 victory in the Akwatia by-election as a much-needed morale booster for the governing party.){kind=link}
Senior Political Science lecturer at the University of Ghana, Dr. Joshua Jebuntie Zaato, has described the National Democratic Congress’ (NDC) victory in the Akwatia by-election as a much-needed morale booster for the governing party.
The by-election, held on Tuesday, September 2, 2025, followed the death of the constituency’s Member of Parliament, Ernest Yaw Kumi. Out of 33,518 valid votes cast, the NDC’s Bernard Bediako Baidoo secured 18,199 votes, defeating the New Patriotic Party’s (NPP) Solomon Kwame Asumadu, who polled 15,235 votes.
Speaking after the polls, Dr. Zaato stressed that the victory was more crucial to the NDC than to any other political party.
“The NDC needed this victory like a blind man needs his sight. This victory was a ‘pick-me-up’ for the NDC more than anything else,” he remarked.
Dr. Zaato argued that the government has in recent months recorded notable setbacks that have dented its credibility, making the Akwatia win essential for its image.
He pointed to the dismissal of the Chief Justice as one of the most controversial actions of the government, claiming it has been one of the administration’s “biggest achievements.” He also criticised the government’s overreliance on sloganeering, saying it has excelled in catchy phrases rather than substantive results.
On the economy, Dr. Zaato noted that the Ghana cedi’s depreciation in recent weeks has undermined one of the government’s key success stories.
“The biggest thing they’ve tried to trumpet was the performance of the Ghana cedi. In the last two weeks, the cedi has started behaving the way people suspected it would behave. It’s now selling at almost 12 cedis. So they are not making noise about it again,” he observed.
The lecturer also raised concerns about what he called the “alarming state of insecurity” in the country, citing violent tribal conflicts in the Savannah Region where “people are dying on the streets, and communities are being burnt.”
As a known sympathiser of the opposition NPP, Dr. Zaato nonetheless admitted that the Akwatia win came at a crucial time for the NDC.
“In the midst of all these things, the NDC needed to show that they have something, that they can produce. What they have done is to pull out a victory that is a big morale booster,” he concluded.