A Deputy Finance Minister says the electorates will give the New Patriotic Party (NPP) another four-year mandate in the 2024 elections.

Dr John Kumah says the eight-year cycle in which power alternates between the two leading political parties will not be automated in the next elections, considering all the current government’s practical interventions to improve living standards.

According to him, if Ghanaians want to compare the performances of the NPP to that of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), the determination of victory will be far easier for the former.

“If you compare our track record on the economy, I don’t doubt that Ghanaians would give another term to the NPP government,” he told Samson Anyenini on Newsfile Saturday.

His comments follow a prediction by the Economic Intelligence Unit (EIU) that says the NDC has a higher chance of winning the 2024 presidential election with a new candidate.

The EIU, in its five-year forecast for Ghana, stated that although Mr Mahama is reportedly considering running again, “we expect the opposition NDC to try to revitalize its prospects with a fresh candidate.”

But the Ejisu MP has stated that “NDC will lose the elections per this arrangement.”

“Depending on whichever way you interpret this prediction, EIU will be the winner in the end. So what they are saying is that NDC has a high possibility of winning, but the caveat is that they must change President Mahama.

“That is like telling the camel to enter into the eyes of a needle. What I can confidently tell you is that looking at the standards that they refer to – the economy, corruption, slow governance, job creation – for me, these are very key elements that they touched on.

“I think the Ghanaian voter will be better positioned to compare these variables and see which of these two governments has done better in their eight years,” he said.

Job creation

He claimed the government’s flagship programme, the YouStart, will empower many youths in the country by pumping about ¢10 billion into the private sector in the next three years.

He said the initiative will be “one of the biggest interventions of any government since independence.”

Through banks, the National Entrepreneurship and Innovation Programme (NEIP) and other schemes, he said government will release funds to reduce youth unemployment, “reach out to many young people, support them to create their jobs and expand the economy.”