Professor Gyampo Rebukes NPP’s Blame on Low Voter Turnout for Mahama’s Victory

In a sharp rebuttal to claims that the low voter turnout in the 2024 presidential elections was the reason behind John Mahama’s victory, University of Ghana Political Science lecturer, Professor Ransford Gyampo, has dismissed such claims as “nonsensical” and a misguided attempt to deflect attention from the New Patriotic Party’s (NPP) failure.

Speaking on TV3’s Key Points program on Saturday, December 28, Gyampo expressed his frustration with the narrative pushed by some NPP figures, who have suggested that voter apathy was the primary factor behind the election results. “The idea that John Mahama won the 2024 elections because people did not go out to vote in my view is a nonsensical propagandistic attempt at covering up for incompetence and bad governance,” Gyampo said, rejecting the theory as an attempt to avoid accountability for the party’s shortcomings.

The political analyst emphasized that blaming voter apathy without examining the root causes of it was disingenuous. “If you say that people did not go out to vote without interrogating why they did not go out to vote, then it means that you’re just being propagandistic and you are trying to mask your bad governance and incompetence,” Gyampo argued.

According to Gyampo, the real reasons for the low voter turnout were far more complex than mere apathy. He pointed to a range of issues such as corruption, economic mismanagement, arrogance, and nepotism, which he believes led to widespread disenchantment with the NPP government. “People didn’t vote because they felt let down, because of corruption, arrogance, economic mismanagement, nepotistic governance,” he said, asserting that these factors significantly impacted the electorate’s decision to stay home on election day.

Gyampo’s comments came in response to reports that the NPP had formed a committee to investigate why the party lost the election. The lecturer questioned the need for such an inquiry, pointing out that the reasons behind the defeat were already clear. “If they know apathy caused it, why are they setting up a committee to go into the reason why you lost?” he asked rhetorically. “Come to us, we will tell you all the factors that led to the monumental defeat of the NPP.”

Gyampo’s candid assessment reflects a broader frustration with the party’s failure to confront its own shortcomings and take responsibility for the factors that contributed to its electoral defeat. His remarks underscore the need for a more honest and comprehensive examination of the government’s policies and actions in order to understand the true causes of the election outcome.