National Democratic Congress Research Articles

The politicization of education policies: The case of Ghana’s Free Senior High School Policy

While many scholars recognize and criticize the politicization of education policies, scholarly attention to the strategies politicians utilize to politicize educational policy discourses remains limited. Focusing on the officials of Ghana’s two major political parties, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the National Democratic Congress (NDC), as policy actors, this paper investigates how officials of these two parties operationalized discussions regarding Ghana’s Free Senior High School Policy (FSHSP) to garner support for their parties while stoking resentment for their political opponents. The study employs a critical discourse analysis (CDA) framework and a dataset of 175 documents, including news stories, press releases, party manifestos, and government publications. The analysis reveals that both parties resorted to strategies of positive self-presentation and negative other presentation. The NPP contrasted its regime with the NDC’s tenure and framed the NDC as a threat to FSHSP and the education of the poor and vulnerable. The NDC problematized and highlighted implementation bottlenecks while framing the NPP and FSHSP as threats to quality education. I argue that through these strategies, NPP officials aimed to maintain incumbency while NDC officials advocated a regime change. The paper concludes by emphasizing the potential risks associated with politicizing education policies.

Evaluating the impact of a 24-hour economy on Ghana's economic landscape: A computable general equilibrium approach

The National Democratic Congress (NDC), Ghana's leading opposition political party, has unveiled an ambitious ‘24-hour economy’ policy proposal ahead of the country's forthcoming general elections in 2024. The policy aims to revitalise the nation's economic landscape by fostering round-the-clock operations in key sectors. This paper employs a dynamic Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) model framework, underpinned by the 2015 Ghana Social Accounting Matrix (SAM) and the 2021 Ghana Population and Housing Census (PHC) data, to evaluate the potential impact of the policy on Ghana's economy.Results indicate that under the proposed ‘24-hour economy’ policy, Ghana's real GDP growth (not to be confused with GDP growth rate) in ten years would be 31.71 % higher than it would have been under a ‘business-as-usual’ scenario in the same timeframe. This indicates substantial augmentations in economic output within the Ghanaian economy under a ‘24-hour economy’ setting. Further, the policy would generate more than 3 million jobs within five years of its implementation, with manufacturing, agriculture, wholesale and retail trade, services, construction and transport sectors experiencing substantial employment gains.The policy's transformative effects are driven by its ability to stimulate capital investment and capital formation, boost productivity and increase household incomes.The paper concludes that the NDC's proposed ‘24-hour economy’ policy holds substantial potential for transformative economic growth in Ghana. However, there are potential challenges associated with the implementation of the policy, which then necessitates a holistic approach to policy formulation, focusing on inclusive growth and sustainable development strategies.

Religion, Morality, and Democracy in Ghana

Abstract Many Ghanaians express concern about what they regard as a serious decline in morality and integrity, at both elite and popular levels. The decline is believed to fuel corruption, undermine national development, and diminish faith in democracy as the best available system of government. The paper argues that a close relationship between Ghana’s largest church, the Church of Pentecost (CoP), and the country’s two main political parties, the New Patriotic Party and the National Democratic Congress, threatens Ghana’s secular constitution and the country’s three decades of democracy in two ways. First, the CoP wants undemocratically to impose a framework to control Ghanaians’ moral behaviour according to the church’s values and beliefs. Second, the CoP’s influence on Ghana’s two main political parties seeks to prioritise power and control over all Ghanaians regardless of their religious affiliation and of the country’s commitment to democratic norms and institutions.

The politics of the targeting and expansion of pro-poor programs in Ghana

ABSTRACT The paper examines how the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty program in Ghana is politicised and its implications for poverty reduction. Data from 26 in-depth interviews and 12 focus group discussions were analysed. The paper observes that a broad cross-party consensus exists because the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) program has been politicised by the two main political parties, namely the National Democratic Congress and the New Patriotic Party, who target the policy to their politically supportive districts and communities. The key pathway for the politicisation and subsequent expansion of the program is partisan manipulation of the District Level Implementation Committees (DLICs), partisan selection of beneficiaries, and party membership card as a requirement for inclusion. These political considerations tend to result in wrong targeting, where undeserving beneficiaries are included, thereby undermining sustained poverty reduction and inclusive development potential of the LEAP program.

