The UK-based Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) is expecting a win for the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) in the 2024 general election with a huge caveat.
It said even though it expects the NDC to win both the presidential and parliamentary elections, it also believes the main opposition party needs to choose a fresh candidate like Dr. Kwabena Duffuor to revive the party’s prospects at the next polls.
“We expect the contests to secure the presidential candidacies of both the NPP and the NDC to be highly competitive, with several high-profile figures expected to contend.
“A former president, John Mahama, launched his campaign to secure the NDC presidential candidacy in March.
“However, the NDC could also choose to revitalise its prospects with a fresh candidate, such as Kwabena Duffuor, a former finance minister, who has also declared his intention to secure the party candidacy”, EIU stated in its latest report released on 28th April, 2023.
It pointed out that its baseline forecast is that economic hardships, the fallout from debt restructuring and poor governance will create an anti-incumbency wave and push the electorate to seek change.
“The NDC therefore stands a strong chance of winning the 2024 presidential poll and securing a legislative majority”, the report added.
However, some political analysts have cautioned the NDC not to jubilate ahead of the 2024 polls as the main opposition party has not yet revitalised its prospects with a fresh candidate.
According to them, it is not yet a done deal with the NDC as its presumptive candidate for the next general election who is former President Mahama, has nothing new to offer Ghanaians.
Apart from this, with over 18 months to the 2024 general election, there could be a turnaround in the Ghanaian economy as the country expects to get some $3 billion from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and some substantial support from the World Bank and others.
NDC, some bigshots of the main opposition party argue, needs a fresh candidate who has no political questions than answers to win the general election.
Mahama’s legacy
Former President Mahama who governed the country for four and half years, suffered two successive humiliating defeats in 2016 and 2020 general elections.
He superintended over the worst power outages in the country’s fourth republic for about four long tortuous years during which Ghanaians endured ‘dumsor’, culminating in the collapse of businesses, job losses and general economic malaise.
All these resulted in the electorate rejecting him at the polls in the last two elections.
Notwithstanding this disastrous record, former President Mahama who once claimed “Ghanaians have short memories”, is staging a comeback for only one four-year-term to complete what his disciples have termed unfinished business.
However, some NDC leading members like former Minister for Information as well as former Member of Parliament (MP) for Ablekuma South, Mr. Fritz Baffour in recent interviews agreed that the main opposition party can only win the 2024 polls with a fresh candidate like Dr. Kwabena Duffour.
Others including NDC presidential hopeful Kojo Bonsu, former NDC National Organiser Yaw Boateng Gyan and former National Communications Officer Solomon Nkansah also believe former President Mahama is a “damage commodity”, that the main opposition party must not present to Ghanaians in the 2024 elections.
Presidential hopefuls
NDC will be holding its presidential and parliamentary primaries simultaneously on May 13, 2023 to elect their presidential and parliamentary candidates.
Former President Mahama; former Governor of Bank of Ghana (BoG) and former Minister for Finance, Dr. Kwabena Duffuor; and former Mayor of Kumasi, Kojo Bonsu are the three aspirants vying for the NDC presidential slot.
However, Mr. Mahama and business mogul Kwabena Duffuor are considered to be the frontrunners.
The two presidential hopefuls are crisscrossing the country to woo party delegates ahead of the crucial election.
THE CUSTODIAN has gathered that whilst Dr. Duffuor is giving alternative policies to party faithful on how to transform the Ghanaian economy and also revitalise NDC’s prospects in the upcoming general election, former President Mahama is busily attacking the governing NPP with highly profane words and already claiming victory in the primaries.
The paper has also gathered that Dr. Duffuor who led the management of the economy as Minister for Finance for the erstwhile NDC government to achieve a single-digit inflation for more than one year, is well received by party delegates during his campaign tours with the exception of constituency chairmen who are being forced to stay away from him.
