar merely for political expediency. As such, a decision to cancel double track will deny a whopping 1,800,000 students access to secondary education.

The writer is a Professor and former Director-General of Ghana Education Service. 

Email: kopokuamankwa@gmail.com 

The National Democratic Congress’ (NDC) 2024 manifesto outlines a compelling vision for educational reform in Ghana, prioritizing increased investment, teacher empowerment, curriculum relevance, and equitable access.

These policy proposals, grounded in a deep understanding of the challenges facing Ghana’s education system, offer a strong argument for the NDC’s ability to effect meaningful and sustainable improvements in the sector.

Key Highlights:

Fully Fund the Free SHS Program

The manifesto emphasizes the NDC’s commitment to fully fund the Free SHS/TVET policy, indicating a dedication to ensuring the financial sustainability of the program.

This pledge aligns with the NDC’s broader emphasis on increased investment in education. The manifesto highlights a commitment to aggressively expand educational investments, including restoring the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund) and preventing its collateralization for other projects.

The NDC manifesto also identifies areas for improvement within the Free SHS policy.

The NDC proposes to leverage improved infrastructure towards phasing out the double track and harmonize the academic calendar across secondary schools.

These proposals indicate a focus on addressing concerns regarding the implementation of the Free SHS policy, particularly the double-track system, which has been criticized for its potential impact on learning outcomes and educational quality.

To ensure the participation of all stakeholders, the proposal also intends to ensure that private schools are integrated into the overall Free SHS framework to address some of the existing challenges associated with access.

Additionally, the NDC plans to promote school farms to ensure a sustainable food supply to the schools.

This proposal suggests a focus on enhancing the self-sufficiency of schools and potentially reducing the reliance on external food procurement, which has been a point of contention in the Free SHS program.

Furthermore, the NDC manifesto commits to abolish the double-track system to restore a stable academic calendar and provide a dedicated and sustainable funding source for quality secondary education by ring-fencing a percentage of our oil proceeds.

These proposals directly address concerns regarding the implementation and long-term sustainability of the Free SHS program, particularly the financial burden and potential disruption to the academic calendar caused by the double-track system.

Financial Commitment and Teacher Empowerment

The NDC distinguishes itself through its unwavering commitment to increased funding for education.

The manifesto pledges to aggressively expand investments in education, including bolstering the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund) and ensuring its dedicated use for educational purposes.

The NDC’s promise to reverse the GETFund’s collateralization, which has been criticized for diverting resources away from essential educational needs, highlights the party’s dedication to prioritizing education funding.

The NDC’s approach to teacher welfare also demonstrates a profound understanding of the crucial role teachers play in delivering quality education.

Abolishing the teacher licensure examination, deemed an unnecessary barrier, and reinstating automatic employment for qualified teachers demonstrate a commitment to streamlining the process and attracting talent to the profession.

Additionally, the NDC’s pledge to improve teachers’ conditions of service through increased salaries, housing provisions (“Teacher Dabr3” Project), and vehicle ownership assistance programs directly addresses teacher motivation and well-being.

These initiatives, taken together, showcase the NDC’s understanding of the importance of valuing and supporting teachers as the backbone of a thriving education system.

Curriculum Relevance and Future-Ready Skills

The NDC’s proposed curriculum reforms signal a commitment to preparing students for the demands of the 21st century.

Integrating STEM, vocational skills, digital literacy, and civic education into the secondary school curriculum aligns with global trends and equips students with the knowledge and skills essential for success in the modern workforce.

The NDC’s recognition of the value of early childhood education through its “Bright Beginnings Initiative” demonstrates a holistic understanding of educational development.

By focusing on early learning and ensuring a smooth transition into formal schooling, the NDC aims to lay a strong foundation for lifelong learning.

Moreover, the NDC’s pledge to support Islamic education by investing in infrastructure and resources for Islamic Colleges of Education highlights its commitment to inclusivity and respecting diverse educational needs.

Equitable Access and Addressing Systemic Challenges

The NDC’s dedication to equitable access is reflected in its proposal to extend Free SHS to private schools, ensuring that all students, regardless of their financial circumstances, have the opportunity to receive quality secondary education.

This initiative aims to level the playing field and promote equal opportunities for all.

The NDC also recognizes the importance of addressing systemic challenges within the education system.

Decentralizing the procurement of school supplies aims to tackle concerns about corruption and delays associated with the centralized system implemented by the NPP.

By giving greater control to local authorities, the NDC seeks to enhance transparency, accountability, and efficiency in the provision of essential resources to schools.

The NDC’s commitment to strengthening special needs education through infrastructure improvements, resource allocation, and integration of students with disabilities into the regular education system further underscores its focus on inclusivity and ensuring that all learners have the opportunity to reach their full potential.

Conclusion

The NDC’s 2024 manifesto presents a compelling case for its ability to drive transformational change in Ghana’s education system.

Through a combination of increased investment, teacher empowerment, curriculum reform, and a strong focus on equitable access, the NDC’s educational reform policies demonstrate a comprehensive and forward-looking approach to building a stronger, more inclusive, and future-ready education system for all Ghanaians.

In addition, the party’s commitment to continuing the Free SHS program while addressing key implementation challenges and ensuring its financial sustainability is thoughtful.

The focus on school farms and educational quality further reinforces the NDC’s dedication to providing a valuable and beneficial educational experience to all Ghanaian students.

Author:

Prof. Michael Kpessa-Whyte

Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of African Studies,
University of Ghana

President-elect, Donald Trump’s landslide victory is a second warning to the world political elite, deep state, and bureaucratic establishment that whilst they may succeed in deceiving the sovereign electorate some of the time, they will not succeed all the time in beguiling them to vote against their interest as citizens.

I also wish to congratulate the People of the USA for a second time for asserting their silent power of sovereignty in voting for the non-establishment candidate, President-elect Donald Trump, to demonstrate their revulsion against democratic corruption, cronyism, patronage, and disguised political extortion by the political establishment and their gluttonous allies.

I am a social democrat and not a conservative by worldview but the blatant use of the deep state, other security apparatus, attempted assassinations, and the appearance of legality to prevent former President Trump from contesting in the election alerted the ordinary working American, and other working people of the world, including myself, to how the political elite and the deep state hide behind the empty rhetorics of democracy and the rule of law to obtain the votes of the electorate to feed their greed for naked power and rent-seeking.

President Trump’s decisive victory demonstrates the catastrophic failure of despicable and unscrupulous incumbent government disinformation and McCarthyism propaganda championed by the mainstream media in the USA that is a harbinger of similar failures and defeats to come in world politics.

I believe that President Trump will use his second and last tenure as the 47 President of the USA to leave a legacy of fighting for his country with every breath in his body and to deliver in his own words: “… the strong, safe, and prosperous America that our children deserve and that you deserve…. the golden age of America….” I also believe that President Trump will want to leave the legacy of being the President who pulled the world from the brink of a third world war and nuclear war catastrophe.

Congratulations President-elect, donald trump and may your victory be the golden age of the whole world

Martin A. B. K. Amidu
November 7, 2024