Political vigilantism in Ghana: Motives, membership, and financing

AbstractThis comprehensive study of political vigilantism in Ghana examines the motives, membership, and financing of the phenomenon and proffers solutions to combat it. We use a qualitative methodology of personal interviews with a broad section of Ghanaian political stakeholders totaling 50 participants. This included 30 political vigilante members equally affiliated with the New Patriotic Party and the National Democratic Congress and selected from the vigilante hotbeds of the Northern, Upper East, and Ashanti regions of Ghana. The other political stakeholders total 20 and are made up of: five public political party executives, five civil society members, five police officers, and five local district assembly members. The motives include institutional weakness, winning political power, and economic and group solidarity. Membership involves family and friends, former security personnel, party members, and unemployed youth. Financing emanates from political parties, politicians, and the business class. We argue that patron–clientelism is the driving force behind political vigilantism and recommend more legal accountability for patrons, particularly through constitutional amendments guaranteeing a fixed term for the head of the police and separating the roles of Attorney General and Minister of Justice. This is to ensure that the former can impartially prosecute vigilante patrons. Punitive financial measures are also recommended to deter patrons, backed by sustained public education and more employment opportunities for the masses of unemployed youth—the bedrock of political vigilantism.Related ArticlesAkwei, Cynthia, Isaac S. Damoah, and Joseph Amankwah‐Amoah. 2020. “The Effects of Politics on the Implementation of Government Programs/Projects: Insights from a Developing Economy.” Politics & Policy 48(6): 1161–201. https://doi.org/10.1111/polp.12384.Asiegbu, Martin F., Okey Marcellus Ikeanyibe, Pius Otu Abang, Okwudili Chukwuma Nwosu, and Chuka Eugene Ugwu. 2024. “Natural Resource Fund Governance and the Institutionalization of Rent Seeking in Nigeria's Oil Sector.” Politics & Policy 52(1): Early View. https://doi.org/10.1111/polp.12579.Debrah, Emmanuel. 2016. “Decentralization, District Chief Executives, and District Assemblies in Ghana's Fourth Republic.” Politics & Policy 44 (1): 135–64. https://doi.org/10.1111/polp.12146.

Without money, you are technically knock-out in the race: Analyzing the role of money in parliamentary primaries in Ghana

Financial resources – comprising money and other material support – are significant determinants in the prosecution of successful electoral campaigns, especially during intra-party candidate selection in Ghana. Delegates in political parties, largely, vote for candidates who can pay their way out; hence, the financially disadvantaged candidates are technically excluded from the race. The article examines this phenomenon which is incrementally making parliamentary primaries in Ghana the preserve of the rich. Empirical evidence from primary data gathered through interviews and focus group discussions as well as secondary data from published works was analyzed from a rational choice theory perspective. The article found that money does not only serve as a measure of a candidate’s success in the two leading political parties in Ghana – the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and New Patriotic Party (NPP) – but also a predictor of their future performance and an exclusionary barrier to the poor. It recommends strong legislation to regulate the funding of parliamentary primaries in Ghana. One of the first essential steps should be limiting the high amount of nomination forms and filing fees charged at the political party level.

An Analysis of Music and Politics: The Ghanaian Instance

This piece aimed to analyze the use of music and its related activities in politics, particularly Ghanaian politics to effectively impact the organization of activities in the areas of party formation, rallies and electioneering campaigns. The authors opined that through music, leaders and organizers of political parties are able to better communicate to the public to attract winning sympathy. The authors employed participatory observation and unstructured interviews to gather primary data from five political parties including the two main parties (National Democratic Congress and New Patriotic Party). The findings indicate that music and related performances are instrumental in bringing party members together, attracting new members to fold, and forming formidable parties. The authors recommend that the leadership of political parties should organize and encourage regular musical activities between members and the party as a whole. Keywords: Political Anthems, Electioneering Campaigns, Political Parties, Party Politics, Music Related Activities.

The Thrill of Victory and the Agony of Defeat: The First and Last One Hundred Days of a New and Old Administration

Ghana has had general elections in 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008, 2012, 2016, and 2020. The next one is in 2024. Each administration comes with changes that are said to be inspired by ‘patrimonialism’ and ‘neopatrimonialism’. Objective: I reviewed how the successive political administrations of the National Democratic Congress and the New Patriotic Party have conducted their transitions to determine whether those actions were guided by principles of equity or patrimonialism/neo-patrimonialism. Method: I conducted extensive literature review about the conduct of the administrations in the first and last one hundred days to ascertain the approach used and the results each of the political parties created to determine if those measures were in consonance with the Constitutional provisions on human security and political transition. Result: The first 100 days of the incoming administration is full of joy and celebrations; interspaced with the inalienation of some of the winning party’s members with unmet needs. The review showed how appointees of the previous administration are disenfranchised or re-assigned to remote workstations. The typical Ghanaian President does not introduce laudable, economic transformative agenda but he is pre-occupied with reprisals against the appointees of the previous government. Conclusion: The first one hundred days offers the ‘thrill of victory and the agony of defeat’1. New cases of post-traumatic stress disorders associated with loss of relevance and social status emerge. The outgoing Presidents overburden the system with operational cost for new programs initiated in the eleventh hour of their departures.

