UP will deepen democratic dispensation — Analysts
Some political scientists and the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC) have welcomed the launch of the United Party (UP) by Alan Kyerematen, saying the party's emergence will deepen the country's democratic credentials.
However, the political scientists, Dr John Osae-Kwapong, Dr Gbensuglo Alidu Bukari and Dr Kwasi Amakye-Boateng, who spoke to the Daily Graphic in separate interviews, were of the opinion that the new political party would not have a significant impact on the country's politics.
Backing their argument with surveys, political antecedents and statistics from the 2024 general election, they said Ghanaians were not necessarily yearning for a third force, but rather a change in how politics was done.
National party
Dr Osae-Kwapong, who is also the Project Director, Democracy Project, was sceptical of the impact of the new party “because it is unclear whether it has the capacity to dislodge our two main political parties, the NDC and the New Patriotic Party (NPP).
“Nonetheless, the UP offer an important and added voice to our political discourse, which is important for our political growth and maturity," he said.
Surveys
He said in Afrobarometer Round 10, 2024, as many as seven out of 10 Ghanaians (69 per cent ) agreed that more political parties were needed to give citizens a real choice in who governs them.
Based on this, he said, one could argue that the United Party could leverage that sentiment and offer Ghanaians the alternative to the NDC and NPP.
“Beyond the affiliation question in the survey, the results of our national elections also show that despite the Ghanaian demand for a third force that breaks the NDC-NPP duopoly, the vote share of these two parties remains extremely high.
That is the reality the United Party faces as it tries to position itself as the alternative to the NDC and NPP,” Dr Osae-Kwapong stated.
Political viability
Dr Bukari, the Head of the Department of Political Science, University for Development Studies (UDS), Tamale, said the UP could significantly change the Ghanaian political narrative by directly challenging the dominance of the NPP and NDC under the current democratic dispensation.
"The United Party's primary aim is to break the ‘winner-takes-all’ duopoly of the NPP and NDC, which has led to divisive governance without a clear national development vision.
Positioned as a centrist, broad-based movement, the UP seeks to bridge the ideological gap between the two major parties by uniting the best minds from across the country's political and civil society spectrum," he said.
He argued that the newly formed UP's potential impact might be bolstered by the profile of its founder, Mr Alan Kyerematen, who was the longest serving Minister of Trade and Industry and a seasoned figure in the country's electoral politics, adding that his experience lends credibility to the new party.
Dr Bukari said the party was not merely running on an anti-establishment message but was anchoring its campaign on a detailed policy blueprint known as the Great Transformational Plan (GTP), launched in the run-up to the 2024 presidential election, to make Ghana Africa’s economic powerhouse by 2040 (Vision 2040).
He said the party also sought to promote a government of national unity, accountable governance and zero tolerance for corruption in Ghana.
He, however, said while the party had attracted several high-profile defectors from the NPP, it must build a nationwide grassroots movement and convince the majority of voters to break from traditional voting patterns.
No impact
For his part, a Senior Lecturer at the Department of History and Political Studies of the Kwame University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Kumasi, Dr Amakye-Boateng, said the new party would not make a significant impact in country's politics.
He argued that Ghanaians were not necessarily yearning for a third force, but rather a change in how politics was done.
The political scientist noted that Alan Kyerematen was not a new face in Ghanaian politics and that his party's ideology is rooted in the same tradition as the NPP.
"If people are really tired of the NPP, then they are tired of the UP tradition from where the NPP traces its roots," he said.
Dr Amakye-Boateng said the UP might take some votes out of the NPP, but it would not affect the pattern of votes.
He cited the 2024 presidential election results to buttress his point, which saw Mr Alan Kyerematen polling 32,457 votes, representing 0.28 per cent out of the total votes cast of 11,931,420.
NDC
Meanwhile, in an interview with the Daily Graphic, the Deputy Director of Elections and IT of the NDC, Rashid Tanko Computer, said the party's introduction into the country's political space would enhance multiparty democracy.
"We welcome them to the table of men. Now that they have transitioned from a movement to a political party, we welcome them," he said, adding, "We believe this will deepen the democratic credentials of Ghana."
When asked if the new party would affect the NDC's fortunes, Mr Computer was emphatic.
"At all, at all, completely. I mean, if it were to affect, that would be the NPP and not the NDC.
So, it will only affect them, not us,".
NPP
When the Director of Research and Elections of the NPP, Evans Nimako, was reached on the telephone, he declined to comment, saying he needed to check the last presidential election results to see whether they made any impact.
"I don't want to respond to them.
If I respond to them, it gives them a certain credence.
They don't need that from me," he stated.
