A political science lecture at the University of Ghana, professor Ransford Yaw Gyampo, has stated that Bawumia’s candidature as flagbearer of the New Patriotic Party presents an uphill task to achieving “Break the Eight”.
According to the renowned political scientist, the plethora of promises the Vice President made in the lead up to the 2016 General Elections posses strong questions to be answered.
However, he stated that despite the entrenched historic eight-year political turnover, “Breaking the Eight” is still a possibility.
“The party met and they decided to give him a nod to lead the party as a flagbearer. There are things that the constitution talks about when you talk about the role of the vice president. Essentially, you expected to be assisting the president.
“The election of Dr Bawumia as flagbearer of the NPP presents a certain uphill task in breaking the eight. I am not saying it cannot be done but it is difficult.”
Professor Ransford Yaw Gyampo
He bemoaned the way politicians promise quite recklessly during campaigns and elections.
“But typical of many politicians even though they know they are know they know their mandates and they know their limitations placed on their mandate, they are the ones who round making all manner of promises. So members of parliament will make all manner of promises and when they are submitted to strict proof, they tell you they are not supposed to be doing x,y,z. Meanwhile, in the lead up to your election and electioneering campaign, you promised heaven.
“So in the lead up of the election that brought the NPP to office, the vice presidential aspirant to Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo himself, through series of lectures, made a lot of promises to the good people of Ghana. Now he is able to tell the people of Ghana that the promises he made have been redeemed will be critical.”
Professor Ransford Yaw Gyampo
2024 General Elections Will Be Base On Standard Of Living
He further argued that the 2024 General Elections is not about talking that does not reflect in the life of the people. He said that will be particularly about how the NPP is able to convince Ghanaians, that the living standards of Ghanaians is better than they used to be prior to 2016 will be crucial.
“And I do not want any politician to tell me that things are better. You do not understand problems better than myself.” He emphasized.
According to the political scientist who defined good governance as being the effective and efficient management of scarce resources such that it translates to into developmental outcomes that can be tangibly reflected in the lives of the people, it will be up to Ghanaians to decide whether things are better today than they were prior to coming into office of the NPP.
He emphasized that If things are better today, Ghanaians will speak; and that will speak to the candidature of the success or electoral fortunes of Dr. Bawumia.
“But how he is able to convince all of us to accept that is an uphill task that I believe is set for him”, he puzzled.
In addition, Professor Gyampo queried how the Vice President will navigate convincing Ghanaians on his campaign trail that there are things that are going to be done in the future when he is voted a President that which he cannot do in the present as Vice President.
“How that sounds convincing to us presents also, another uphill task for him”, the Professor flagged.
He concluded with an analysis of historical performance of flagbearers during delegates elections who went on to succeed in becoming president.
“And then also, in my own analysis, of situations, this is difficult but look at it, the history of electoral politics in Ghana shows in my analysis that anyone who went out of his after being elected as a flagbearer of a political party who went on to become president garnered a certain percentage of votes in his own party contestation. I am looking at the people get 80% to 90%; when they made those votes they went on to become president but it was difficult.
“I realized Dr. Bawumia had 61% and if I disaggregate, you can see the contribution of President Akufo Addo and government machinery to the vote percentage that was garnered. If you do the disaggregation, you are likely to see, fair, at minimum you should get about 50%.”
Professor Ransford Yaw Gyampo
“So 50% of the 61%, I am arguing would have emanated from the support given by the machinery of the government to Dr. Bawumia” he concluded.
Therefore, he was pessimistic that with that kind of votes that the Vice President had, he would be able to “Break the Eight” as it appears that he did not have much support even within his own party base.
However, he indicated that to go over this hurdle, the Vice President would have to spend more energy and time uniting the party’s front and base.
READ ALSO: DMB’s Running Mate: A Case For Dr. Yaw Osei Adutwum
