In January 2008 Professor Irene Odotei said: “Post-independence political history of Ghana has been characterized by democratic elections, coups and countercoups.” Since independence, it has had five civilian administrations and four military regimes.
Since the return to civilian rule in 1992, elections have seen both parties voted out of office, establishing Ghana as a model of democracy in a region that has had its share of rigged polls and coups. Any allegation of fraud should be taken with a grain of salt.
On Sunday, in a closely fought presidential election, Ghana’s incumbent President John Dramani Mahama of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) was declared the winner, but the opposition alleged fraud.
The electoral commission announced the result after a day of twists and turns linked to the vote on Friday and Saturday, with the stakes especially high in a country with a booming economy fuelled partly by newly discovered oil.
Ghana is also a leading exporter of cocoa and gold, with economic growth of 11.4 per cent last year.
The opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) says it will contest the result. As a result, an uneasy calm had reportedly enveloped Ghana after some delay in announcing the results.
The election was declared free and fair by the regional body the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and a local group the Coalition of Domestic Election Observers (CODEO).
In a statement, CODEO said the result was a “generally accurate reflection” of the support of Mr Mahama and Mr Akufo-Addo. Observers from the Commonwealth, West African bloc ECOWAS and local group CODEO all said the vote appeared peaceful and transparent.
Results compiled by local media had early Sunday pointed to a Mahama win, leading the opposition to strongly reject them, alleging fraud and claiming it had evidence that its presidential candidate Nana Akufo-Addo was the real winner.
According to the electoral commission, Mahama won with 50.7 per cent of the votes cast, compared with Akufo-Addo’s 47.7 per cent. With eight candidates in the race, more than 50 per cent was needed to avoid a second-round run-off.
Akufo-Addo’s NPP said in a statement that the results “do not reflect the mandate of the required majority of the Ghanaian electorate”. It said party officials would meet Tuesday to decide the way forward.
After almost 20 years of uninterrupted democratic experiment, it does not lie in the mouth of opposition politicians to question the outcome of the election, close as it was.
The problem is that the ethnic divisions within Ghana might very well be contributing to the unwillingness to accept the outcome. All parties should respect the voice and the will of the people.
