Of roads and candidates - Ghana elects president and parliament

Verfasst von Biyoom e.V.

In the global super election year 2024, the president and parliament were also newly elected in Ghana in the so-called General Election. Silas Sula Gmangel, Chairman of the SYC, tells us what this means for the SYC and Saboba.

Background

Distribution of the registered electorate aged 18-35 (Source: Electoral Commission Ghana, Election Infographics, 2020, https://ec.gov.gh/elections-gallery/#statistics, last accessed: 15.Dec.2024)

On December 7 2024, the people of Ghana were called upon to elect both a new president and the 275 members of a new parliament.

The previous incumbent in the presidential office, Nana Akufo-Addo (NPP), was no longer available after two full terms in office. While a change of power is often a cause for concern in many other African countries, Ghana can look back on three decades of orderly and peaceful handover of the reins of government, and 2024 also follows in this tradition.

The election campaign was dominated by the positions of the two leading parties, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the New Patriotic Party (NPP). Their candidates were also the only ones among the 12 contenders with a realistic chance of becoming president.

The main topics were the country's poor economic situation (up to 54% inflation at the end of 2022, rising poverty, the need to approach the International Monetary Fund (IMF)) and illegal gold mining as an environmental problem.

What’s important for the SYC and Saboba?

Saboba is part of the Northern Region in Ghana (colored light green in the northeast in the graphic above). In the last main election in 2020, almost 2/3 of the registered electorate there were aged 18-35, just under 660,000 people. It is therefore not surprising that the elections are also of concern to the SYC.

Source: OpenStreetMap

The main concern of the SYC is the condition of the access roads from Yendi to Saboba. The southern, direct route is approx. 58 km long (blue on the map), of which 3 km run along the Black Volta River. It is these 3 km that spell doom for Saboba every year. In August and September, the river regularly bursts its banks and floods both access roads. Saboba is thus cut off from the outside world for up to 6 weeks. The consequences are manifold: medical transports to and from Tamale are canceled, goods can no longer be transported, local businesses and trade come to a standstill, and people trying to cross the flood repeatedly drown. Janis, who traveled to Saboba in 2023, was almost affected by these floods himself. He and Silas had to take the route via Wapuli to Yendi (dark green on the map) due to flooding. One day later, the alternative road also became impassable for 2 days.

„This has become a thorn in our flesh in the case of medical referrals to the regional level at Tamale and beyond. It also put every trade and business to a standstill for a period of six weeks. It has led to people losing their lives through the floods, especially those who try to cross with boats and those that cannot be referred for advanced medical attention outside of Saboba within that time frame.“
— Silas Sula Gmangel, Chairman of the SYC

The SYC used the election campaign to talk to the candidates, who also visited Saboba, about the road conditions and hopefully achieve improvements to the often flooded areas. To this end, the SYC organized demonstrations together with other actors in August 2023, to which representatives of the local government authorities were also invited. The youth and children's parliament also took action to bring their concerns to the attention of those responsible. In addition to access roads, these included the lack of access to clean drinking water, which is a serious health problem in many communities. Cholera and typhoid are unfortunately still widespread there.

Results

John Mahama (NDC), the former president and predecessor of Nana Akufo-Addo, won against his rival Mahamudu Bawumia (NPP) by the clearest margin seen in Ghana's main elections in 24 years. With 56.6 % of the vote, the 65-year-old is celebrating a comeback after the 2020 election defeat and promises to get Ghana's economy back on track. His vice president is also the first woman to hold this office in Ghana: Jana Naana Opoku Agyemang. As big as his lead over Bawumia is, Mahama's victory is not entirely unexpected. So far, neither of the two leading parties has held the presidency for more than two terms. In the Northern Region, where Saboba is located, the NDC also won a clear majority with 57.9 % of the vote. The NPP only managed to win in three regions.

Further sources:

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