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[Comedy Empire @comedyempiregh]

Secondary Schools Your Favourite Comedians Attended https://t.co/wRYIqFvCmz

[Comedy Empire @comedyempiregh]

NPP awi aaaa nono

[Richard Ahiagbah @RAahiagbah]

Our democracy lives on....Let's forge forward together....
#VoteBawumia #PossibleWithBawumia #Bawumia2024 #ItIsPossible #BoldSolutionsForOurFuture #GhanaNextChapter #BawumiaTours #Newsfile #Bawumia #Ghana #TV3NewDay #JoyNews #CitiNewsroom #BuildingGhanaTogether #MovingGhanaForward #GMG #RGGNews #3Newsgh @LarryMadowo @peacefmonline @tv3_ghana @Citi973

[Manasseh Azure Awuni @Manasseh_Azure]

If Mahama Wins Tomorrow’s Election
*************************************
In the second of a two-part series I’m publishing today, I examine the strengths and weaknesses of the NDC and its presidential candidate in tomorrow’s election. I will then give the general verdict on the probability of victory for the NPP. (I have published a similar one on Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia and the NPP).

Strengths of John Mahama and the NDC:

1. The NPP’s Terrible Record: John Mahama’s biggest campaigner for the 2024 election has been President Akufo-Addo and the NPP administration. The government has, even in the months leading to the election, behaved as if nothing was at stake. The corruption, mismanagement and impunity will work in favour of John Mahama and the NDC in tomorrow’s election. Having lost two previous elections—one as sitting president—not much has changed in the John Mahama setup. But the Akufo-Addo administration makes him look like a saint.

2. Better Record: In 2016, I said in an article that if governance was all about borrowing money and building infrastructure and boasting about it, any idiot could govern Ghana. When Akufo-Addo became president, Ghana got logged out of the borrowing account, and the government reluctantly made another unholy pilgrimage to the IMF for support. Unlike the Mahama-era economic crisis, the Akufo-Addo-era mess was felt in private pockets and bank accounts. Bondholders and investors in private securities lost money, and some investors with Databank can still not access their funds unless they’re prepared to forfeit a chunk of their investment. Pensioners picketed for months at the Ministry of Finance for their locked-up funds. The economy Mahama was accused of mismanaging got worse under his successor. Amid the mess, there was an obscene arrangement that allowed a company owned by the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, to benefit from the borrowing Ghana made. In the area of corruption, the Akufo-Addo administration performed worse than Mahama’s. The democratic institutions have been systematically targeted and weakened in this administration.

So, even though Mahama did not leave a glamorous legacy, his successor outdid himself in an unprecedented race to the bottom, which will inure to Mahama’s advantage in tomorrow’s election.

3. Tolerance: Intolerance has been a significant charge against the Akufo-Addo administration. Ghana’s ranking on the Press Freedom Index fell sharply under Akufo-Addo, a president alleged to be a human rights defender. The recent arrests and detention of protestors and other high-handed actions of the government remind many in the civic space of the Mahama era. That is a strength the NDC leader has leveraged in his campaign.

4. General Clamour for Change: In Ghana, opposition parties don’t win elections. The incumbents lose them. And that is true for this election. After eight suffocating years of the NPP, there is a general clamour for respite. John Mahama and the NDC are not seen as the transformational force Ghana needs now, but they are the viable alternative. The NDC remains the lesser of two plagues.

5. Hope for Accountability: Another consideration that works for Mahama in the 2024 campaign is the hope among some concerned electorate that his victory will help Ghana exact accountability from the Akufo-Addo administration.

6. The Benefit of Trend: This trend, as I stated in the other write-up on Bawumia, will benefit the NDC. Since 1992, no political party has gone past eight years in office. And this administration has not done what it takes to break this trend. Besides, no entrant to the presidential race since 1992 has gone on to win the election at his first attempt under normal circumstances. Kufuor lost in 1996 before winning in 2000. Atta Mills lost in 2000 and 2004 before winning in 2008. Akufo-Addo lost in 2008 and 2012 before winning in 2016. The outliers have been Rawlings, who was already a larger-than-life military ruler before he contested the 1992 election, and John Mahama, who campaigned in a funeral cloth after the death of sitting President Mills garnered sympathy for the NDC in the 2012 election. If these trends are anything to go by, Mahama and the NDC will win in 2024.

