OP-ED: On December 7, 2024, general elections were held in the Republic of Ghana. The Western African nation elected a new president and 275 members of the unicameral parliament.
The Ghana Armed Forces and Ghana’s Internal Security policy.
The name of the new head of state is John Mahama. He was the former president from 2012-2017, and a member of the National Democratic Congress which is currently the opposition party.
One of things running through many publications on the aftermath of the elections in Ghana is that the new president of the country is a politician who studied in Moscow. It is a fact that newly elected president of Ghana, John Mahama, actually studied in Moscow in the 1980s.
This summer, he also outdoored the Russian version of a book he has authored in the first decades of post independence Ghana at the Russian Academy of Sciences.
One may wonder how come the elections in a country within the rather unstable West African region could be that peaceful?
The features of the Ghana political system
A major conclusion is that despite the fierce political struggle, Ghana has once again confirmed its reputation as the most stable country in West Africa.
There are two key political parties in Ghana; both have existed since 1992, when the country underwent a democratic transition to a multi-party system:
The New Patriotic Party (NPP) is a center-right movement that controlled the previous parliament. Its leader, Nana Akufo-Addo, was the ninth president of Ghana (serving two terms from 2017), and before that, the Minister of Foreign Affairs (2003–2007) and Attorney General (2001–2003).
The National Democratic Congress (NDC) on the other hand, is a center-left movement. It was founded by Flt Lt Jerry Rawlings, who led two successful military coups in the 1979 and 1981, and was the country’s Head of state from 1981 to 2001.
According to several respected experts, Ghana has made significant democratic gains over the past 30 years under a multi-party system. The latest elections on 7 December 2024, appears to have cemented this record for Ghana, especially in the eyes of the international community and foreign investors.
But why has the ruling government in Ghana voted out with less than one-third of Members of Parliament? Indeed, the Presidential candidate of the NPP Dr Mahamudu Bawumia is reported to have had only 39% of the votes. Analysts indicate that the main reason for the abysmal loss of the election by the NPP and the unprecedented massive win by the NDC lies in poor management of the economy and government corruption.
In recent years, Ghana has been experiencing allegations of massive corruption and severe economic crisis, which has become one of the main reasons for the decline in the popularity of the current NPP government. It would appear that the opposition NDC benefited from this state of poor governance to win the elections.
The political orientation of the NDC as a political party, is traditionally people-centred, and focused on left of centre livelihood issues. During the campaign the party focused on messages demanding accountability, and condemning corruption and poor governance. It criticized the ruling NPP government of corruption and poor economic management.
In spite of the peaceful nature of the elections, the Chairperson of the Electoral Commission, Madam Jean Mensah has been accused of attempting to steal the elections for the NPP government. The vigilance of the NDC volunteers across the country ensured that she could not activate her rigging machinery.
She intentionally delayed the declaration of the results even when it was obvious to all that President John Mahama had won the elections. In deed it took the loser Dr Bawumia to concede defeat before the Jean Mensah came up reluctantly to announce the Presidential results. Several days after the elections she has still not certified the results from a number of constituencies thus raising tension in the country.
Before the elections there was quite some talk and rumors that the current authorities, represented by President Akufo-Addo and his team, would use undemocratic means to violently retain power including the use of the military.
However, Mahama’s main rival Mahamudu Bawumia — the country’s vice president since 2017, who was nominated in these elections by the ruling New Patriotic Party — conceded defeat the day after the elections and congratulated his opponent on his victory. ‘Our internal data indicates that former President John Dramani Mahama has won a landslide victory in the presidential election,’ Bawumia said on December 8, noting that the newly elected president’s party had also won the parliamentary elections.
The politician explained that he conceded defeat before the official announcement of the results in order to ease tensions in the country (by that time, clashes between supporters of different political forces had been reported in several polling centers), and stressed the importance of ‘the global investor community continuing to believe in the peaceful and democratic nature of Ghana’.
Inside the Ghana policy
According to our insider information and reports by election observers, the preservation of Ghana’s reputation of being a peaceful country, as well as its future well being were major issues that guided the voting process. The general public abhorred the idea of an authoritarian seizure of power-using the military instead of the will of the people.
In fact, there were talks of a possible military coup!
Several facts recorded during the election campaign justified this presumption. Back in September 2024, the Ghana Armed Forces was compelled to issue a statement denying widespread allegations of a coup d’etat. The allegations were so rampant and persistent that the Ghana Armed Forces were forced to officially deny them.
It all started with an interview of the director of the Institute for Democratic Governance (IDEG, a local think tank). Speaking to the media outlet JoyNews, Dr Emmanuel Akwetey said that democracy in Ghana ‘faces a growing threat that requires urgent attention’. And Ghana ‘could be engulfed by the domino effect’ that is taking place in the countries of the Sahel region, where the military has taken over power.
