Ex-minister to make third bid for presidency
New Patriotic Party presidential candidate Nana Akufo-Addo walks into Ghana’s supreme court to hear the outcome of his challenge to President John Dramani Mahama’s 2012 election victory on August 29, 2013 in Accra. PHOTO | AFP
What you need to know:
- At 70 years-old, Nana Akufo-Addo picked by party to contest 2016 polls
ACCRA, Sunday
Ghana’s main opposition party has nominated former foreign minister Nana Akufo-Addo as its candidate for president in 2016, giving him his third shot at the west African country’s top job.
Mr Akufo-Addo, 70, who lost narrowly to incumbent President John Dramani Mahama in 2012, on Saturday won 94.4 per cent of the votes of delegates of the New Patriotic Party, said Frederick Tetteh, Ghana’s director of elections.
Mr Tetteh announced Mr Akufo-Addo’s nomination to a cheering crowd and blaring music in a park in the centre of the capital Accra.
Former trade minister Alan Kyerematen and parliamentarian Francis Addai-Nimoh shared the remainder of the delegates’ votes.
After losing to Mr Mahama of the National Democratic Congress by 47.7 to 50.7 per cent in 2012, Mr Akufo-Addo challenged the results, but the Supreme Court upheld them.
He also ran unsuccessfully in 2008 against Mr Mahama’s predecessor John Atta Mills, who died in office in 2012.
Mr Mahama (pictured) had been his vice president, and assumed the presidency after his death.
Mr Mahama has presided over a worsening economy since his inauguration in January 2013, with a stubborn budget deficit, dropping gold prices and lower-than-expected oil production dragging down what was once one of the continent’s fastest growing markets.
The government has said it will seek assistance from the International Monetary Fund.
Ghana is considered a model of African democracy because of its peaceful elections, regular changes of power and respect for the rule of law. The West African state has also seen years of strong economic growth from its exports of gold, cocoa and oil.
The government said this week it is close to a deal with the International Monetary Fund for a financial assistance program to start in January that would help stabilize the economy and facilitate wider economic transformation.
Some analysts say a Fund program could help rebalance the economy in 2015 and enable the government to reassure voters come election time.
