A day before Ghana’s election, residents of Accra’s Odododiodio district have only two names in mind: ruling NPP party candidate Mahamudu Bawumia or the opposition’s John Mahama.
When Ghanaians last voted for a president in 2020, districts like Odododiodio went down to the wire between candidates for the two major parties who have rotated power between them almost equally since 1992.
Last time, the opposition National Democractic Congress (NDC) parliamentary candidate won the district by just a few thousand votes and Mahama won in the district, even though New Patriotic Party (NPP) won the presidency.
Saturday’s presidential race will be in part won or lost in districts of Greater Accra like Odododiodio, a mostly ramshackle market area near the capital’s Atlantic Coast.
Following Ghana’s debt default, the economy has been the major focus for voters worried about 23 percent inflation, high joblessness and the cost of living.
Who is to blame and who will manage Ghana better is still up for debate for Odododiodio, usually a strongly NDC area.
“When you go over there its NPP, when you go just over there it’s NDC. It’s divided,” said Emmalyn Asiamah, 21, a beautician voting for the first time and for former president Mahama.
“We have to vote for change, my family is all NDC,” she said, before breaking into the party chant, “Eyezu Eyeza”, a local Ewe language slogan translating roughly to “Good for the presidency, and the parliament”.
Nearby, residents enjoyed the public holiday after the end of campaigning, lounging in chairs in the street to watch a television broadcasting “X,Y,Z”, an NDC-backed channel.
But public accountant Samuel Laryea, 44, was not deterred from his choice of voting for NPP despite the ruling party parliamentary loss in the district in 2020.
“It’s mostly NDC here, but NPP has won before,” he said. “This time we have a better candidate.”
Blaming the global fallout of the Russian Ukraine war for Ghana’s economic crisis, he said former central bank official and current Vice President Bawumia was best to lead Ghana forward.
In 2020, then NNP candidate and President Nana Akufo-Addo won 44.03% of the district’s vote versus 55.3% for Mahama, a former president who has failed twice to win the country’s top seat again.
“I’ve not seen anything good from John Mahama,” Laryea said.
Economic debate
Once an investor favourite with a history of political stability, Ghana slipped into economic crisis in 2022, prompting a debt default and a deal with the International Monetary Fund for a $3 billion bailout.
NPP supporters blame Russia’s war and the pandemic for their economic woes; critics say Akufo-Addo’s government and his economic team manager Bawumia spent too heavily on social programmes and mismanaged the debt load.
A UK-educated economist, Bawumia has sought to distance himself from criticism over economic planning, saying the outlook is improving and promoting digitalisation to ease business.
He promises also to keep up the NPP’s free education and health policies.
Rival Mahama says he wants to create “24-hour economy”, essentially extending industrial hours to create more jobs and increase output.
With both candidates coming from northern Ghana — traditionally an NDC stronghold but now more fragmented — the region is seen as a key battleground. But in such a tight race, the Greater Accra area — the most vote-dense region — may also be a major fight.
“This year’s election is so close to the point that you can even see from the rate at which the campaigns of the two political parties are campaigning,” said Tutu Boahen, an Accra political communication strategist.
Jobs and high cost of living weighed heavily on the decision for Odododiodio residents, but so too did generational politics in the neighbourhood.
Sitting together waiting for the election on Saturday, neighbourhood friends Derek Nii Ayetey and Collins Nettey both said they see Ghana’s economy as a major concern.
But both will follow family tradition, Ayetey faithful to the NDC and Nettey the NPP.
“The whole family is voting for NDC, it’s a generation thing,” Ayetey said sitting out in the street with his friend.
“The economy is not good,” said Nettey, a security guard. “I’m going with Bawumia so the economy will get better for my daughter.”
