Ghanaian media personality Paul Adom-Otchere has argued that political parties in Ghana often lose power after eight years not because voters deliberately want change but largely due to internal disputes within ruling parties.
According to him, this trend results from parties failing to maintain unity after selecting new presidential candidates, especially following tightly contested internal elections.
“I’ve been saying to people, as we’re researching for the next book, that people say Ghana votes eight years, eight years. That may be true on the record. But it’s not just because Ghanaians want to change a political party in eight years,” he said on the ‘Talk No Dey Cook Rice’ podcast.
“After eight years, the ruling government needs to change its leader. And when governments are changing the leader within a four-year span, somehow political parties all over the world are not able to foster the unity they need in government to win the next election,” he explained.
Adom-Otchere, who has closely followed Ghanaian politics for decades, is preparing to release a new book on the 2024 elections and political trends in Ghana’s Fourth Republic.
His research seeks to test the widely held notion that Ghanaians naturally switch governments every eight years, a pattern that has persisted since the return to constitutional rule in 1992.
He also noted that in two-term presidential systems, incumbent presidents often enjoy the support of state actors such as the police and military, who are motivated to back the government to protect their positions.
“So the question then is, if Jerry John Rawlings had run in the 2000 election, could he have won? Our difficult answer is yes. He may have won because he would be running with the state,” Adom-Otchere stated.
He added that former President Nana Akufo-Addo could have secured a third term for the NPP if Ghana’s constitution had allowed it, pointing to the advantages of incumbency in such systems.
“And then you ask the question, if Nana Akufo-Addo had run in the 2024 elections, could he have won? I dare to say he could have won, because he’d be running with the state,” he said.