The unfolding mystery of the numbers: First and second digits based comparative tests and its application to Ghana’s elections

This study focuses on the use of digits-based test in anomaly detection in presidential elections in Ghana. Even though Ghana has conducted several successful elections to elect presidents, the outcomes of the elections have been challenged in courts on allegations of vote rigging and fraud. It has been established in the literature that for an election to be anomaly free, the following should be satisfied: the distribution of voters turn-out, the winners’ share and total valid votes cast in the election should be uni-modal. Therefore, we assess the applicability of both first and second digits-based tests to aid in the detection of possible anomaly in the 2016 and 2020 presidential election results data in Ghana. The Benford frequency distribution and Spearman rank correlation coefficient tests were used for the analysis of data obtained from the Electoral Commission of Ghana. The results show that the observed first digits distributions of valid vote counts for both New Patriotic Party (NPP) and National Democratic Congress (NDC), and the total valid votes cast (TVVC), in 2016 and 2020 are consistent with the distributional pattern of first digits postulated by Benford’s Law. However, the findings of the distribution of second digits of the valid vote counts for NPP and total valid vote cast in both 2016 and 2020 elections do not satisfy the probability distributional pattern of second digits according to the Benford’s Law. In view of these, we recommend using the first two digits-based tests to check for consistency of possible election anomaly between the first and second digits since it conveys more information.

Serial Callers: Hatchet Men or Political Communicators?

This article looks at the extent to which radio stations use offensive language, the reasons why serial callers use such language and how this threat to Ghana’s peace can be curtailed within the Tamale Metropolis. Using in-depth interviews, focus group discussions and content analysis as methods of investigation, the study found that among the political communicators on radio, serial callers used the most offensive language to defend either the New Patriotic Party (NPP) or the National Democratic Congress (NDC). The two parties sponsor the activities of these callers who, in return for stipends from politicians, fearlessly denigrate opponents while trumpeting their parties’ achievements. Unsubstantiated allegations against political opponents emerged as the most frequently used offensive pronouncement by serial callers who admit to the dangers of their conduct for peaceful co-existence but insist they must do everything possible to ensure victory for their parties. The study concludes that despite the threat posed by serial callers to peaceful co-existence, employing extra security measures to contain the situation is not an option. Instead, the study recommends that radio stations field technocrats in place of political party representatives to review newspaper headlines during Morning Show programmes.

The National Democratic Government and tourism development in Ghana: A retrospection

Ghana came under democratic rule from 1993-2000 after the National Democratic Congress (NDC) had won the general election conducted in December 1992. Flt. Lt. J.J. Rawlings, the Party’s leader became the President of the Fourth Republic. It was refreshing to see Ghanaians embrace democracy with renewed energy, zeal and enthusiasm. Meanwhile the tourism industry was perceived to grow at a rate of between 12% and 16% and a less costly export item. The new government undertook measures and policies to improve the tourism industry and at the same time embarked on export diversification to reap the foreign exchange that the industry could generate. The objective of this paper is to examine the measures and policies of the NDC to improve the tourism industry in order to reap the foreign exchange focusing on the role of the government as an agent of tourism development, creation of conducive environment for tourism to flourish, the provision of tourism facilities and political stability and how these factors impacted on the tourism industry in Ghana. In the final analysis an assessment is made on the NDC Government’s contribution towards tourism development.

Trends in financing of basic education in Ghana – a political economy analysis

PurposeUsing a political economy framework, this paper examines the financing trend, by investigating three systematic spikes occurring between 2004 and 2016. The study aims to provide a useful review of the interaction of politics, financial decisions and educational outcomes. Additionally it provides a useful guide, especially to academics, to identify political and economic conceptualizations that will predict expenditure decision-making of political actors and to be able to provide policy advice on the future effect of such decisions on availability and accessibility of public goods.Design/methodology/approachThe paper adopts a secondary data analysis approach, drawing upon secondary data sources such as from the Ministry of Education, budget statements from the Ministry of Finance, as well as relevant policy documents. Additional information for the study was also extracted from the manifestos of the two leading political parties in Ghana – the New Patriotic Party and the National Democratic Congress and their viewpoints on financing of education in Ghana.FindingsUsing two epochal years when financing of education peaked (2008 and 2012), which coincided with election years, the trend lends itself to being interpreted as opportunistic spending. It appears to give credence to a conclusion that the increases in spending are more politically directed and nonneutral.Originality/valueThis paper fulfills an identified need to study the trend of basic education financing in Ghana, which will help policy actors make better-informed decisions with the introduction of the novel “adaptive opportunism” framework analysis tool.

