Dr. Joshua Jebuntie Zaato, a senior Political Science lecturer at the University of Ghana, has said the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC) needed the victory in the Akwatia by-election more than any other political party.
He notes the victory was necessary to salvage the failures the government had started recording.
The by-election was held in Akwatia, a constituency in the Eastern region, following the death of their Member of Parliament, Ernest Yaw Kumi.
Over 50,000 registered voters were expected to cast their ballot to select a replacement for the constituency in the Tuesday, September 2, 2025 election.
The governing National Democratic Congress (NDC) put forward Bernard Bediako Baidoo as its candidate, while the New Patriotic Party (NPP) was represented by Solomon Kwame Asumadu.
The NDC’s Bediako Baidoo polled 18,199 of the 33,518 valid votes cast, as against 15,235 votes of the NPP’s Solom on Asumadu.
Commenting on the outcome on the BigIssue segment on TV3’s NewDay on Wednesday, September 3, 2025, Dr. Zaato said the NDC’s victory in the election was crucial to offset the failures they had started recording. “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 stated. He added that what the government had been good at was dismissing the Chief Justice, noting, “One of the government’s biggest achievements, as I said yesterday, was the sacking of the Chief Justice.”
Dr. Zaato also noted that one thing the administration has excelled at is “sloganeering.” “The government has been perfect when it comes to slogans,” he said.
He went on to mention the state of insecurity in the country and the performance of the cedi, which, according to him, has started depreciating, making it difficult for government communicators to trumpet the successes that were achieved at the beginning of the administration.
“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 the cedi would behave. It’s now selling about almost 12 cedis. So they are not making noise about it again.
He said “the state of insecurity in this country” is reaching alarming proportions, where he explained that “people are dying on the streets, and communities are being burnt,” referring to some tribal conflicts in the Savannah region.
Dr. Zaato, a sympathiser of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), noted that the NDC needed the Akwatia by-election to boost the morale of the government amid the adversities he had mentioned earlier.
“So, in the midst of all these things, the NDC needed to show that they have something, that they can produce and what they have done is to pull out a victory that is a big morale booster.”
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