WHO WINS THE BATTLE OF DECEMBER 7?

In a democracy, elections form a crucial part of the constitutional arrangement which allows the citizens to have a direct say in those they intend to entrust responsibility of governance. Ghana’s forthcoming elections will follow the same convention of replacing one administration with another using the ballot box. This process of using the people’s thumb to change political authority has been consolidated since we entered the Fourth Republic with the first democratically elected elections in November 1992.

Ghana has blazed the trail of democratic stability since it returned to the path of multiparty elections. The envious constitutional path which is now the cynosure of all eyes and being reputed as a model has its genesis. Its success story and consolidation must be credited to the tolerance and the adherence to constitutional principles by the first government of the Fourth Republic, the National Democratic Congress (NDC). For all the noise being made by the NPP government trying to claim credit for our constitutionalism, we need to be guided by history that the process of building a durable and sustainable democracy is going to be long, challenging and sometimes tortuous.

When we commend the NDC for consolidation and adherence to constitutional provisions and principles, we do so with the conviction that it was the first constitutional government since 1969 to break the jinx of truncated democratic governance. The NDC has the enviable record of completing its constitutional four-year term thereby breaking the cycle of abortive constitutional arrangements since the inception of the Second Republic. What makes the NDC record worthy of mention is that it did not only break the jinx but managed to win a second four-year term, which it completed in 2000 under its charismatic leader, Flt. Lt. Jerry John Rawlings.

The turning point in our democratic development has been the 2000 elections, which the incumbent government of the NDC lost to the New Patriotic Party led by Mr. J.A. Kufuor. From 2001, this new political administration governed the country. Kufuor won re-election just like Rawlings and is almost at the end of his two terms of eight years in office. There is no doubt that the NPP under Kufuor has added to the democratic consolidation of our constitutional governance. The infractions of the NDC and NPP in almost sixteen years (16) of democratic governance should be expected judging from our antecedents. The fact that Ghana has never before 1993 had any smooth constitutional rule since the disruption of Kwame Nkrumah’s government I n 1966 attests to the experimental nature of our constitutional democracy.

As Ghanaians go the polls on December 7, 2008 to elect a new leader and political party to steer the affairs of the country in the next four years, there is a lot to learn from the past in order to confront the future with much more optimism. The last people of the United States have shown us the way that it is safer and better to change one political administration with the other. With the Republican Party having ruled for eight years following the re-election of George Walker Bush in 2004, the Americans have chosen the path of CHANGE. This change was not only a reality but an historic with the election of the First Black President of the most powerful nation in the world. We think Ghanaians also deserve to emulate the people of the United States. They need CHANGE.. This CHANGE has to do with the swapping of political parties in the governing seat. Since the NDC looks very formidable and has a record of having led this nation before, it is only prudent that it gets the opportunity to improve upon what it has started. There are arguments flying all over the place about comparing records of the two major parties. For us, the impending election is not about records but solid achievements and what the various leaders can do for Ghana. For the NPP, the eight years of being in the democratic seat of governance is enough for them to go and have a deserve rest. Besides, they are bereft of ideas and have also proved to be incapable of piloting the ship of state effectively and efficiently. The cocaine menace and gargantuan corruption is drowning our nation. We cannot afford to continue in the direction which promises nothing but the miasma of corruption and drugs.

The True Democrat believes that the December 7 election is a tough one. The extravagance and show of financial muscle by the NPP has given the party that false sense of security that it is going to win the mandate of the people. It is very healthy for political parties in a contest to believe in themselves and display confidence of winning the elections as we are witnessing in our country. However, the determination to win should not be confused with the true picture of events on the ground. In the case of the NDC, it is also very confident that it has done enough to return into the seat of government. Their confidence is being buoyed by the various acts of omission and commission by the NPP government. We saw the same thing with the NPP in 2000 and therefore found nothing wrong with the NDC mood to reclaim political power lost in 2000. Aside the heated nature of the politicking going on, the true picture on the ground as to who really is in the driving seat to win the December 7 elections has also becoming a thorny issue. For us on the True Democrat, we believe that CHANGE is in the air. If the NPP cannot see it then they better gird their loins and prepare for the obvious. In mathematical terms, we are fully convinced that whoever wins the Western, Central and Greater Accra Regions will win the elections. And if you ask us to look into the horoscope, we can conveniently state that it looks more like the NDC. The signs point in the direction of the NDC. What we cannot vouch for s the sanctity of the electoral process. By this, we mean the free and fairness of the polls devoid of rigging and intimidation using NPP security agents.

The True Democrat has been working very hard on the statistical aspect of who will get what in both the presidential and parliamentary elections. We shall summarise our findings before the close of the week. We urge readers to book their copies in advance. We can drop hints that the December 7 election will be one of the most difficult ever to have been fought. However, the pendulum is fast shifting in a certain direction. For all those predicting a run-off, we beg to differ. We see a winner emerging after all the ballot is counted and the results declared.