After that, a certain paranoia took hold of Internet users and local communities in the country which compelled the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) to come out to categorically deny the ‘coup threat’, reiterating that it has no intention to disrupt the political process that is expected to lead to a peaceful democratic change as President Nana Akufo-Addo completes his second and final constitutional mandate.
In a press release, General Erica Aggrey-Kuachi, the GAF spokesperson, called Emmanuel Akweti’s allegations ‘baseless’ and went further to say that the armed forces would prevent and resist any individual, group or organization seeking to seize power illegally, ‘either alone or in collaboration with any security agency.’
While reaffirming its commitment to the democratic process, the GAF expressed its desire for peaceful elections, called for unity among all stakeholders, and urged civil society groups and media to stop using the army’s name ‘to aggravate the political situation’.
But then, despite previous assurances from the authorities, the Ghana Armed Forces deployed its troops to strategic locations to support the Ghana Police Service (GPS) ‘in providing election security as part of efforts to ensure the peaceful conduct of the 2024 presidential and parliamentary elections in the country’.
In a statement released on the eve of the election day, December 6, and signed by the Director General of Public Affairs, Brigadier General E. Aggrey-Quachie, the GAF described the deployment as part of its efforts to facilitate the safety of the electoral process.
However, on December 1, the Chief of the Ghana Army stated that in the 2024 elections, security at polling stations would be provided only by the police and the military will not be deployed at polling stations.
The opposition therefore reacted very harshly to the military deployment on the 6 December they advocated for an election without the military. ‘The militarization of our elections must end’, John Mahama said. The former president of Ghana did call for a stop to the militarization of the electoral process in the country. He expressed concern and condemned the presence of the army in local communities during the electioneering period.
He said it amounted to intimidation of the electorate, which, in his opinion, threatens the democratic process. Mahama argued that the interference of security forces undermines public trust and the democratic rights of citizens to freely express their will during the vote.
Fortunately, prudence and common sense eventually prevailed, and the election campaign was completed within the law. But, as in other African countries, the role and influence of the army in society should not be underestimated. There is therefore a general call on the new government to ensure that the Ghana Armed Forces is re-oriented into the original professional Armed Forces that it used to be.
What are the main economic advantages of Ghana?
The Republic of Ghana, a small country in West Africa, is the same at cocoa bean exports that Saudi Arabia is in oil. Ghana’s landscape and climate are ideal for growing this valuable product. Another source of Ghana’s wealth is gold: Ghana ranks second in Africa in terms of gold production after South Africa. Added to this an excellent mining industry, good roads, access to the ocean, and an excellent port — you’d have an ideal site for building a resource-exploiting state.
So thought the generals of the Ghanaian army, who in twenty years of independence from the British metropolis had built an impeccable mechanism for turning cocoa beans into dollars and pounds. There was a time when there were more Rolls-Royces driving along the streets of Ghana’s capital than in London.
Indeed, the generals preferred to share the export revenues in a narrow circle. In twenty years, Ghana, formerly the Country of the Gold Coast, one of Britain’s richest colonies, turned into one of the poorest.
All this ended in 1979, when Jerry Rollings, a lieutenant in the Ghanaian Air Force, came to power as a result of an armed coup. In 1983-1986, the average annual GDP growth rate was 6.5%, and the country’s external debt decreased by 2.5 times. Large investments came to Ghana, food production grew sharply. Rollings spent 40% of the budget on hospitals and schools, built power plants and roads.
In the 1990s, Rollings won the elections twice. And in 2000, he forever left the presidency. While in power, Rollings did not gain any wealth, and until his death, the ex-lieutenant earned for life by lecturing on philosophy and politics at leading world universities.
After political parties were allowed in Ghana, Rawlings headed the National Democratic Congress party, which became part of the Socialist International. It is this party that has come to power again this month.
Many note John Mahama’s special attitude to the founder of the party, Rawlings, and his political legacy.
It was Rawlings, being a military man himself, and acting harshly against corruption and crime, who nevertheless managed to interrupt the series of military rule in Ghana, transit to a civilian form of government, and lay the foundations for political stability in the country.
During the last presidential elections, these traditions were almost broken, including the influence of foreign policy factors. Due to the difficult situation in the whole region, where the military is coming to power as if by a domino effect, and due to pressure from Western countries that have not hidden their political sympathies for the current Akufo-Adda government, the future political stability in the country will largely depend on whom of his team John Mahama would entrust with a key post in the Ministry of Defense.
Will Ghana be able to maintain and improve its economic sovereignty? We predict that the result will be clear in the upcoming weeks.