Propaganda: The Media and Ghana’s 2020 Presidential Election Petition

This article examines the extent to which media bias is featured in the reportage of Ghana’s 2020 Presidential Election Petition. The Presidential Election Petition was filed by the main candidate of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), John Dramani Mahama who challenged the declaration by the Electoral Commission (EC) that President Nana Addo Dankwah Akufo Addo of the incumbent New Patriotic Party (NPP) won the election. Using a purposive sampling approach focusing on the print media, this paper assesses how three local newspapers-the NDC aligned WhatsApp news online, the NPP aligned Daily Statesman online and State-sponsored Daily Graphic online covered the event and the extent to which media bias played in the coverage of the election petition. The study found that propaganda and media bias featured prominently in the coverage of the election petition and constituted a substantial risk of undermining press freedom and the country’s growing democracy. The study recommends, amongst others, training for journalists on how to detect bias and propaganda statements from story actors to obviate the potential of publishing propaganda-driven statements that could threaten the peace and stability of the country.

The Readability of Political Party Manifestos of the 2016 General Elections in Ghana

The objective of the study was to determine the readability of the manifestos that three political parties, namely National Democratic Congress (NDC), New Patriotic Party (NPP) and Convention People’s Party (CPP), in Ghana used in the 2016 general elections. These parties were chosen because they were the only ones in Ghana with parliamentary representation at the time of the study. The readability indexes used were the Coleman-Liau Index and the Gunning Fog Index. 12 random sections of each manifesto were selected for analysis. Then, texts of no less than 300 words were sampled from each section. The readability formulas used were available on the internet. The statistics show that all three manifestos were written at difficulty levels that were quite above the reading abilities of the average Ghanaian voter. Further, it was found that the manifestos did not differ significantly from each other, statistically speaking. Keywords: readability, readability formulas, manifestos, political parties, linguistic complexity

Journalistic ethics and elections news coverage in the Ghanaian press: a content analysis of two daily Ghanaian newspaper coverage of election 2020

PurposeThis study investigates the incidence of ethical violations in the Ghanaian press which has become topical in the wake of misinformation in a charged political atmosphere. Public interest institutions have questioned the unprofessional conduct of journalists covering election campaigns in recent years. This study content analysed political stories from two leading Ghanaian newspapers (Daily Graphic and Daily Guide) to determine the nature and extent of ethical violations, and to examine the level of prominence accorded to political news stories by the two dailies.Design/methodology/approachThis paper relied on qualitative content analysis for data gathering and analysis. A total of 387 political news items published between 1 October and 30 November 2020, were analysed.FindingsThis study found infractions of various nature to Article 1 of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) codes of ethics, chief among which is the deliberate publications of news stories without cross-checking facts. Other infractions to Articles 17, 11, 6 and 5 of the GJA codes of ethics were observed. Political news coverage favours the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the main opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) than any other parties, with the two parties (NPP-NDC) given greater prominence and salience by the Ghanaian press.Originality/valueThe research makes a modest contribution to the growing concern of journalism ethics in an increasing ecology of fake news.

Ban on artisanal mining in Ghana: Assessment of wellbeing, party affiliation and voting pattern of miners in Daboase, Western Region

Governments' fear of losing presidential and parliamentary votes in mining areas in Ghana has always resulted in a reversal of policies to manage artisanal mining (currently under the New Patriotic Party [NPP] and previously, the National Democratic Congress [NDC] government). The study assessed the impact of the artisanal mining ban on miners' subjective well-being, party affiliations, voting intentions, and voting patterns in Ghana's December 2020 election. With the aid of an interview schedule, the study collected data from miners in Daboase (Ghana) and analysed it using a t-test as well as linear and binary logistic regression. Results revealed that the ban on mining significantly reduced miners' subjective well-being in terms of physical, psychological, and relational well-being more than their financial well-being. Most artisanal miners ignored the ban and continued to work, but not at the same pace; hence, the low dip in their financial well-being. Before the election, it was highly expected that artisanal miners will vote against the incumbent NPP government due to the ban. However, on election day, political affiliation and allegiance dictated voting patterns rather than the ban on mining (as NPP sympathisers voted for the government while NDC sympathisers for the NDC). The government of Ghana should, therefore, be bold in implementing its artisanal mining policies because it did not influence voting patterns during the 2020 election. However, the policies should be complemented with socio-economic interventions to help reduce their effects on miners' well-being.

