Gives A Lot Of Ghanaians Hope That Democracy Has Come To Stay.

Reflecting on what happened in Kenya during the last election and looking at what is happening in Zimbabwe; one would understand why Ghanaians are happy and proud. Like most Ghanaians, I was apprehensive when it became apparent that the NPP was on its way to losing the presidency. The parliamentary results and the poor performance of CPP’s presidential candidate gave most critical observers the clue. The political temperature became high when the Electoral Commissioner declared that none of the presidential candidates won the 50% plus one mandate and set the December 26 date for the run-off between Akuffo-Addo and Atta- Mills.

As expected there was tension in the country but eventually when the Electoral Commissioner, Dr Afari Gyan declared Professor Atta- Mills of the NDC as the winner, Nana Akuffo- Addo, the presidential candidate of the ruling party conceded. What a political maturity for Ghanaians!

However, going by Atta – Mills 50.23% and Akuffo –Addo’s 49.77% of the votes , one can say that there was neither a winner nor a loser but I have to add that the fact that Atta- Mills won eight regions suggests that he is more acceptable. With the defeat of the presidential candidate of the ruling party, Ghanaians have proved to the politicians that they are now in control of their destiny. What happened at the last election indicates that there is hope in Ghana and that democracy would really work for us. However, for that hope to be realized there is a lot of work to be done to strengthen the democratic institutions in order not to draw us back.

There is no doubt in my mind that die-hard NDC supporters would call for revenge. But the million Ghana cedi question is: Is it worth it, considering the fact that politicians from both parties don’t learn and would never learn from past mistakes probably because we do not hold them accountable enough. Once in power, they forget that during the campaign they told electorate that they are going into government to fight for the improvement of the living conditions of Ghanaians. We’ve seen politicians time and again playing on the intelligence of GHANAIANS since we attained independence.

While I believe that President Atta-Mills should initiate the process of bringing the country together, I am of the view that both parties have to purge themselves of excesses. Both parties should do away with extremists in their midst. After all, apart from the ideological differences, we are Ghanaians and at the end of it all, both parties would like the citizens to continually enjoy the peace and stability they have enjoyed in the past years. This is our moment to usher in a new era of politics in the country.

The parties should take a cue from the Democratic Party of the United States where Barrack Obama honestly campaigned on change and won the hearts of Americans. Even before announcing his presidential bid, Obama in his book “ Audacity of hope’’, had been bold enough to point out the excesses of both Republican and Democratic parties. In spite of his criticism, the leadership of the Democratic Party rallied behind him when he won the party’s nomination even though he was not the candidate of the establishment. It was a different story we saw during the primaries of the NPP where the party establishment forced candidates on some constituencies. Democracy demands that we have to listen to the will of the people. Probably if the NPP had not forced some candidates on some constituencies, the result of the election would have been different. Credit should however go to Professor Atta-Mills who dared former President Rawlings and chose the Vice –President of his choice.

This is the time for the leadership of both political parties to do away with party differences of the past and come together to solve the numerous problems of the country and keep hope alive.

G. Fiifi Owoo, Calgary, Canada