-NPP’s “Break The 8” Dream Shattered
-Voters Deliver Harsh Lessons One Year On
By Nelson Ayivor
One year ago today, December 7, 2024, Ghanaians stormed the polls.
The question was clear: Should the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) “Break the 8” with another term? Or send the National Democratic Congress (NDC) back to Jubilee House?
We all know the verdict. NPP crashed out. NDC swept in with a presidential landslide and parliamentary dominance. Now, looking back, this election screams lessons louder than a trotro horn in Accra traffic.
Ghanaians don’t play when it comes to voting. Afrobarometer shows our people slack on daily civic watchdogs, but come election day?
They wield the ballot like a cutlass. NDC’s massive margins proved it. Public officials dodge accountability between polls, but the ballot box? It buries them. Happened in 2016. Exploded in 2024.
Economy Bites Hard NPP Paid the Price
Remember Kufuor’s 2000 masterstroke? “Check your pocket, then vote!” Same script in 2024. Ghanaians squeezed by sky-high prices, debt crisis, and economic wahala pinned on NPP’s watch. NDC’s “change now” chant hit home. Voters didn’t just vote they evicted bad managers.
Corruption Perception: NPP’s Poison Pill
Afrobarometer Round 8 (2019) to Round 10 (2024): Ghanaians saying corruption “increased a lot” shot from 38% to 63%. Trust in government’s anti-graft fight? Plummeted from 39% to 15%. NPP’s “due process only” stance? Many saw it as cover-up. Voters smelled the rot and voted axe.
Bad Governance = Exit Door!
My aunty nailed it in 2016: Don’t reward “dumsor” darkness and economic mess with votes. Poor ruling means electoral punishment. 2024? Country in tatters – voters applied the standard. No mercy.
EC Chair? Voters Trump All
NPP cried foul over the EC boss pre-2016. NDC did same in 2024. Guess what? Voters overruled them both. Parties’ “protect the vote” vigilantism helped, but truth? No EC chair outpowers the Ghanaian masses.
Policies Nice, But Results Rule
Afrobarometer 2024: NPP policies scored big Free SHS (86%), One District One Factory (76%), Planting for Food & Jobs (81%), One Village One Dam (63%). Impressive? Sure. But empty pockets, corruption vibes, and governance fails trumped them. Good ideas die without delivery.
Warning to All Rulers: Eight-Year Cycle Can Break
Incumbents, listen up! Ghanaians alternate NPP-NDC every eight years, but 2016 and 2024 yell: Deliver or perish. 2008’s near-miss was under good times. 2024’s rout? Pure disaster vibes. NPP learned the hard way. Wise rulers fix the nation before voters fix you.
A word to the wise is enough. Ghana rises when leaders fear the ballot.