The 2024 election is one of many firsts, it will be the first time in 16 years the NPP will be presenting a presidential candidate not called Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo. The 79-year-old has led the party to every election since 2008. The 2024 elections will also be the first time since 2008 that an incumbent president will not be on the ballot paper.
Events that happened at the party’s presidential primaries in 2007 where seventeen men contested to succeed then-President Kufuor prompted the party to whittle down the number of presidential aspirants to five, if more than that number, contest for the position. A similar situation happened in August 2023, when ten men availed themselves to succeed President Akufo-Addo. The number was narrowed to five. But that’s not where the surprise was. One of Ghana’s longest-serving Trade Ministers, Alan Kyerematen secured the third position with 95 votes, representing 10.82%, much to the surprise of many. Vice President Dr Mahamadu Bawumia, who polled 629 votes (68.15%), and Assin Central MP Kennedy Agyapong who managed 132 votes (14.30%), proved too strong for Ghana’s former Ambassador to the United States as they came first and second respectively.
Alan Kyerematen would eventually resign from the party and establish a new political movement which he calls the Movement for Change. His absence meant 4 instead of 5 people would be competing in the flagbearer race.
Former Mampong MP, Addai Nimo and Former Agric Minister, Dr Afriyie Akoto will attempt to upset the two frontrunners Vice President Dr Bawumia and Assin North MP, Kennedy Agyapong. Kennedy Agyapong is a firebrand politician, known for his no-nonsense approach to issues and, like, Vice President Dr Bawumia, this will be his first attempt at the presidency. Addai Nimo has been here before. He competed to lead the NPP in 2014 but was unsuccessful. His 1,035 votes which represented 0.83% were largely insignificant. He is the only candidate among the final four with prior experience vying for the NPP presidential candidature.
The Vice President who emerged winner in that super delegates conference was a surprise frontrunner in the lead-up to the super delegates elections and proved to be a very popular figure in the party when he won convincingly. There have been accusations from some of his opponents as being “the establishment candidate” – meaning he’s favored heavily by the party’s hierarchy, a claim that has since been rejected by the party’s leadership and the vice president’s camp.
Historically, incumbent parties witnessed a sharp decline in percentage and numbers in their third consecutive election cycles. The two previous precedents are prime examples – former President John Mahama saw his 5,574,761 votes (50.70%) in 2012 reduced by more than 800,000 in 2016 to 4,771,118 (44.53%) upon his party’s third successive attempt to remain in power. A similar fate happened to the NPP in 2008, after the 4,480,446 votes (49.77%) they had in that too-close-to-call run-off election fell 3 percent short of the 4,524,074 votes (52.45%) the party enjoyed in its second consecutive term in office four years prior in 2004. The NPP, however, wants to break this jinx. But with the current economic climate and hardship witnessed by Ghanaians, especially under President Akufo-Addo’s second term which is often blamed on the effects of COVID-19 and the Russia-Ukraine war by government officials and communicators, will the populace give the NPP another shot at the Presidency? The 2024 election results will tell.
The author of this piece is Kenneth Gyasi, a broadcast journalist and a writer with the Ignite Media Group.
