Election 2024: Green wave in Accra, what accounted for it?

Prior to the 2024 general election, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) had a firm grip on the Greater Accra Region, with as many as 20 seats, while the National Democratic Congress (NDC) held on to 14 seats.

However, the outcome of the December 7, 2024, polls saw the NDC and NPP swapping places, with the NDC having a firm grip on the nation’s capital. Provisional figures show the NDC has 31 of the 34 seats in the region.

Not only did the NDC put up a strong showing in its traditional strongholds in the region but also flipped seats that the party has never won in the history of the Fourth Republic.

Some of the seats that the NDC overturned were Tema West, Ayawaso Central, Ngleshie Amanfrom, Okaikwei South, Dome Kwabenya, Ablekuma West and Tema Central constituencies.

 Coastal sweep

The NDC also made a clean sweep of the coastal constituencies, including Ningo-Prampram, Klottey Korle, Kpone-Katamanso, Krowor, Ledzokuku, Sege, Ada, Ablekuma South, La Dadekotopon, Odododiodio and Tema East to cement its dominance of the Greater Accra Region.

Other constituencies secured by the NDC were Dodowa, Abokobi-Madina, Ashaiman, Okaikwei North, Amasaman, Ayawaso East, Ayawaso North and Domeabra/Obom among other areas. 
 

Reflections

Speaking to the Daily Graphic in separate interviews, some political players in the region described the outcome as a reflection of the difficult economic situation, disaffection arising from the government’s ineptitude and disenchantment in the performance of the Nana Akufo-Addo/Bawumia-led government.

A frontline political actor of the NDC and a former Chief Executive of the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA), Sylvester A. Mensah, described the performance of the NPP as an indication of the disaffection arising from the general perception of corruption and also the mismanagement of the economy.

Mr Mensah said the NDC did a survey and beyond the survey embarked on a house-to-house campaign to speak to the people directly and to get them to understand what the real issues were and how to address the challenges.

He said the outcome of the elections was the manifestation of real anger by the electorate.

“The outcome of the elections was a manifestation of real anger that was expressed loudly by the electorate,” he said.

With respect to the seats that were flipped by the NDC, Mr Mensah attributed it to a better campaign strategy and convincing people to vote for the NDC. 

Leadership failure

The NPP Constituency Chairman for Tema West, Kwasi Poku Bosompem, viewed the defeat of the NPP in the Greater Accra Region as an internal challenge, stressing that as a leader he believes leadership at all levels, himself included, let the people down.

“We really, really let the people down. The aspirations and hopes the people had in us were not met,” he said.

He said there were many things that party people spoke against the NPP government but those who had the power failed to implement them, adding that some of the government’s appointees also contributed to the massive defeat the NPP witnessed in Accra in this year’s elections.

“How come in Tema Central, we are standing here fighting over 14 votes and in Tema West, we lost overwhelmingly. We need to go back to the drawing board and interrogate what really went wrong,” he said

He stressed the need for leadership to reach out to the people to explain and seek an opportunity to right the wrongs.

Lessons learnt

The Vice Chairman of the National Fisheries Association of Ghana (NAFAG), Richster Nii Amarh Amarfio, said the outcome of the elections in the Greater Accra Region reflected the fact that people vote not because they belong to a political party but assess prevailing circumstances to decide who to vote for.

He said when the policies were not gelling with the livelihood situation of people, they tended to vote in accordance with that.

“We are fortunate to have gone through this second term of the NPP without mass civil disobedience and I am sure we are taking our lessons so that next time the youth may not wait for an election to register their protest but protest in a way of the Arab Spring,” he said.

He expressed the hope that lessons have been learnt and was optimistic that parties that win elections would address the needs of the people.

Comeback

The Greater Accra Chairman of the NPP, Divine Agorhom, noted that apart from the general apathy, the NDC adopted intimidation tactics on EC officials and the state security at collation centres to overturn some of the results in some constituencies, citing Tema Central and Okaikwei Central as an example.  

He also said people were disenchanted, adding that “people are somehow demotivated and it was difficult to get them to come out to vote.”

It is obvious that the NDC’s superior campaign strategies played a critical role in the party winning the Greater Accra Region, as general apathy, gross disaffection, and perceived corruption affected the NPP’s lacklustre performance.

Writer’s email: Benjamin. glover@graphic.com.gh