The Outcome of Ghana’s Polls Didn’t Favour The Main Opposition Party.

2020 General Election has gone down as one of the most exciting and memorable in Ghana’s democratic history. Since the beginning of the 4th Republic, Ghanaians have had the opportunity to elect a leader every four years. Since the year 2000, electoral campaigns have been characterized by exciting theme songs composed by musicians for their respective parties.

John Agyekum Kuffour was thought to have had the best campaign theme song until Nana Akuffo Addo drove by with a much more enthusiastic anthem composed by celebrated Ghanaian musician Charles K Fosu popularly known as Daddy Lumba. Almost every Ghanaian danced to the tune; who doesn’t love some DL? Whether or not you were for “change” at the time; Daddy Lumba’s 2012 campaign song for the NPP was one worth adding to your playlist. As the whole nation literally grooved to that song, it appeared the race to the Jubilee House was a done deal – unfortunately that could not be the case. The NPP lost the election to the NDC. The NDC in 2016 decided to join the campaign theme song trail; releasing what is considered by all till this day as the best campaign song. Onaapo quickly became a victory anthem for the NPP when they won the election in 2016. Did this create a phenomenon of the one with the best song loses the election? Your guess maybe right; John Dramani Mahama lost again this but was it because of he had the best theme song or the worst message for Ghanaians?

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Election 2020 started off on a downside for most electorates. With our unwanted visitor; COVID-19 in our midst, it was unclear if there will be an election this year. America voted – so we can and we did. With months to go, the main contenders; New Patriotic Party (NPP) & National Democratic Congress (NDC) were poised to make their way to the Jubilee House. Both parties left no stone unturned as they used every means available to them. NPP had a massive lead against their opponent and It clear the people of Ghana was going to give their mandate to the ruling party – until the missiles were launched against them by none other than Martin Amidu. The quantum of corruption allegations leveled against the presidency and the ruling party was too damning to ignore. As much pollsters and political analysts indicated; the last minute missiles created an impact. This is not to say the NDC relied on Marin Amidu to pull the “kill trigger”. The NDC campaign team ensured they covered all grounds to redeem their almost crashed political image and to earn the trust of Ghanaians. Launching the “People’s Manifesto” was one move that truly upset the ruling party’s agenda. The People’s Manifesto was one that reflected the will of the Ghanaian people and the NDC was ready to run with it. The campaigns got heated and for the first time since the beginning of the 4th Republic, therefore a national discourse about promises and performances. The Ghanaian electorate was now torn between endorsing corruption under the NPP as painted by the former Special Prosecutor, performance of the ruling party and the promising manifesto of the NDC.

December 7 is the day set aside for a nationwide election and the polls started off on a good note; hats off to the Electoral Commission of Ghana for living up to expectations amidst all the setbacks. Counting and collation of ballots commences right after voting officially ends. Ghanaians become eager at this point to know the outcome of their ballots – were their ballots counted or considered spoilt? All went well during the counting and collation of ballots at this year’s general election but what has since shaken the nation is the declaration of the presidential results. Whilst some jubilate over their supposed win others are in limbo as to where the true verdict of the people was declared. During the declaration of the presidential results by the EC, it was clear to mathematicians and statisticians that the figures declared by the EC were inaccurate – 102% total sum of percentages? Usually there’s a margin of error in arithmetic but such error cannot be used to declare a winner in an election. The EC has left a sour taste in the mouth of many discerning Ghanaians. It is a dent on the image of Ghana’s democracy. It will be laudable to have the chairperson of the Electoral Commission resigning from her post for this atrocity she has caused but such rarely happen in Ghana especially under this current administration. To them and their followers every allegation of corruption or act of corruption is nothing but “cheap propaganda” by the opposing side. This article might qualify as such. Accountability is a word not found in the books of the current NPP so the EC chairperson is going nowhere for now. But what happens when a declaration is done within a margin of error? Does it establish the legitimacy of the president-elect? Many say we have an illegitimate president-elect however melancholically sympathizers of the party in power cheer on – saying they suffered a similar fate in 2012 thus the affect party should accept their karma and move on. Karma or not, a bad precedent should not be the order of the day.

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