Like it happened in Nigeria in 2015, two other English- speaking West African countries, last week saw opposition parties snatch victories from the incumbents, a development that may set a new course of politics in the sub- region.
The Gambia, the tiny West African country was the first in what would become a week of opposition onslaught on the ruling- parties. In a fiercely fought election held December 1, Adama Barrow of the Independent Coalition of political parties defeated President Yahya Jameh who has ruled the country for about 22 years setting the stage for his imminent retirement from partisan politics.
In Ghana, incumbent President, John Mahama who was the candidate of National Democratic Congress (NDC) lost to Nana Akuffo – Addo of the opposition New Patriotic Party in the December 7 poll.
President Jameh did the unthinkable by conceding defeat even before the result was officially announced, a decision which shocked the Gambian population as everything pointed to his rejection of the result in the event of defeat.
The BBC was right to have described Jameh’s loss as “one of the biggest election upsets West Africa has ever seen”. The Gambian strong man who came to power in 1994 by overthrowing the government of Dauda Jawara who had ruled the country since 1970 in bloodless coup, did everything to hold onto power. Weeks before the vote, Jameh issued a law banning public protest during the election period, a move that was seen as panicky measure as he probably saw defeat coming.
Beyond, Jameh ordered a clamp down on major opposition politicians all in a bid to stifle opposition to his re-election. Several political leaders were detained on his orders including Ousainou Darboe, Leader of United Democratic Party, whose candidate, Barrow eventually won the election. Worse still, President Jameh ordered authorities to ban mobile phone applications in the country throughout the election period while international calls were barred. The authorities also barred election observers even from the West African countries under the auspices of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). In spite of all these measures, the Gambian electorate still looked the way of the opposition coalition and Jameh lost the vote.
Soon after Barrow was announced winner, 19 of the political detainees were set free including Darboe, a development which even deepened the nationwide celebration but more importantly raised hope for smooth transfer of power.
Barrow’s emergence with 45.5% of the votes cast was made possible because of the coalition of seven political parties, the largest since the country’s independence in 1965 to challenge Jameh’s Alliance for Patriotic Reorientation and Construction which polled 36.7% of the votes to place second in the election leaving the eighth opposition party, Gambia Democratic Congress which refused to join the coalition to field Mammah Kande as its candidate with 17.8% of the votes.
The outcome of the election obviously signposts a fresh beginning for The Gambia. A small country with the population of 1,882,450(April 2013 Census), The Gambia has neither witnessed democracy nor development in the last 22 years during which Jameh maintained his hold on the country first as a military ruler and later as an “elected” president. Although elections held during the 22 years of Jameh’s reign, the outcome was at all times obvious that he would win no matter the way the vote went.
The economy went down as the country’s economy dominated by farming, fishing, and tourism, could not take the population outside the poverty line of $1.25 per day.
The case of Ghana is similar to The Gambia. From all indications, the economy played a major role in the defeat of Mahama who was seeking his second term in office. Under Mahama’s watch, Ghana became a producer and exporter of crude oil but this rare feat was not good enough to save the national economy which was assailed by high inflation rates, worsening value of the Cedi, its national currency and huge debts all of which coalesced to stunt growth with adverse consequences on the populace.
When the election went underway with seven presidential candidates on the field, Mahama’s party expected the opposition parties to divide the votes to pave way for a possible run- off with Koffi- Addo, 72 who was contesting for the third time. As it turned out however, the main opposition garnered 52 per cent to take the day from Mahama.
Like in The Gambia, President Mahama evolved under hand tactics to retain power including the dramatic disqualification of some candidates from the presidential race including Mrs Nana Konadu Aggyeman Rawlings of the Democratic Party (NDP), wife of former President and elder statesman, John Jerry Rawlings. The election was initially scheduled for December 7, but later moved forward to November7 and then back to December following a Supreme Court ruling to that effect.
The outcome of elections in the two Anglophone countries is consistent with the wave of political change which started with the 2015 election in Nigeria where President Mohammadu Buhari defeated incumbent Goodluck Jonathan. In that election, Jonathan conceded defeat before the official release of results, statesmanlike conduct also exhibited by Jameh in The Gambia last week. The opposition onslaught continued to Burkina Faso and then Benin Republic where the ruling- parties were voted out.
The good news is that even though the ruling- parties lost in most of the recent elections in the West African sub- region, the concession of defeat by incumbents has raised hope for the survival of democracy. The lesson is that the sub- region is no longer the place for sit- tight rulers. The region is set for people’s power to triumph through the ballot box.