The Odds Against Mahama

1. The Same Old Mahama: John Mahama is contesting the presidency for the fourth consecutive time, the longest run for a “winnable” candidate in the Fourth Republic. In 2012, he was fresh in the race, having served as vice president to President Atta Mills. In 2016, he lost because of the ills of his government. Akufo-Addo’s mess makes the Mahama administration look good. However, as I explained to a Facebook follower yesterday, your old domestic help who stole 10,000 cedis from you doesn’t necessarily become a wanted employee because his replacement stole 100,000 cedis. The people who served with Mahama and infuriated voters are still with him. He is undoubtedly the most market and marketable NDC candidate, but he tows a trailer full of baggage.

2. Poor Campaign: When you’re an opposition party, your resources are limited. Mr. Mahama and the NDC cannot match the NPP in the distribution of goodies, but the NDC could have done better in this election. The NDC looked disorganized and allowed the NPP to dictate the pace despite its lousy record. Bawumia and the NPP have run away from the economy. However, I’m unconvinced about the NDC’s so-called 24-hour economy, which is already happening in private and public entities that require different shifts. The NDC also failed to take advantage of the numerous NPP scandals. If a tenth of what we have witnessed under the NPP in these eight years had happened under the NDC, the NDC would not have been able to campaign in this election. Even amid the untold hardship, the millions of cash in ministers’ rooms did not feature in the NDC’s campaign. The woes of the opposition party were compounded by the generals jostling for positions and recognition before the victory. They are like hunting dogs fighting for the meat even before they catch the antelope.

3. Fighting Against State Machinery: The NDC believes—and that belief may be well-grounded—the Electoral Commission, the judiciary and the state security are tilting in favour of the governing party. Fighting against the incumbent is a tough battle, but vigilance can stop the potential abuses from significantly altering the wishes of the people.

Despite these weaknesses, this election favours the NDC. It will take a miracle for the NPP to win after what Ghanaians have endured, especially in these last four years. The NPP’s base, predominantly businessmen and women, are not insulated from the economic hardship of this era.

What Would a John Mahama and NDC Victory Mean?

For the conclusion, let me quote from Page 377 of my book, “The President Ghana Never Got.”

“Some have also argued that the alternative is no better. They are right. The worst tragedy of Ghana’s democracy is that the repulsive John Mahama of 2016 has become very attractive in 2024 without having to do anything. In the political race to the bottom that has increased in intensity in recent times, Mahama’s popularity with voters stems from the unimaginable depths Akufo-Addo has sunk. John Mahama has only four years if he wins. Without an eye on the next election, he would not need to compromise on critical decisions to appease certain constituencies. If he wants to leave a strong legacy, this places him in the position to be able to make bold and tangible changes.

“This also presents a downside to his re-election for only one-term, having served one term before losing in 2016. Many people around John Mahama have their political umbilical cords tied to him. If Mahama leaves the scene and even if the NDC wins the next election, they have no future in politics. Such characters—especially those who have no profession aside from waiting every eight years to get into government and secure themselves for the next dry season of political opposition—are deadly vampires to our nation’s resources. They will loot not only to secure themselves for the next eight years, but for a lifetime, knowing that they will retire with President Mahama. Those with unbridled ambitions will use the Mahama administration to build or strengthen their war chests for future campaigns. The John Mahama we know has not shown the strength of character to rein in such characters should he win the next election. Even before the NDC is handed power, they have started jostling and shoving one another and sharing positions that do not yet exist. The next Mahama presidency could, therefore, be worse than his first term. The only record he may not beat is that of Akufo-Addo.”

You can also read “If Bawumia Wins Tomorrow’s Election” on pages.

[Apologies for typos. The mind is tired]

[Comedy Empire @comedyempiregh]

Insightful

[Manasseh Azure Awuni @Manasseh_Azure]

If Bawumia Wins Tomorrow’s Election
**************************************
In my conversations with some Ghanaians, particularly members of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), one statement has often come up repeatedly: “There is no way Bawumia and the NPP [New Patriotic Party] can win this election unless they rig it.”

From where I sit, it is difficult to rig elections in Ghana. Our electoral system is one of the most transparent processes in the world. Despite the challenges and inefficiencies encountered in recent times, I followed the admirable transparency in the printing and distribution of the ballot papers. I also know how transparent the process is on Election Day. Rigging in the magnitude that can alter the people’s mandate rigging is, however, possible with the extreme carelessness of the opposing parties or in connivance with the opponents’ agents. If a party is not as careless as the NDC was in 2016 and 2020—unable to police and account for its votes—rigging without detection is almost impossible.

