By Kwadwo Kyei
A Professor of Political Science at the University of Ghana, Ransford Gyampo, has said it will be a difficult task for the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) to break the 8, having elected Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia as its flagbearer for the 2024 general election.
Prof. Gyampo made this comment over the weekend on _Keypoints_ , a _TV3_ weekly programme. He stated, “The election of Dr. Bawumia as flagbearer of the NPP presents a certain uphill task in the party’s attempt to break the 8. I’m not saying it cannot be done, but it’s difficult.”
He said if he disaggregated the 61% Dr. Bawumia garnered from the NPP presidential primaries, one could see the contributions of President Akufo-Addo and the machinery of government to the figure. The influence of Dr. Bawumia might have contributed to 50%.
He added that the 61% shows that the Vice-President doesn’t have much support even among his own party base, for which reason it would be difficult for him to win the 2024 presidential election.
The outspoken professor proposed three things Dr. Bawumia should do which may endear him to the Ghanaian electorate.
Firstly, he said Dr. Bawumia should be able to tout his own track records in a manner that sounds convincing to Ghanaians.
“Secondly, he must be able to tell us that there are things he cannot do today even though he promised to do them but when he is given the mandate, he’ll do them,” he said.
“Finally, he must be able to convince us that regarding our living conditions, things are better today than things were prior to 2016,” he added.
The political science professor stressed that the essence of governance is to solve problems and not to dance around problems, proffering explanations as to why the problems exist.
He indicated that we had been shortchanged as a people, comparing what was done previously to what is being done now. “It appears this regime is super incompetent compared to Mahama’s regime,” he said bluntly.
Prof. Gyampo stated that the banking sector clean-up exercise was done with super incompetence, adding that we don’t spend more to achieve little.
He also condemned the corruption in the Akufo-Addo administration and how the government had mismanaged the economy.
He pointed out that the current regime suffers from a severe trust deficit, adding that nobody in the regime can be trusted.
