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Editorial Noticias for Tuesday, September 22, 2020
Source: GNA
2020-09-22
File Photo: All parties are participating in an intense campaign to attract more followers to their group.
Ghana has survived some four decades of uninterrupted democratic governance to justify its praise as a “beacon of democracy” in Africa.
The two largest political parties, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the National Democratic Congress (NDC), have dominated the political scene since 1992, with other smaller parties including the People’s Convention Party (CPP), the Convention National of the People (PNC). , All the People’s Congress (APC), Progressive People’s Party (PPP), National Democratic Party (NDP), largely peripheral.
Some independent presidential candidates have joined the fray.
That the NPP and NDC remain the dominant political parties of particular concern is evident from the results of the 2016 presidential elections.
The votes received by the presidential candidates of the parties that disputed the last election (2016) were the following: John Mahama (NDC), 4,713,277 or 44.4%; Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo (NPP), 5,716,026 or 53.85%; Paa Kwesi Nduom (PPP), 105,682 or 1%; Nasigre Mahama (PNC), 22,214 or 0.21%; Ivor Kobina Greenstreet (CPP), 5,395 or 0.24%; Nana Konadu Agyemang-Rawlings (NDP), 16,878 or 0.16%; and Jacob Osei Yeboah (IND), 15,889 or 0.15%.
The NPP and the NDC performed the best and remain the best bets for the 2020 general election. The pursuit of power by the other political parties only tends to make the electoral process more exciting as they try to gauge their strength and Grow to the point where coalitions between some of them will become a necessity.
That is why it is worth examining the manifestos of the ruling NPP and the larger opposition NDC as to which of them can secure the mandate of the Ghanaians.
The political scene appears to be undergoing a sea change from reliance on mass voting in one particular region or constituency to one on frenzied competition and nationwide voting.
This is where it becomes necessary for both sides to engage in an intense political campaign to attract more supporters, insisting on the main themes of their manifestos that aim to address the most prominent aspects of the country’s socioeconomic development agenda.
Indeed, it is impossible to address every detail or component of these manifestos that span several hundred pages and offer solutions to every conceivable aspect of the nation’s development.
The problems are many and varied: health, education, fisheries and agriculture, employment, the economy, roads, mining, road and rail transport, and related sectors of the economy.
The NPP, which panders to capitalist ideology, and the NDC, which pursues social democratic policies, have sent clear messages to Ghanaians regarding what they hope to achieve for themselves and the nation.
The themes of the PNP campaign focus on development in freedom, a district, a factory; A district, a dam; One Constituency, One Million Dollar, Free SHS, and Job Creation with its youth-based Nation Builders Corps (NABCO) and the National Health Insurance Scheme. The PNP also banned galamsey operations and introduced community mining in an effort to protect the environment, prioritized the construction of roads and interchanges, restored teacher training and nurse subsidies, among others.
The NDC vindicates numerous infrastructure projects spanning education, health, roads, construction of interchanges and promises to enhance free education with a progressively free version and restoration of the ‘Okada’ form of transportation that it banned before leaving government.
The NDC has outlined in its manifesto the development projects it intends to undertake when it returns to power. It is proposed again “to absorb 50 percent of the fees of higher education students for the 2020/2021 academic year to mitigate the effects of COVID-19 on students and parents.”
The NDC promises to establish “free Wi-Fi zones in all public and private tertiary institutions; provide free laptops to tertiary education students to facilitate participation in virtual classes, foster shared laboratory experiences, especially for those in science and technology programs, and include private tertiary institutions.
There is the additional commitment of the campaign to “complete the conversion of all polytechnics into technical universities (TU) in accordance with our original vision of creating opportunities for professional mobility of professionals and returning excavators confiscated from illegal miners by the government in functions to their owners among other promises. “
These manifestos contain a set of actions and intentions intended to influence the voter on both sides of the political divide. But will people vote based on what they hear, or based on the concrete achievements of these two political parties during a given period? Do manifests sound credible and can they be implemented and in what period?
This is where the NPP and NDC seem to converge in their manifestos that aim to address Ghana’s multifaceted problems that have been exacerbated by the novel coronavirus or COVID-19 pandemic. The similarity of the manifestos is due to the fact that both have guided Ghanaians through the troubles that border the country’s socio-economic problems.
Ghanaians have become more noticeable this time around and are sending clear messages to both parties regarding what their real needs are. Now they insist on the provision of one project or another as a precondition for voting in this year’s elections. However, what is likely to happen is that the PNP and NDC will continue to rely on their support bases in the Ashanti and Volta Regions respectively, no matter what, on December 7.
There are now 16 regions in Ghana and both political parties and any other party in dispute will require extensive and massive campaign strategies to win substantial votes in these areas. They need to hear the ‘No Road, No Votes’; ‘No electricity, no votes’, the chants of the communities indicating their wishes, complaints or protests that the parties cannot simply ignore.
Political parties must also reveal strategies to combat corruption and crime in their multifaceted forms, which have a tendency to erode all the gains made over the years.
On December 7, barring unforeseen circumstances, he is here with us. People have been through decades of electoral processes and are likely to judge parties by what they have received from them.
No monetary incentive will serve any useful purpose for communities yearning for development and progress. It would be politically inept for any individual or party to think that handing out items and money can secure them the votes they need to seize political power. The Ghanaian voter has become increasingly sophisticated and the NPP and NDC or, for that matter, any other political party must work hard to come up with viable manifestos.
The other problem to be addressed is the many unemployed graduates and young people, who must be absorbed into secure jobs to boost economic productivity and sustainable growth.
Political parties must again address science and technology issues, providing resources for research and development, which are prerequisites for sustained growth and sustainable development, rather than resorting to outside grants and donations.
Ghana’s recent voter registration and card exercises were a sad reminder of how political parties are determined to ensure massive participation of their supporters in these exercises. They were positive indications of how the December elections will go. In the same way, the organization of its primaries in the heat of the coronavirus (COVID-19) points to how determined the leaders and supporters of the party are to ensure their territory for the polls.
Ghanaians can base their choices on the background of political parties and on how best to sell their manifestos to the people.
However, the fervent followers will vote according to their loyalty and conviction.
The PNP, on Saturday, August 22, launched its manifesto for the next elections on December 7, reiterating its achievements and what the party intends to do for four more years when it is given the go-ahead.
Nana Akufo-Addo of the NPP and John Mahama of the NDC are currently touring regions and constituencies to increase support amid the continued prevalence of COVID-19. They are repeating their campaign messages to win more voters. But Ghanaians are the best witnesses to the actions of political parties and can better decide where their votes will go in December.
The direction Ghana’s 16 regions will take will obviously be determined by how much and how much they have benefited from the national pie. They will examine your roads, welfare, well-being, living standards, job opportunities, transportation, education, electricity, commerce, agriculture, banking, social services, and many other sectors.
The enormity and scope of the country’s problems is likely to cause the two main political parties to converge on similar strategies to solve them. What matters are the strategies and the scale of priorities to tackle the problems.
The parties must recognize the devastating effect of the coronavirus pandemic and the possibility of an economic recession emanating from it. The epidemic, which has shown no signs of slowing down, has hampered mass rallies and conferences to some extent.
This year’s elections will be challenging for political parties, particularly in the context of the coronavirus epidemic, and could be a point for or against our democratic credentials.
Promises are not made deals and the two main parties must show how they intend to reach their destination on December 7th. The common Ghanaian should know how they intend to implement these manifests and by what means.
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