I worked as a polling assistant for the Electoral Commission in the 2004 election, and as a journalist, I covered the 2008, 2012, and 2016 elections. From my experience, it is easier for the district election director or the EC’s polling station officials to influence the outcome of an election than the EC chairperson in Accra or at the regional headquarters. If a party is vigilant and its agents don’t compromise, especially in their opponent’s stronghold, any such manipulation will be detected.

Whether glaring evidence of manipulation would be glaring enough in a court that ignored the glaring significance of the birth certificate in an election-related case is another matter. But our elections are difficult to rig unless the victims of the rigging go to sleep.

So, in the absence of rigging, can Dr. Bawumia and the NPP win the 2024 election?

It is possible.

In this first of a two-part series I’m publishing today, I examine the strengths and weaknesses of the NPP and its presidential candidate in tomorrow’s election. I will then give the general verdict on the probability of victory for the NPP. (I will publish a similar one on John Mahama and the NDC).

Strengths of Bawumia and the NPP:

1. Bawumia’s Hard Work: Our elders say even if you cannot stand the ugliness of the warthog, you must not fail to acknowledge its speed. Dr. Bawumia has proven since declaring his intention for the flagbearer race that he is not a lazy man. Very few presidential candidates have worked as hard as he has. And we cannot discount hard work. It’s not for nothing that Ronaldo won five Ballon d'Ors while Messi was in his prime. The universe rewards hard work even when the odds favour someone else. The Bawumia campaign has also been more organised and effective than that of the opposition NDC. It has had different arrowheads--Bawumia, his wife Samira and the running mate, Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh.

2. Free SHS: Few administrations have been more deceptive than the Akufo-Addo government. For instance, the government is skilled at lying with wild figures and exaggerating its impact but is reluctant to talk about its interventions that are easiest to track in numbers—the “one this, one that” promises it made to Ghanaians. Why? It is very easy to verify if Kete-Krachi or Bongo districts have factors that are employing thousands or whether my Akayonga village in Bongo Beo has a dam that supports dry season farming. However, the government has been forthright in the implementation of Free SHS. And Free SHS may well be the only benefit enjoyed by many people in rural Ghana who are too far to reach until there is an election.

3. Modesty and Humility: In previous elections, civil society groups in Ghana often bemoaned the abuse of incumbency. Bawumia’s decision to campaign with a bus and his general modest disposition endear him to those who encounter him. His humility is genuine, and that can sway the hearts of some who would otherwise not look his way. It is impossible to say Bawumia has not taken advantage of incumbency in his campaign through power and resources, it wasn’t as brazen as we witnessed in previous elections. He managed the optics well.

4. Incumbency Advantage: Being an incumbent candidate gives you more resources than the opposition candidate. It earns you more endorsement from chiefs from your main opponent’s home turf, who would otherwise have been hostile to you. Your party can share more goodies with voters than the opposition. And the machinery of the state can also be deployed to the advantage of the governing party. These and many other advantages of incumbency favour Bawumia against his opponents.

5. A Fresh Face: Dr. Bawumia’s contender, John Mahama, has been president before. And no truthful Ghanaian would say Mahama’s presidency was what we desired. In this election, Mahama is a saint overqualified for canonisation only because Akufo-Addo has sunk to indescribable depths. Bawumia is a fresh face on the ballot paper. He is tainted with the sins of the administration to which he belongs, but the truth remains that he cannot be judged with the standards of a president. His presidency could be worse or better than Mahama’s, but we cannot tell now. So, he enjoys the benefit of the doubt.

6. The “First” Factor: Dr. Bawumia is the first Muslim in the Fourth Republic to lead a winnable party. He is also the first non-Twi-speaking Akan to lead the NPP. That brings some exciting prospects, even if the significance is limited.

