I can’t help but crow about our recently concluded elections. We defied all odds to pull off a spectacularly successful elections. This accomplishment, in essence, cements our democratic bona-fides. Oh doesn’t it feel tremendously awesome to be Ghanaian?
A watchful and skeptical world couldn’t help but congratulate us on our ability to hold free and fair elections without the much dreaded violence. Here was the former United States Assistant Secretary for African Affairs, Johnnie Carson gushing about our elections: “Ghana,” he said, “is a gold standard for democracy in Africa.”
Praise for the successful outcome of the elections should be lavished generously on all those who made the seemingly impossible feat of holding a violence free elections possible; the Ghanaian voter, the Electoral Commission, civil society groups and our vaunted security agencies. In a region drenched in political violence, this was a huge deal.
Now that our pivotal elections are in the rear view mirror, in the past so to speak, it is time for the victorious NPP to suit up and “go to war,” figuratively. The party has its cup full, and I envy it not.
The “enemies” the NPP has to confront abound, and they include, among others, a very fragile economy, a high rate of youth unemployment compounded by a dearth of jobs, and cultural and political divisions exacerbated by the election of Nana Akuffo Addo.
Providing solutions to all that which ails our nation will certainly not be a walk in the park for the new government. A lot is riding on the campaign promises made by the party to voters; to create jobs and move Ghana to the forefront of industrialization.
Examined closely, the campaign promises made by the NPP are daring and ambitious; in fact, according to reports, the party claims it has identified 300 projects it wants to tackle. Having ridden on a bucket full of promises to victory, the party is under pressure to deliver, and only time will tell if it can make good on its promises without breaking the bank, depleting the nation’s scant financial resources.
The Brookings Institution, a liberal think tank in Washington D.C. in its post elections analysis, sternly warned the NPP not to expect a rosy start to its governance, and questioned where all the money to execute the 300 projects would come from.
To that I add, as the global economy to which Ghana is intricately linked continues to struggle and commodity prices still to regain their pre-2008 levels, the NPP should tread carefully. Campaigning and governing are two vastly different concepts. I hope the NPP is acutely cognizant of the huge task ahead.
