UPDATE: GhanaWeb mistakenly swapped the source of this opinion piece. A correction has been effected. Journalist Albert is the source of this article.


On November 7, 2020, Joe Biden of the Democratic party emerged victorious in the polls in the United States of America after polling a total of 290 electoral votes to Donald Trump’s 214 electoral votes.

The reason the election in the US is of great importance to Ghana and Ghanaians, in particular, is that the birth of the country’s democracy in 1992 runs concurrently with that of America.

In the year that a general election is held in America, Ghana also holds an election in that year and when the government changes in America, the government in Ghana is also overhauled.

Ahead of what many describe will be the most fiercely contested election in the history of Ghana on December 7, 2020, the fortunes of John Mahama of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and President Akufo-Addo of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) are up in the balance.

In this article, I bring potential reasons Biden’s win in the US election has or has not given candidate Mahama a chance to emerge victorious at the polls in December.

PROS

1 Since 1992, anytime the Democratic Party in the United States wins, the NDC in Ghana also wins at the polls and the reverse.

2 Since 1992, anytime the Republican Party in the United States loses, the NPP in Ghana also loses at the polls and the reverse.

3 John Mahama of the NDC was a vice-president of Ghana from 2009 to 2012 and that was the same period Joe Biden was also the vice-president of the United States from 2009 to 2017.

4 John Mahama chose Prof Naana Jane Opoku Agyemang as his running-mate who becomes the first female vice-presidential candidate chosen by a major political party and Joe Biden chose Kamala Harris as his running-mate who was the first female vice-presidential candidate of a major political party in the US.

5 The philosophies on which the Democratic Party has been built on is similar to that of the NDC where the primary focus is placed on modern liberalism, notions of civil liberty and social equality with support for a mixed economy.

6 Joe Biden possesses a quiet gentle and calm personality which is similar to that of NDC’s Mahama.

CONS

1 This will be Joe Biden’s first time to serve as president of the US meanwhile Mahama was the President of Ghana from July 2012 to January 2017.

2 Joe Biden has been elected for the first time as the president of the US meanwhile Mahama was elected as president of Ghana in 2012.

3 Joe Biden has never lost an election as a presidential candidate meanwhile Mahama lost his reelection as president of Ghana in 2016.

4 Mahama is trying to return to the seat of the presidency meanwhile, this is Joe Biden’s first attempt at becoming the president of the US.

5 Majority of Americans were united to vote for Joe Biden long before the election day meanwhile Ghanaians are divided as to who they will vote for even a month to the election.

With all these said, the camp of John Mahama and the NDC will be having some level of hope as they look into the future with bated breath with an unwavering aim at snatching the seat from the hands of the incumbent President Akufo-Addo.

The battle lines have been drawn, the plausible inferences have been made and all the logical projections concerning Ghana’s election are right in our eyes.

Will Biden’s win have any bearing on the outcome of the election in Ghana?

A big insurmountable question that can only be answered by Ghanaians after the votes have been cast, counted and the winner declared.

The dust is finally going settle but after it, all, will it be Mahama who will be laughing back to the Jubilee House or will President Akufo-Addo be the one to heave a sigh of relief?