Odds Against Bawumia’s Victory

1. The Economy: Dr. Bawumia and the NPP have tried to debate the NDC on the economy, but that was unnecessary. When the poster boy of the NPP’s economic management abandoned his area of expertise to seek refuge in digitalization, it signaled a concession of defeat. That ended the debate. Some have argued that Bawumia was not in charge of the economic management and should not bear the brunt of its failure. That may be true only to an extent. I have said before that the only position that may be more frustrating than that of the vice president is the job of a horny cameraman filming pornography. With Akufo-Addo’s blood relation as powerful Ken Ofori-Atta in control, Bawumia’s ideas could only be mere suggestions. However, if the economy had been good, Bawumia would have taken credit for it. So, it’s fair to suffer the collateral damage of its failure. He cannot enjoy the goodwill of Free SHS and not carry the burden of the tattered economy.

2. Victims of Debt Poor Economy: There is a mentality in this country that what belongs to the government belongs to nobody. For this reason, a politician and the government can steal millions and get rewarded by voters. However, a voter whose savings or investment was touched by the government in the debt restructuring may vote angrily. The investors who still go to Databank and are told that if they want to withdraw their 30,000 cedis, they will have to forfeit about 10,000 cedis or wait until about 2026 should not be expected to vote for the NPP. The bondholders and pensioners who got “head cuts” when the government assured them they would not be “hair cuts” will be justified if they vote for the NDC or do not vote at all if they are the kind who have made blood covenants with their ethnic and other affiliation to their parties.

3. The Curse of the Trend: Since 1992, no political party has gone past eight years in office. And this administration has not done what it takes to break this trend. Besides, no entrant to the presidential race since 1992 has gone on to win the election at his first attempt under normal circumstances. Kufuor lost in 1996 before winning in 2000. Atta Mills lost in 2000 and 2004 before winning in 2008. Akufo-Addo lost in 2008 and 2012 before winning in 2016. The outliers have been Rawlings, who was already a larger-than-life military ruler before he contested the 1992 election, and John Mahama, who campaigned in a funeral cloth after the death of sitting President Mills garnered sympathy for the NDC in the 2012 election. If these trends are anything to go by, Bawumia’s chance of winning in 2024 is slimmer than the NPP’s victory probability in Ketu-South.

4. The Akufo-Addo Tag: In 2000, the NPP campaigned with the slogan: “Vote for Atta Mills and Get Rawlings Free.” Did it work? Yes. Did Rawlings have his way when Atta Mills eventually won? No. Atta Mills was different from Rawlings. But voters who are fed up with Akufo-Addo and his family and friends’ government see Bawumia as his shield. Even during the internal contest, Bawumia’s opponents in the NPP said he would continue with the Akufo-Addo legacy.
5. Corruption and Scandals: This government could not fulfill its promise to provide one village, district, or constituency with the one thing or the other it promised. But at a point, it succeeded in implementing a “One Day, One Scandal” policy. The corruption this government has witnessed does not inspire any hope for continuation. We cannot upgrade this mess. We need a reset. The question is the right person to handle the resetting. Bawumia has not been strong on how he intends to deal with the corruption. His promise to use digitalisation to fight corruption is not convincing enough. I’m well-schooled in how digitalisation can be used to curb corruption. But I am also aware that digitalization can be used as a tool to perpetuate corruption through shady procurements.

If Bawumia or Mahama wins, they must relook at how digital solutions available on the market become sacred cows for politicians and their cronies to milk the state. We paid over one billion cedis to SML to fix metres whose readings the GRA did not use to calculate taxes. The company and GRA said SML also scanned the waybills that GRA officials had generated. The stupidest person in government knows that even SHS graduates can be trained to scan and archive those documents. Still, for some strange reason, the government had to outsource that to another company. Some of the digital solutions being portrayed as though they were rocket science could be deployed by state entities without third-party companies.

6. Incumbency Curse: All other sins of the government will be visited on the flagbearer of the governing party. So, incumbency advantage comes with an incumbency curse.

What Would a Bawumia and NPP Victory Mean?

For the conclusion, let me quote from Page 378 of my book, “The President Ghana Never Got.”

“…Bawumia would not be a fool to cede power to those who disregarded him when he played second fiddle in the administration. Having the courage to depart from some of Akufo-Addo’s policies indicates that Bawumia will be his own man. But the election won’t only be about the two individuals leading the two major political parties. An NPP victory in 2024 will be harmful to Ghana’s democracy. If a government can mess us the way Akufo-Addo’s administration did and still be rewarded with another term in office, then impunity would be crowned, and there would not be anything to deter politicians in power.

