[Opinion] The ballot box coup d’état; leadership lessons from Ghana’s 2024 elections

On 7th December, 2024, Ghanaians went to the polls to elect their president and members of parliament for the next four years.

The campaign leading up to the elections was fierce and sophisticated with the two leading parties trying their best to sell themselves as the best party.

Over the last eight years, the incumbent New Patriotic Party, under the leadership of Nana Addo Dankwah Akuffo Addo, which came into power with a message of hope to transform the economy rather couldn’t live up to expectations.

What we have seen in this election was a clear case of a revolution against a leadership the people no longer have faith and trust in.

Typically, in Africa, when the people get to this point of distrust and hopelessness in a government, a Coup d’état has been the option. A situation where power is seized by whoever has the courage to use a military force. Within that period, top leaders of government are either arrested, assassinated or forced to flee the country.

In the case of this election, we have seen the Ghanaian people use their thumbs to orchestrate the most democratic Coup d’état in the history of Ghana. A situation where apart from the president, the people have cleaned parliament of all its members who have either become too arrogant of power or too incompetent or lazy to deliver the promises for which they were elected.

The result is handing the opposition party, an unprecedented more than 2/3 majority in parliament.

The Ghanaian people didn’t just stop at voting for change, they went ahead to protect and defend their will (votes) against every form of manipulation even at the threat of their lives.

The greatest lesson in this election is that, when you take the people for granted, they will take you too for granted. And no matter how long it takes, when the people turn against you, they will take their mandate from your hands at all cost.

For the President Elect John Mahama and the NDC, this is not only a historic feat and the greatest vote of confidence a people can give a political party, but also a huge burden of responsibility to shoulder the trust and expectations of the good people of Ghana.

I congratulate President Mahama and his history-making Vice President, Prof Jane Naana Opoku Agyeman, Ghana’s first female president. I also congratulate all Members of Parliament elect and the NDC as a party for earning this level of trust of the people.

Most importantly, I congratulate the Ghanaian people for once again leading the way in Africa and demonstrating to the world that there can be a Coup d’état in Africa through the ballot box.

I wish the new administration a very fruitful tenure and may Ghanaians experience the promises they hold in you.

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Long live the democracy of Ghana, long live the citizens of Ghana.

Written by: Bismark Tay
John C Maxwell Certified Leadership Coach
www.bismarktay.com