The Dynamics and Complexities of Voter Choices in Ghana: A Perspective of Most Populous Swing and Stronghold Constituencies

Abstract The study explored the determinants of voter behaviour in the electoral context, which focuses on swing and stronghold constituencies in Ghana, where two major political parties have dominated the political space, and alternated power since the return to constitutional rule in 1993. Primary data were gathered from 400 registered voters in three most populous swing and stronghold constituencies and triangulated with secondary data from elections held between 2000–2020 in Ghana. The results show that long-term factors such as ideology and party identity are critical in determining voter choices in stronghold constituencies while short-term factors such as campaign messages and appeal of the personality contesting the elections are some of the factors considered by the electorate in swing constituencies. The study noted that the two political parties in Ghana, the National Democratic Congress, and the New Patriotic Party, have explored both long and short-term factors to sustain their dominance in stronghold constituencies.

A Comparative Analysis of Hillary Clinton and John Mahama’s Concession Speeches in the 2016 US and Ghanaian Presidential Elections

Comparative research contributes to knowledge by providing a better understanding of how a phenomenon manifests in different socio-cultural contexts. In this present study, we examined the concession speeches of Hillary Clinton (United States, Democratic Party) and John Mahama (Ghana, National Democratic Congress, NDC) in the aftermath of their 2016 electoral defeats. Findings indicated that three similar frames emerged between the two candidates. Hillary Clinton’s frames included: acknowledging pain and acceptance, democracy, values and nationalism, and gratitude. John Mahama’s frames had: acceptance and concern, appreciation, unity, democracy, and nationhood. Both candidates accepted the electoral outcome, showed gratitude, and reaffirmed their belief in democracy and unity. However, there were slight differences. Hillary Clinton’s frame on acknowledging pain and acceptance had a more open, forthright recognition of being hurt in a way that enabled her to process the loss and pain. Findings from this study provide insights into recent concession speeches across two socio-cultural and continental divides, which builds on literature in framing and political communication.

Parliamentary Primaries After Democratic Transitions: Explaining Reforms To Candidate Selection In Ghana

Abstract Candidate selection procedures play a crucial role in shaping parliaments and influencing the quality of democracy. Yet, our understanding of what motivates parties to reform candidate selection mechanisms at specific points in time is limited. To address this gap, we examine the experience of Ghana’s National Democratic Congress (NDC), which reformed its selection procedures in 2015 allowing all party members to vote in primary elections for parliamentary candidates. We ask what triggered these reforms and identify four motivations—the confluence of which explains why the reforms were adopted in 2015. These motivations were: making the party more democratic by expanding participation, reducing the cost of the primary process, building the party’s organizational capacity, and keeping up with the party’s main competitor. Together, these led NDC leaders to believe that reforms would benefit the party. However, a divergence between actual and intended effects meant some of these benefits were not realized, so the NDC reversed its reforms. This case suggests that the current shift towards more inclusive candidate selection mechanisms across parts of Africa will not be linear: party leaders will adopt such reforms when they believe it is in their party’s interest.

Bayesian Estimation of Presidential Elections in Ghana: A Validation Approach

Elections are one of the barometers through which electorates measure the performance of governments and decide whether to renew their mandate or not. The success of every election goes a long way to strengthen the frontiers of a country's democracy and provide legitimacy for those who hold political power. However, the electoral process of many African countries has been challenged in courts or allegations of fraud and vote rigging are leveled against the winning party or candidate. Therefore, there is the need for a statistical method for checking and validating election results to ascertain fraud and vote rigging claims. Existing validation methods include the Parallel Vote Tabulation methodology. However, some significant disadvantages of this approach are issues of cost, sampling techniques and sample size determination. To overcome these, this study resorts to using the Dirichlet multinomial Bayesian model to compute posterior probabilities of valid votes cast and Bayesian credible intervals to ascertain the legitimacy of the votes cast. Using the Ghana general elections in 2020, the fitted Bayesian model accurately predicted approximately 99% of the proportion of votes obtained by New Patriotic Party, National Democratic Congress and all Other Political Parties. Also, the valid votes received by all the political parties fall within the Bayesian credible intervals indicating that the credibility of the 2020 presidential elections held in Ghana may not be in doubt.