Using currency depreciation as yardstick to choose next president not useful – Gabby Otchere-Darko

Political strategist and private-practice lawyer Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko has emphasized that voters should not choose the next president of Ghana in the upcoming 7 December general elections based on the depreciation of the cedis against foreign trading currencies such as the US dollar and the British pound.

In a post on his X handle today, Monday, 2 December 2024, Mr Otchere-Darko pointed out that the cedis depreciated up to 71% under the 8 years the National Democratic Congress (NDC) 2024 candidate, John Mahama served as Vice President and President and 72% in the 8 years that Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, the presidential candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) has served as Vice President.

To this end, Mr Otchere-Darko proposes that the Ghanaian voter should consider other important indicators, such as the achievements of the two political parties during their terms in office and the vision articulated by the leading candidates.

“Rightly so, people are comparing these 8 years of NPP (with Bawumia as Vice President) to the 8 years of NDC when Mahama was President and Vice President, in helping to decide on December 7 whether to give Bawumia his chance or give Mahama another chance.

“But I do not think using currency depreciation as a yardstick is useful because both parties have not done well with the currency, whatever the causation may be. NDC saw to a 71% devaluation of the cedi from 2009 to 2016 (GHS1.24-$1 to GHS4.27), with the devaluation rate worse between 2013-2016,” Gabby Otchere-Darko’s X post read.

“Under NPP we are seeing a 72% drop, with $1 for GHS15.24 today, with the fall much steeper after 2020. So, check what else the two parties have been able to achieve in spite of the huge depreciation and judge them on that.

“We should not change for the sake of it or continue for the sake of it, but based on work done, vision articulated and leadership qualities shown and potential for more that we can see. Ghana must make progress. Ghana must also protect gains made. Who best can you trust to deliver on that?” Mr Otchere-Darko’s post further read.

Ghanaians will go to the polls for the 9th consecutive time since the coming into force of the 1992 constitution to election the 6th President of the 4th Republic and 276 members of the 9th Parliament.

Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, the sitting Vice President and presidential candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) is facing oppisition from John Dramani Mahama, a former president and presidential candidate for the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC).

Multiple polls conducted by various institutions and individuals such that the Vice President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia is likely to win to the 2024 presidential elections with between 50.2% to 50.5% of the votes to be cast by over 18 million registered Ghanaian votes on 7 December.

The polls also predict that the NPP is likely to win about 148 out of the 276 seats in Parliament in the parliamentary elections which will take place along side the presidential polls.

 Reporting by Wilberforce Asare in Accra, Ghana

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