As you read this article as a Ghanaian, I want you to open your mind and follow the analysis and facts carefully and make an informed decision. Don’t close your mind and be stupid like Sir John, Gabby Otchere Darko, Chairman Wontumi and many others who refuse to find out the real reasons why the NPP lost the Presidential elections in both 2008 and 2012.

Serioulsly, Alan Kyeremanten would have been difficult to beat in the Presidential elections in 2016. The reasons given by the Alan camp why Alan could have won the 2016 general elections are all true. The argument that Alan would attract the floating voters are without scientific bases but studying and analyzing the qualities of Alan K, that argument could be true if you factor in the psychology of the Ghanaian voter. President John Dramani Mahama has the same beautiful qualities but Nana Akufo-Addo has the direct opposite qualities. Is the NPP willing to sell Nana Addo as an ugly old man? Maybe!

When you ask the NPP people why Nana lost the elections in 2008, they have no better reasons, except to say, the elections were rigged by the NDC. They say this without shame knowing that the NPP was in power in 2008. If the NDC could rig elections whilst in opposition, what hope do the NPP have to suggest that they will come to power in 2016, when the NDC is already in power? Some body is dreaming. And when you ask them why they lost in 2012, they say the Supreme Court gave the Presidency to President John Mahama. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court only confirmed what the Electoral Commission announced. The Electoral Commission also announced the results of the will of the Ghanaian voter. The Ghanaian voter also voted massively for President John Mahama because they believed in the policies and programs of the NDC. The Supreme Court did not overturn the announcement by the Electoral Commission. It confirmed it. If the majority Judges at the Supreme Court agreed with the results as announced by the Electoral Commission, I find it very difficult to understand why some NPP supporters including some of their learned lawyers still don’t understand this basic agreement and conclusion.

Now let’s do some analysis: In 2008, the Presidential candidate for the NPP was Nana Akufo-Addo and his running mate was Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia. The Presidential candidate for the NDC was the late Presidnt Atta-Mills and his running mate was now President John Dramani Mahama. During the 2008 elections, the Nana/Bawumia ticket got 49.13% of the valid votes and the Mills/Mahama ticket also got 47.92% of the valid votes. Since none of the tickets got the 50+1% required by the constitution, there was the need for a run-off elections to get a President.

During the run-off election, The Nana/Bawumia ticket secured 49.77% of the valid votes, an increase of 0.64% from the original results. The Mills/Mahama ticket also got 50.23% of the valid votes, an increase of 2.31% from the original results. I have taken my time to put this information out there, because I believe some NPP folks don’t have it as such. Also all the elections results in this article was by courtesy of the Electoral Commission of Ghana and not from any private or personal media site.

Now in 2012, the NPP presented the same ticket of Nana and Bawumia and they scored 47.74% of the valid votes, a decrease of 1.39% from the results of the 2008 first round. The NDC presented a different ticket of HE Mahama and Amissah-Arthur, and they scored 50.70% of the valid votes, an increase of 2.78% from the results of the 2008 first round. So you see, Nana/Bamumia ticket has been beaten by two different tickets from the NDC and while the NDC numbers (in percentages) moved up between 2008 and 2012, the NPP numbers went down. Has the NPP ever sat down to find out why? This is what Dr. Arthur Kennedy and others have asked them to do but authorities above are wiser than them. Meanwhile, in the 2012 general elections, Candidate/President John Dramani Mahama campaigned for just 40 days as against Nana Akufo-Addo, who campaigned for 4 solid years. So Nana Akufo-Addo had 1,420 days advantage, but still lost to President John Mahama by over 300,000 valid votes, representing about 3% of the valid votes. Has the NPP ever sat down to know what the reasons are? If you lost elections and always attribute it to stealing, you create an atmosphere where you don’t trust yourself to ever win any elections, because you think the people have already rejected you. That is exactly what is going on in the NPP. When the election year opens, they start their campaign as if the elections are going to be held that month. Then two years down the road, they lose focus and lose the elections. When that happens, the only entity they blame is the Electoral Commission and their opponents. 

In 2000, the NDC presented the late President Atta-Mills and his running mate was Hon. Martin Amidu. So it was Mills/Amidu ticket. In 2004, the NDC presented the late President Atta-Mills and his running mate was Alhaji Muhammad Mumuni, so it was Mills/ Mumuni ticket. In 2008, the NDC presented the late Atta-Mills and his running mate was Hon. John Mahama, so it was Mills/Mahama ticket. So the wise late President Atta-Mills kept changing his running mate until he received a different result in 2008. The NPP on the other hand has presented Nana Akufo-Addo and Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, which is the Nana/Bawumia ticket for 2008, 2012 and 2016. Nana Akufo-Addo continues to do the same thing over and over again but expects different results. There is an adage which says that anyone who does the same thing over and over and over again and expects a different result, is a fool! This is why I am saying that Alan K. would have been difficult to beat because he doesn’t have any baggage to start with. He would have started on a clean slate and his figures will be building up as the weeks and months go by.

Some NPP folks ask this question all the time. That is, if Alan would have been difficult to beat why was NDC campaigning for him? The answer is simple. Politics is the game of the mind. You play the mind to suit your best interest. NDC somehow associated themselves to Alan for the NPP to think that Alan was the weaker candidate. If the NPP perceive that Alan is a weaker candidate, they will vote for Nana Addo. Meanwhile in the NDC playbook, Nana Addo was the weakest candidate amongst the final three. NDC played the minds of the NPP and got the candidate they want. The lines are now drawn and the 2016 battle is going to be between President John Mahama and Nana Akufo-Addo. (the weaker candidate)

Ladies and gentlemen, the Nana/Bamumia ticket for 2016 is the weakest ever the NPP will present in the general elections. The NPP is fond of saying a leader is bad after the leader has been at post for just 3 months. They said the late President Atta-Mills’ government was the worse just after 3 months in office. They said President John Mahama’s government is the worse just after 3 months in office. Meanwhile, their useless election petition was still at the Supreme Court, and now they are saying Paul Afoko’s administration is the worse in the NPP history when it was just three months in office. I hope and pray that they will not say Nana Akufo-Addo is the worse leader in the NPP after 3 months in his current position as the flag bearer.

After 3 months when the NPP see that Nana Akufo-Addo has the same message, same running mate, same crowd and same old man, they would have wished they voted for Alan Kyeremanten instead. At the time, they would realize that Alan would have been difficult to beat in 2016 but it would have been too late. The NPP would have a leader who paid for it. Bribing and corrupting your way to become just the flag bearer of the opposition party is definitely not worth it especially since the Ghanaian people already know you can’t offer them any new message and any new hope.

Lawrence Appiah-Osei (Protocol)

Public Relations Officer (PRO)

NDC Washington Metro Branch

Appiah65@Hotmail.com.