Election 2020: Nana Faces Mahama Again!

President Nana Akufo-Addo was on Saturday overwhelmingly acclaimed by the New Patriotic Party (NPP) as the party’s presidential candidate for the upcoming general elections.

This means the president comes face to face one again with the National Democratic Congresses’ John Dramani Mahama in another national elections expected to be fought neck and neck.

This will be the third time the two political rivals will be contesting for the presidential slot of the country.

Face–off

In their first contest in 2012, former President Mahama polled 5,574,761 of the valid votes cast, representing 50.70 per cent to defeat President Akufo-Addo who obtained 5,248, 898 of the votes, representing 47.74 per cent.

In the 2016 elections, however, President Akufo-Addo garnered 5,627,142 representing 53.56 per cent of valid votes cast to defeat former President Mahama, who had 4,694,830, representing 44.69 per cent.

Many political pundits expect an interesting contest in the third of contests between the two on December 7, 2020.

Even before his acclamation on Saturday, the President and many government appointees as well as party stalwarts have already started a campaign christened #4More4Nana, #4MoreToDoMore.

The President, in recent times, has also been touting his record in office and reiterating the need for Ghanaians to re-elect him to enable him to continue with his “good works”.

Nana’s Day

However, at the party’s Special National Council meeting in Accra, President Akufo-Addo also formally announced Vice-President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia as his running mate.

Addressing the party’s ranks at the closed ceremony, Akufo-Addo thanked the NPP for the confidence reposed in him to represent the party again, launching fresh jabs at his political rival.

According to Akufo-Addo, John Mahama made so many mistakes while in power and hence must not be given a second chance to ruin the fortunes of the country.

“We are told that those who were responsible for the worst economic performance of the last 30 years say they have learned their lessons and seek another opportunity to correct their mistakes. Then I ask, should the presidency be used for experiments? Surely not. You the Ghanaian people deserve better and you will get better on 7 December,” President Akufo-Addo said.

Nana Akufo-Addo urged members of the NPP to campaign on the achievements of their government within the last three and half years.

Jabs

”We have a good story to tell and we should go out and tell it in every sector of our lives. We should show the difference between the NPP way of tackling problems and the way our opponents do it. We grow the economy, they shrink the economy. We create a properly regulated enabling atmosphere for businesses to flourish, they allow chances and speculators to lure citizens into putting their monies into doggy enterprises. They bring our banks and our financial services to mere collapse and we have to clean up thoroughly and restore confidence.”

“They plunge us into dumsor, we keep the lights on. They look on clueless as hundreds of thousands of Ghana’s children exit school at JHS, we bring free SHS and free TVET to prepare our children better to face life. They resort to crude language when they are faced with difficult arguments, we raise the level of public discourse. We owe it to ourselves and to Ghana to win the elections in December decisively to make sure that we keep the economy on track and not in the hands of people who will run it again into the ground.” Nana Addo noted.