“Besides, some semblance of accountability in most parts of Africa and weak democracies worldwide is only possible when the governing party leaves office. Even though Ghanaians cannot be sure whether Mahama would prosecute those who have plundered the nation in the past eight years, one can trust some semblance of accountability from a Mahama presidency than that of Bawumia. Even if Bawumia is a better candidate than Mahama, the circumstances do not favour a Bawumia victory.”

[Apologies for typos]

Coming Up Shortly: “If Mahama Wins Tomorrow’s Election.”

[Manasseh Azure Awuni @Manasseh_Azure]

If Bawumia Wins Tomorrow’s Election
**************************************
In my conversations with some Ghanaians, particularly members of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), one statement has often come up repeatedly: “There is no way Bawumia and the NPP [New Patriotic Party] can win this election unless they rig it.”

From where I sit, it is difficult to rig elections in Ghana. Our electoral system is one of the most transparent processes in the world. Despite the challenges and inefficiencies encountered in recent times, I followed the admirable transparency in the printing and distribution of the ballot papers. I also know how transparent the process is on Election Day. Rigging in the magnitude that can alter the people’s mandate rigging is, however, possible with the extreme carelessness of the opposing parties or in connivance with the opponents’ agents. If a party is not as careless as the NDC was in 2016 and 2020—unable to police and account for its votes—rigging without detection is almost impossible.

I worked as a polling assistant for the Electoral Commission in the 2004 election, and as a journalist, I covered the 2008, 2012, and 2016 elections. From my experience, it is easier for the district election director or the EC’s polling station officials to influence the outcome of an election than the EC chairperson in Accra or at the regional headquarters. If a party is vigilant and its agents don’t compromise, especially in their opponent’s stronghold, any such manipulation will be detected.

Whether glaring evidence of manipulation would be glaring enough in a court that ignored the glaring significance of the birth certificate in an election-related case is another matter. But our elections are difficult to rig unless the victims of the rigging go to sleep.

So, in the absence of rigging, can Dr. Bawumia and the NPP win the 2024 election?

It is possible.

In this first of a two-part series I’m publishing today, I examine the strengths and weaknesses of the NPP and its presidential candidate in tomorrow’s election. I will then give the general verdict on the probability of victory for the NPP. (I will publish a similar one on John Mahama and the NDC).

Strengths of Bawumia and the NPP:

1. Bawumia’s Hard Work: Our elders say even if you cannot stand the ugliness of the warthog, you must not fail to acknowledge its speed. Dr. Bawumia has proven since declaring his intention for the flagbearer race that he is not a lazy man. Very few presidential candidates have worked as hard as he has. And we cannot discount hard work. It’s not for nothing that Ronaldo won five Ballon d'Ors while Messi was in his prime. The universe rewards hard work even when the odds favour someone else. The Bawumia campaign has also been more organised and effective than that of the opposition NDC. It has had different arrowheads--Bawumia, his wife Samira and the running mate, Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh.

2. Free SHS: Few administrations have been more deceptive than the Akufo-Addo government. For instance, the government is skilled at lying with wild figures and exaggerating its impact but is reluctant to talk about its interventions that are easiest to track in numbers—the “one this, one that” promises it made to Ghanaians. Why? It is very easy to verify if Kete-Krachi or Bongo districts have factors that are employing thousands or whether my Akayonga village in Bongo Beo has a dam that supports dry season farming. However, the government has been forthright in the implementation of Free SHS. And Free SHS may well be the only benefit enjoyed by many people in rural Ghana who are too far to reach until there is an election.

3. Modesty and Humility: In previous elections, civil society groups in Ghana often bemoaned the abuse of incumbency. Bawumia’s decision to campaign with a bus and his general modest disposition endear him to those who encounter him. His humility is genuine, and that can sway the hearts of some who would otherwise not look his way. It is impossible to say Bawumia has not taken advantage of incumbency in his campaign through power and resources, it wasn’t as brazen as we witnessed in previous elections. He managed the optics well.

4. Incumbency Advantage: Being an incumbent candidate gives you more resources than the opposition candidate. It earns you more endorsement from chiefs from your main opponent’s home turf, who would otherwise have been hostile to you. Your party can share more goodies with voters than the opposition. And the machinery of the state can also be deployed to the advantage of the governing party. These and many other advantages of incumbency favour Bawumia against his opponents.

