Reflections on Ghana - Four

My final blog about my visit to Ghana is about the politics of the country. While I was there the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) was choosing its next presidential candidate to contest the next elections due in 2012.

It appeared that party members were engaged in primary elections based on regional voting across the country. This resulted in a final gathering of party representatives in a public park on a Saturday evening in Accra for the final declaration of results after they had been faxed in from the regions.

The NPP is a centre right party whose avowed aims is to extend human rights and property ownership to Ghanaians while maintaining a strong sense of public accountability. The government party is currently the National Democratic Congress (NDC) which is a left of centre party with ambitions of socialism, but with weak Government machinery it cannot finds ways of implementing its lofty ideals.

As I travelled in taxis and minibuses during and after the final election day I was struck by the animated conversations my guide had with several taxi-drivers and the interest shown by fellow travellers when the bus radio was tuned into a talk station. The eventual runaway winner for the NPP was Nana Akufo-Addo who managed a resounding 79% share of the vote against four rivals for the role. His nearest competitor, Alan Kyerematen, could not even get a clear majority in his own region, and he along with the other losing candidates conceded gracefully.

It was the first time the grassroots members had been trusted to vote in such an internal election and all candidates appeared to be proud of the exercise and the way it was conducted. What struck me was that I was 3,000 miles away from England but the speeches made by the NPP's leaders could all have been made by any party's representatives here after an internal election of this type. For example it was reported in the Daily Graphic that Alan Kyerematen had "pledged to support Nana Aku-Addo in his bid to win the 2012 presidential election and urged all his supporters to also work tirelessly for the party's flag bearer to ensure victory".

The newspapers and airwaves were littered with such statements for several days. A sense of deja vu struck me. I had heard all this before. Politicians the world over still tell the same stories...

What was more striking though was the lack of policy differences between the declared candidates. This contest was surely concentrated on the personality of the contenders.

Although Labour back here in Britain is conducting a similar exercise, I can find little difference on policy between the competing candidates, and where there may be some there is little interest from the press or the public anyway. Only Diane Abbott appears to be trying to seriously broaden the policy debate but as she is favourite to lose we can predict now the "rally round our new leader" speeches at the final declaration. Was it ever thus?