NDC 2020 Manifesto Launch: Fact-checking Professor Jane Naana Opoku-Agyemang’s Opening Remarks

The opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), On September 8th, 2020, launched its 2020 manifesto titled, “Jobs, Prosperity, and More. The People’s Manifesto.”

The Vice Presidential candidate of the party, Professor Jane Naana Opoku-Agyemang, in her opening remarks made some claims regarding the 2020 elections and elections in Ghana in general. 

“Today is September 7th and we are exactly three months away from the 2020 presidential and parliamentary election. This election will be historic in many ways. It will be the first time that such an election has been conducted in the midst of a global pandemic. It will be decided by the largest electorates in the nation’s history. It will be the first in the fourth republic to be contested by a former president and the first in which a major political party’s ticket will feature a woman…This will be the youngest electorate in the history of this nation. Seven out of every ten people who registered to cast a ballot December 7th were born a decade before the fourth republic. Nearly half of them have only ever known Ghana as a multi-party democracy,” Prof Opoku-Agyemang said (2:48:40 to 2:50:54).

Dubawa examined three main claims made by Prof Opoku-Agyemang in her address.

‘This is the first time in the fourth republic that a former president is contesting for the seat of the president.‘

President John Mahama is the first former president to contest for the seat of President in the fourth republic of Ghana.

The 1992 Constitution came into full force in 1993, marking the beginning of the fourth republic.

And since 1992, Ghana has had five (5) presidents:

1. Jerry John Rawlings
2. John Agyemkum Kuffour
3. John Evans Atta Mills
4. John Dramani Mahama
5. Nana Addo Danquah Akufo-Addo

Of this five, John Mahama is the only one to have lost power and to again contest for the presidential seat.

President	Term	Political party
Jerry John Rawlings	1992 – 2000	NDC
John Agyekum Kufuor	2000 – 2008	NPP
John Evans Atta Mills	2008 – 2012	NDC
John Dramani Mahama	2012 – 2016	NDC
Nana Akufo-Addo	2016 – to date	NPP

This is the first election in Ghana in which a major party’s ticket will feature a woman.

As checked by Dubawa, Professor Jane Naana Opoku-Agyemang is indeed the first female vice-presidential candidate of a major political party in Ghana.

Although there have been a number of female vice-presidential candidates in Ghana over the years, those parties are largely not considered major political parties in the country. 

In 2012, three female vice-presidential candidates were nominated during in the presidential and parliamentary elections. They are Madam Helen Matervi of the People’s National Convention (PNC), Eva Lokko of the Progressive People’s Party (PPP), and Madam Nana Akosua Frimpomaa II for the Convention People’s Party (CPP). 

These parties as earlier stated, are, however, not considered to be major political parties even though Ghana has been a multi-party political system. Only the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the New Patriotic Party(NPP) have amassed the highest number of votes in the elections held. 

A previous fact-check by Dubawa confirmed this. 

The 2020 elections will be decided by the largest electorates in the nation’s history.

Based on the information available, this new voters register has the largest number of registered voters in the country’s history.

Information available on the Electoral Commission (EC) website indicates 16,845,439 voters have been registered. This figure is subject to change depending on the outcome of the upcoming Voters Register Exhibition which is scheduled to begin from September 18th, 2020. 

In a Facebook live stream held on August 12, to inform the media and the public about notable statistics recorded during the 2020 voters registration compilation, the EC Chairperson, Jean Adukwei Mensa, had announced that the Commission had recorded a total of 16,963,306 eligible voters. This was a provisional figure and was subject to change based on the resolution of challenges reported during the registration exercise. 

The table below shows a list of elections held in Ghana’s history from the year 1957 to 2016 and the yet to be held 2020 elections.

S/No	Year	Election Type	Number of registered voters
1	February 1951	Legislative Assembly Election	n/a
2	15 June 1954	Legislative Assembly Election	n/a
3	17 July 1956	Legislative Assembly Election	1,392,874
4	27 April 1960	Plebiscite	2,098,651
5	27 April 1960	Presidential Election	2,098,651
6	31 January 1964	Constitutional Referendum	n/a
7	29 August 1969	National Assembly Election	2,360,000 (approx.)
8	30 March 1978	Referendum	4,497,803
9	June 1979	Presidential Election	5,000,000 (approx.)
10	18 June 1979	National Assembly Election	8,255,690
11	3 November 1992	Presidential Election	8,229,902
12	29 December 1992	Parliamentary Election	7,336,846
13	7 December 1996	Presidential Election	9,279,605
14	7th / 28th December 2000	General Elections	10,698,652
15	7 December 2004	General Elections	10,354,970
16	7th and 28th December 2008	General Elections	12,472,758
17	2012	General Elections	14, 03,793
18	2016	General Elections	15, 712,505
19	2020 (Yet to be held)	General Elections	16,845,439