5. A Fresh Face: Dr. Bawumia’s contender, John Mahama, has been president before. And no truthful Ghanaian would say Mahama’s presidency was what we desired. In this election, Mahama is a saint overqualified for canonisation only because Akufo-Addo has sunk to indescribable depths. Bawumia is a fresh face on the ballot paper. He is tainted with the sins of the administration to which he belongs, but the truth remains that he cannot be judged with the standards of a president. His presidency could be worse or better than Mahama’s, but we cannot tell now. So, he enjoys the benefit of the doubt.

6. The “First” Factor: Dr. Bawumia is the first Muslim in the Fourth Republic to lead a winnable party. He is also the first non-Twi-speaking Akan to lead the NPP. That brings some exciting prospects, even if the significance is limited.

Odds Against Bawumia’s Victory

1. The Economy: Dr. Bawumia and the NPP have tried to debate the NDC on the economy, but that was unnecessary. When the poster boy of the NPP’s economic management abandoned his area of expertise to seek refuge in digitalization, it signaled a concession of defeat. That ended the debate. Some have argued that Bawumia was not in charge of the economic management and should not bear the brunt of its failure. That may be true only to an extent. I have said before that the only position that may be more frustrating than that of the vice president is the job of a horny cameraman filming pornography. With Akufo-Addo’s blood relation as powerful Ken Ofori-Atta in control, Bawumia’s ideas could only be mere suggestions. However, if the economy had been good, Bawumia would have taken credit for it. So, it’s fair to suffer the collateral damage of its failure. He cannot enjoy the goodwill of Free SHS and not carry the burden of the tattered economy.

2. Victims of Debt Poor Economy: There is a mentality in this country that what belongs to the government belongs to nobody. For this reason, a politician and the government can steal millions and get rewarded by voters. However, a voter whose savings or investment was touched by the government in the debt restructuring may vote angrily. The investors who still go to Databank and are told that if they want to withdraw their 30,000 cedis, they will have to forfeit about 10,000 cedis or wait until about 2026 should not be expected to vote for the NPP. The bondholders and pensioners who got “head cuts” when the government assured them they would not be “hair cuts” will be justified if they vote for the NDC or do not vote at all if they are the kind who have made blood covenants with their ethnic and other affiliation to their parties.

3. The Curse of the Trend: Since 1992, no political party has gone past eight years in office. And this administration has not done what it takes to break this trend. Besides, no entrant to the presidential race since 1992 has gone on to win the election at his first attempt under normal circumstances. Kufuor lost in 1996 before winning in 2000. Atta Mills lost in 2000 and 2004 before winning in 2008. Akufo-Addo lost in 2008 and 2012 before winning in 2016. The outliers have been Rawlings, who was already a larger-than-life military ruler before he contested the 1992 election, and John Mahama, who campaigned in a funeral cloth after the death of sitting President Mills garnered sympathy for the NDC in the 2012 election. If these trends are anything to go by, Bawumia’s chance of winning in 2024 is slimmer than the NPP’s victory probability in Ketu-South.

4. The Akufo-Addo Tag: In 2000, the NPP campaigned with the slogan: “Vote for Atta Mills and Get Rawlings Free.” Did it work? Yes. Did Rawlings have his way when Atta Mills eventually won? No. Atta Mills was different from Rawlings. But voters who are fed up with Akufo-Addo and his family and friends’ government see Bawumia as his shield. Even during the internal contest, Bawumia’s opponents in the NPP said he would continue with the Akufo-Addo legacy.
5. Corruption and Scandals: This government could not fulfill its promise to provide one village, district, or constituency with the one thing or the other it promised. But at a point, it succeeded in implementing a “One Day, One Scandal” policy. The corruption this government has witnessed does not inspire any hope for continuation. We cannot upgrade this mess. We need a reset. The question is the right person to handle the resetting. Bawumia has not been strong on how he intends to deal with the corruption. His promise to use digitalisation to fight corruption is not convincing enough. I’m well-schooled in how digitalisation can be used to curb corruption. But I am also aware that digitalization can be used as a tool to perpetuate corruption through shady procurements.

If Bawumia or Mahama wins, they must relook at how digital solutions available on the market become sacred cows for politicians and their cronies to milk the state. We paid over one billion cedis to SML to fix metres whose readings the GRA did not use to calculate taxes. The company and GRA said SML also scanned the waybills that GRA officials had generated. The stupidest person in government knows that even SHS graduates can be trained to scan and archive those documents. Still, for some strange reason, the government had to outsource that to another company. Some of the digital solutions being portrayed as though they were rocket science could be deployed by state entities without third-party companies.

