(3 minutes read)
Ghana’s ruling party voted in primaries to elect its candidate for next year’s presidential ballot. Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia is widely favored to win next year’s election to be held in December 2024. If the party comes into power, the winner will succeed President Nana Akufo-Addo
Ghana’s ruling party voted in primaries to elect its candidate for next year’s presidential ballot. Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia is widely favoured to win next year’s election to be held in December 2024. If the party comes into power, the winner will succeed President Nana Akufo-Addo.Bawumia is a former deputy central bank governor. Pollsters predict that he will win the New Patriotic Party (NPP) candidacy. If it comes true, he will face the opposition National Democratic Congress candidate, which is headed by ex-president John Dramani Mahama.
His main opponent, Kennedy Agyapong, was also confident of victory and was looking to tap into his grassroots party backing. Primary results are expected to be out soon. Former agriculture minister Owusu Afriyie Akoto and ex-MP Francis Addai-Nimoh are also running. But they are all peripheral players. The battle will be between Bawumia and Agyapong.
Ghana has rich resources. It is one of the largest cocoa producers in the world. Rich in mineral resources- Gold, oil, and gas- the once poster boy of the IMF and the World Bank, is steeped in debt and is struggling to come out of it. Ghana signed a deal with the International Monetary Fund last year as the country sought to shore up its public finances and better manage debt. It recently reached an agreement on the terms for a second payment of US$600 million out of its US$3-billion credit deal. COVID-19 and later Russia-Ukraine war have had their tolls on the now fragile economy of Ghana.
Read Also:
https://trendsnafrica.com/gambia-7th-most-peaceful-country-in-africa/
Akufo-Addo has led the country since 2017. He will step down after serving the two terms allowed by the constitution. Opposition candidate Mahama lost to Akufo-Addo in the 2016 and 2020 elections. Importantly, opposition protesters rallied in Ghana’s capital Accra last month to denounce the economic crisis. They also blamed the central bank governor’s policies, which they allege, have led to the present turmoil.
