Akufo-Addo challenges Mahama for Ghana Presidency!

 I have always regarded Ghana as my second home having spent several years working and consulting for several organizations. Naturally the elections interest me a lot as I have met some of the candidates and have actually related with them in the past.

Ghana goes to the polls for presidential and parliamentary elections on 7 December for its seventh multi-party ballot since the end of military rule in 1992. The presidential race is expected to be a closely fought contest between incumbent President John Dramani Mahama and opposition challenger Nana Akufo-Addo. Ghana is frequently described as one of the most stable democracies in West Africa and has witnessed several peaceful transfers of power.

Incumbent Mahama assumed the presidency in July 2012 following the death of former president John Atta Mills. The National Democratic Congress (NDC) party flag bearer then went on to win the December 2012 election beating Akufo-Addo with 50.7 per cent of the vote. Mahama is a son of a minister and member of parilament of Ghana.

Akufo-Addo, head of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), is making his third attempt at the country's top job having lost in his bid for the presidency in 2008 and 2012. He served as foreign minister under President John Kufuor from 2003 to 2007 and trained as a lawyer before becoming a politician.Akufo Addo is the son of  a former  ceremonial president of Ghana Edward Akufo Addo.

The economy has emerged as one of the main issues in election campaigning - "people are really having to deal with a terrible economy in terms of high inflation and high unemployment, according to Kofi Bentil from of the Imani think-tank.

Last year Ghana was forced to take an International Monetary Fund (IMF) bailout for almost one billion dollars. Inflation was more than 17 per cent in 2015, according to the IMF, while economic growth was less than 4 per cent.

Recently a story leaked that former president of Nigeria had openly accused Mahama of harassing Nigerian companies in Ghana to make contributions to his campaign. The accusation degenerated into an open argument. 

It would be interesting to see who would win, Mahama or Akufo-Addo.