How Mahama won back presidency in Ghana
National Democratic Congress (NDC) presidential candidate John Dramani Mahama looks on, during the presidential and Parliamentary election in Bole, Ghana, December 7, 2024.
What you need to know:
- Mahama has been out of power for the last eight years, having lost two elections since he last served as President.
- From the results so far, Mahama’s party has also won most seats in parliament, guaranteeing some smooth flow of policy.
Ghana’s losing presidential candidate, outgoing Vice-President Mahamudu Bawumia of the New Patriotic Party’s (NPP), promptly acknowledged defeat in Saturday’s 2024 elections and extended congratulations to former President John Mahama.
The decision meant Ghana has sustained its reputation as one where losers hardly get sore. They just plot to return in future.
“The people of Ghana have spoken, the people have voted for change at this time and we respect it with all humility,” Bawumia said.
Even before the official results came out, Bawumia, who would have become the first Muslim President had he won, said his party was also conceding parliamentary majority defeat.
This election signaled Mahama’s National Democratic Congress (NDC)’s years-long plan that were also buoyed by misfortunes of the incumbent administration.
Frustration from a mismanaged economy and high rate of unemployment and corruption played key roles in the election that saw the return of Mahama as President.
Having been out of power for the last eight years - he lost two elections since he last served as President - Mahama was able to squarely champion blame on the current administration of Nana Akufo-Addo.
The election came in the throes of the country’s worst economic crisis despite being a leading producer of cocoa, gold and recently, oil. Food prices are soaring and the national currency, cedi, had plunged in value against the US dollar.
The height of the country’s economic crisis was in 2022, when Ghana failed to make repayments on its external debts – amounting to $30 billion – for the first time.
Inflation had risen above 50 per cent by the end of that year and the country was unable to produce funding for the following year’s budget.
Electricity outages as a result of cuts in supplies by companies which are owed over $1. 6 billion by Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) have become regular.
President Akufo-Addo’s government had been forced to seek a $3 billion International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan package to support the economy, even though he had previously promised never to do this.
IMF released the third tranche of the loan, worth $360 million; it released $600 million in July 2023 and January 2024. Inflation has slowed to 20 percent since 2020, but the cost of living remains onerous for many.
Unemployment has hit 14.7 per cent in Ghana, according to government data from 2023.
The lack of jobs is prompting young Ghanaians, particularly healthcare workers, to move away from Ghana in what has been termed a “brain drain.”
Bawumia’s campaign blamed other factors for this including Covid-19, the Russia-Ukraine war and even problems created during Mahama’s last presidency.
Political corruption
The vice president had promised new economic strategies: cancelling some taxes, such as import duties on mobile phones, for example.
NDC’s Mahama, for his part, made the economy a cornerstone of his campaign, promising to cut the number of ministers to reduce government spending. He called Akufo-Addo and Bawumia’s IMF deal “reckless”.
The two main parties differed in their approach to fixing the economy. While the ruling NPP favoured private sector-led growth to boost the economy, the NDC wanted to implement government-led interventionist policies such as large, public infrastructure projects in agriculture and manufacturing.
The corruption index had been worrisome, causing a general dislike for the ruling party and its officials in power.
Ghana ranked 70th out of 180 countries on the Corruption Perceptions Index in 2023, indicating high levels of political corruption.
Mahama of the NDC promised an “Operation Return all Loot” and to target corrupt officials.
There were other missteps. According to reports, in August, for example, Ghana’s water authority said it had to cut off 75 per cent of clean water supplies to communities, saying it could not remove the harmful chemicals and that it was unsafe to drink.
The matter prompted protests and accusations that the government is ineffective in stopping it. Some have called it an “ecocide”.
Ghanaians hope the new President, and the new group of 276 legislators elected on Saturday will steer the country for the next four years and solve the plethora of problems.
The general elections took place in 276 constituencies across the country, and 18.8 million
Mahama beat 11 other presidential candidates, including Bawumia. Eight of them represent political parties, four ran on independent tickets, jostling for 18.8 million voters.
From the results so far, Mahama’s party has also won most seats in parliament, guaranteeing some smooth flow of policy.
“It is important that the world investor community continues to believe in the peaceful and democratic character of Ghana,” Bawumia added.
“The people have voted for change at this time, and we respect that decision with all humility.”
Mahama, 65, was President from 2012 until 2017, when he was replaced by Akufo-Addo.
Only candidates of NDC or NPP have been President since the return of multiparty system and democracy in 1992 and no party had won more than two consecutive terms in power.
Mahama served the remainder of the uncompleted term of the late President John Atta Mills, who died in office in July 2012. He was subsequently elected to his own four-year term as president in 2013 after defeating Akufo-Addo (NPP) in their first direct face-off.
Mahama lost his bid for re-election to Akufo-Addo in 2016, becoming the only Ghanaian president thus far to suffer defeat after one term in office. He contested and lost again to Akufo-Addo in 2020.
