In a carnival of drums, horns, flags and revving motorbikes, Ghana’s ruling party and opposition candidates rallied supporters for the last campaign on Thursday before a tightly contested presidential election.Saturday’s vote has emerged into a close race between ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) candidate, current Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia, and former president and NDC party flag-bearer John Mahama, who says he deserves another shot at the top seat.Africa’s top gold producer and a major cacao exporter, Ghana has long been seen as an investor favourite and a bastion of democratic stability in a region hit by recent coups, constitutional challenges and insurgencies. The campaign for the presidential and parliamentary election focused on the West African state’s economy after a debt crisis, a currency slide and double-digit inflation prompted a default and a $3- billion IMF credit deal.Outside a university sports stadium in the capital, Accra, supporters of Bawumia’s NPP party praised him as the man to help Ghana pull further out of economic crisis.Motorbike taxi riders wearing the party’s blue, red and white colours flocked to the rally, kicking up storms of dust with their wheels in celebration as campaign music blared out from a main stage.”Bawumia should come. I want him to make the economy grow,” said rice farmer David Nyumudsu, 40, sporting sunglasses in the NPP colours. “Bawumia has more to do.”With a campaign slogan “Break the 8” — a reference to going past President Nana Akufo-Addo’s limit of two, four-year terms — Bawumia hopes to deliver the NPP an unprecedented third term in power.- Eyes on economy -The former central bank official and UK-educated economist has tried to distance himself from criticism over Akufo-Addo’s handling of the economy, even if he was chief of his economic management team.Inflation has dropped from around 54 percent to 23 percent, but still many Ghanaians are worried about the cost of living enough to make it one of their major election concerns.Both Bawumia and Mahama were due to speak later on Thursday to wrap up their campaigns.Results from Saturday’s election to decide the successor to Akufo-Addo — who must step down after two terms — and for the new parliament are expected on Tuesday. At the nearby campaign for Mahama’s National Democratic Party, supporters congregated at a dusty community park, where posters and T-shirts promised to “Reset Ghana Right” and “Stop the 8″.”We believe in this man,” said Georgina Fiadzoe, a retired educator, wearing a pro-Mahama T-shirt. “The economy is not helping us. We need better.” For Mahama, president from 2012 to 2017, concerns over the economy present an opportunity to paint Bawumia as part of a failing policy.Still, critics point out that Mahama himself oversaw a period of major power blackouts in Ghana and say he offers nothing new after failed presidential bids in 2016 and 2020.With both top candidates coming from the north of Ghana, which was traditionally an NDC stronghold, the region and the capital area of Greater Accra are set to be key battlegrounds.Ghana, alongside its coastal West African neighbours Benin, Togo and Ivory Coast, faces increasing risks from violent spillover from jihadist conflicts to the north in Burkina Faso and Niger.But alongside the cost of living, the economic and ecological damage from illegal gold mining has also been a major election issue. Akufo-Addo’s government promised to stamp out the practice but it has spread with the rise in gold prices.
Thu, 05 Dec 2024 17:10:25 GMT
