The lifting of the ban on party politics in the country on May 18, 1992 led to multi-party elections that birthed the country’s Fourth Republic.
The presidential election was held on November 3, that year and the parliamentary elections almost two months later on December 29.
Going by the four-year electoral cycle adhered to in the country, there have been eight general elections in the Four Republic, won by only the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in a split manner.
As the records show the NDC won the 1992 and 1996 and ruled two terms consecutively, ending their eight-year rule in the 2000 electoral defeat to the NPP, which also had two-term eight-year rule from 2001 to 2009 for losing to the NDC in the 2008 general election.
Then the NDC too lost to the NPP in the 2016 election, having had another two-term eight-year rule.
Now the NPP is in its last year of its two-term rule of eight years but hoping to win a third consecutive bid to break the eight-year political-party-rule cycle using the catchphrase ‘breaking the eight’ to propagate its avowed intention.
If the complaints of the populace is anything to go by, then the point is that neither the NDC nor the NPP has met their expectations or aspirations.
What the complaints imply is that Ghanaians have been wishing for an alternative political administration other than that of the NDC or the NPP.
The Ghanaian Times thinks if the masses mean their complaints, then the opportunity that has eluded them over the years is now here.
The electoral litmus test is here for Ghanaian voters who have lost trust in both NPP and NDC presidencies to prove to the whole world that they mean their word.
Nine political groups have formed an alliance to contest the 2024 presidential elections to break the duopoly of the NPP and NDC.
The alliance, spearheaded by the Movement for Change, a political movement founded by Mr Alan Kyerematen, a former Minister of Trade and Industry and leading member of the NPP, has the umbrella name ‘Alliance for Revolutionary Change (ARC).’
It hopes to aggressively mobilise Ghanaians from across the country, particularly the youth and women, irrespective of their religious, political, and ethnic affiliations, to elect the first independent candidate to be president under the 4th Republic.
Ghana is at the verge of making unprecedented electoral history no matter who wins the 2024 general election.
The ruling NPP wants to ‘break the eight’ to continue their rule seamlessly, while the NDC wants to have former President John Dramani Mahama back to power for four years to also have a record of two-term eight-year rule as it has been for Presidents Jerry John Rawlings (1993 to 2001); John Agyekum Kufuor (2001 – 2009); and Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo (2017 and expected to leave January 7, 2025).
If the Alliance for Revolutionary Change is able to elect an independent President, that will be “super unprecedented” because it would have brought about a paradigm shift in the election of presidents in the country’s political history.
The Ghanaian Times knows that the country must of a political necessity have a president at any given time and all it hopes for is free, fair and peaceful presidential election 2024.