Ghana’s Hung Parliament and Contested President to Be Sworn In
Reminiscent of 2012, the Supreme Court is set to decide the final tally of Ghana’s December 2020 elections .
Incumbent president Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) was declared winner by the Electoral Commission (EC) - he and the new crop of parliamentarians are due to be sworn in on 7 January.
However, there is a pending petition against the presidential results and confusion over which party will hold a majority in parliament. The implications for the normal flow of government business could be significant.
Significance – political arithmetic
Declaring the results, the EC stated that Akufo-Addo had garnered 51.59% of the vote with John Dramani Mahama of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) given 47.36%. After much protesting and press conferences in which no real evidence or strategy was revealed, the NDC finally filed a formal petition at the Supreme Court on 31 December, the last day on which they could meet the 21-day deadline. Their petition is calling for an annulment of the declaration made by the EC chair and a run-off between Akufo-Addo and Mahama.
Currently, the parliamentary results show the two main parties with 137 seats each and one independent candidate[1] (making up the 275-seat chamber) and both parties are preparing candidates for the role of Speaker of Parliament.
However, several legal challenges are pending from both sides, most notably in Techiman South where there seem to have been significant lapses in process and accountability by the EC. The NDC has already had one injunction granted and then unanimously cancelled by the Supreme Court in Hohoe where they were claiming that a number of areas were disenfranchised.
Outlook – risks to government business
The consensus is that the petition filed by the NDC challenging the presidential results will either be dismissed or ruled against by the Supreme Court. Firstly, 11 of the 17 judges at the Supreme Court were appointed by Akufo-Addo and have already shown some intent by unanimously cancelling the injunction against the Hohoe MP. secondly, there is little to suggest that, despite the many flaws in the process, enough errors were made to overturn the result.
Looking forward, the two main parties will likely have to compromise in parliament for there to be any efficiency in government business. The president alluded to this in his end of term state of the nation address, given on Tuesday (5 January), “the House would have to be more accommodating of each other’s views, and, probably, devise new ways of conducting its affairs in the interest of the good governance of our people.”
Such parliamentary bonhomie would be a new thing indeed. But to the extent that it is not achieved, central government priorities are at risk, particularly from a fiscal perspective. The budget must be approved by parliament and in the era of COVID recovery efforts, debt management, borrowing and expenditure decisions will be both contentious and crucial. Still awaiting parliamentary approval is the Tax Exemptions Bill, key to regulating fiscal bypasses that are said to have cost as much as USD1 billion over the past two years.
Key personnel must also be vetted and approved by parliament such as a replacement for Martin Amidu, the Special Prosecutor who resigned towards the end of 2020. If the second Akufo-Addo administration wants to be seen to be taking their anti-corruption fight seriously, they will need to choose a person that is effective and amenable enough to both parties that they can pass parliamentary vetting.
[1] A former NPP MP who lost his primary contest but won the seat and has said that he will align himself with the NPP.
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