There is no escape

I was hoping to come to Ghana and be able to take a break from the political world for at least just a few weeks. Turns out I was wrong.

Ghana is closing in on their presidential elections that will be held on December 7th. There are posters, billboards, commercials, traveling announcements and rallies going on every day! The election is coming down to three presidential candidates.

Professor Atta Mills is running on the New Democratic Congress (NDC) ticket. The NDC was in power during the Clinton years when their party leader, JJ Rawlings, took over the country in a "non-violent" coup. They are trying to make a comeback and are pointing many a finger at the current party in control even though they had plenty of corruption of their own 8 years ago. Atta Mills was the vice president to Rawlings and this will be his third time running for president ('00, '04, '08) Third times a charm?




Nana Akufo Addo is the nominee for the New Patriotic Party (NPP). This is the party currently in power here and he fought his way through a 17 way fight in the primary. He may have a leg up in terms of campaign infrastructure but the economy in Ghana, like the rest of the world, is not doing well right now (better than most African countries but still worse than a few years ago). The party is also having some problems with awarding big importing contracts to family members and has focused on imports rather than building Ghana from within.


Dr Paa Kwesi Nduom is running under the Convention People’s Party (CPP). He was thought of as a long shot a year ago but is very well respected. He has preformed very well in the last few debates and is building momentum. The CPP is the original political party here in Ghana and was in power when the country gained its independence in 1957. His platform is one of free and compulsory education through high school, putting more taxes on imports to help develop the country's infrastructure/economy and to clean up the environment which thus far has been ignored. Needless to say, this is my man. I don't have a good enough feel for the environment here to say who might be ahead and there are no credible polls either. We will just have to wait until Dec. 7th.


So much for my vacation away from politics...