6. Incumbency Curse: All other sins of the government will be visited on the flagbearer of the governing party. So, incumbency advantage comes with an incumbency curse.

What Would a Bawumia and NPP Victory Mean?

For the conclusion, let me quote from Page 378 of my book, “The President Ghana Never Got.”

“…Bawumia would not be a fool to cede power to those who disregarded him when he played second fiddle in the administration. Having the courage to depart from some of Akufo-Addo’s policies indicates that Bawumia will be his own man. But the election won’t only be about the two individuals leading the two major political parties. An NPP victory in 2024 will be harmful to Ghana’s democracy. If a government can mess us the way Akufo-Addo’s administration did and still be rewarded with another term in office, then impunity would be crowned, and there would not be anything to deter politicians in power.

“Besides, some semblance of accountability in most parts of Africa and weak democracies worldwide is only possible when the governing party leaves office. Even though Ghanaians cannot be sure whether Mahama would prosecute those who have plundered the nation in the past eight years, one can trust some semblance of accountability from a Mahama presidency than that of Bawumia. Even if Bawumia is a better candidate than Mahama, the circumstances do not favour a Bawumia victory.”

[Apologies for typos]

Coming Up Shortly: “If Mahama Wins Tomorrow’s Election.”

[Andy Ford @andyfordlive]

Not long to go see you at the gigs!! https://t.co/AYgg2BuE4C @bbcradiobristol @VisitBristol @MikeDoyleComedy @comedyempiregh @WarwickADavis @RealMattLucas @RobbieRinder @ComedyShrine @GBNEWS @GBPantoAwards @PantomimeNews @ThePantoArchive @LesleyJosephTV @David_Suchet

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Meme of the Day: Staring Man, Smiling Man https://t.co/YHf0V3PRdl

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EVENT REVIEW: TIMID AND CRAZY https://t.co/hMih9vxtAE

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@heiressjacinta @Joy997FM The fans

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Tonight on @Joy997FM Twitter Spaces
@SuarezClemento @Lekzy_Decomic @dkbghana @OBAmponsah_ @ntimination @heiressjacinta discuss using comedy to drive the Ghana Agenda with @Kwamedadziegh

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Leizer Legacy Premieres First Episode of “The Play”. https://t.co/yqBpxCBsE5

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This Friday at the @accracomedy
All the way from the US 🇺🇸

#ComedyEmpire #ComedyEmpireEvents @ Accra, Ghana https://t.co/24cy3uIn2q

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Happy birthday @oh_joo1 a.k.a Prof. Liarnel

Wishing you more lies in your Liebrary

#CelebratingOhJoo #ComedyEmpire @ Accra, Ghana https://t.co/wM2PxZZWeI

[Comedy Empire @comedyempiregh]

Just posted a photo @ Accra, Ghana https://t.co/ZuhLVORL0j

[Comedy Empire @comedyempiregh]

[Watch] Lekzy Decomic Celebrates Birthday with Premiere of Comedy Special. https://t.co/NS0IvGp2bv

[Comedy Empire @comedyempiregh]

[Watch] Lekzy DeComic Celebrates Birthday Today By Uploading His Comedy Special on YouTube. https://t.co/CB2U2s7hFU

[Comedy Empire @comedyempiregh]

Happy birthday to one of Ghana's finest comics @lekzydecomic 🍾🎂

Been an honour working with you from the genesis. Long life Nana

#CelebratingLekzyDeComic #Lekzians #ComedyEmpireCelebrations #ComedyEmpire https://t.co/tLDui9Sxs3

[Comedy Empire @comedyempiregh]

Your official April Fool Comedy Night is back! Keep the date locked with @focuz_afriq

01-04-2023

#TheFifthEdition #ComedyEmpireEvents #ComedyEmpireNews https://t.co/TxELf695Cn

[Comedy Empire @comedyempiregh]

Your official April Fool Comedy Night is back! Keep the date locked with @focuz_afriq

01-04-2023

#TheFifthEdition #ComedyEmpireEvents #ComedyEmpireNews https://t.co/TxELf69DrV

[Comedy Empire @comedyempiregh]

@lekzydecomic in a photo-op with American rapper @chancetherapper at the Black Star Line event with @davechappelle @ Accra, Ghana https://t.co/mXFZhRhzp7