VZCZCXYZ0004
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHAR #1383/01 2971614
ZNR UUUUU ZZH (CCY ADEE4912 MSI4562-695)
P 231614Z OCT 08 ZDS
FM AMEMBASSY ACCRA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 7144
INFO RUEHZK/ECOWAS COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RHMFISS/CDR USAFRICOM STUTTGART GE PRIORITY

UNCLAS ACCRA 001383 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
C O R R E C T E D COPY CAPTION 
 
DEPT FOR AF/W 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: GH KDEM PGOV PHUM PINS PREL
SUBJECT: AMBASSADOR CALLS ON AKUFO-ADDO 
 
REF: ACCRA 1360 
 
¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY. Ambassador called on Nana Addo-Dankwa 
Akufo-Addo, the presidential candidate for the ruling New 
Patriotic Party (NPP), to underline USG's expectation for 
free and fair elections in Ghana.  Akufo-Addo assured 
Ambassador that the NPP was a party steeped in democratic 
principles, adding quickly that it was the opposition 
National Democratic Congress (NDC) that presented the real 
threat to Ghana's fledgling and fragile democracy.  As he had 
done during his meeting with NDC candidate Atta-Mills 
(reftel), Ambassador told Akufo-Addo that the Ghanaian people 
expected and deserved an election whose results they could 
trust, with a clear verdict that did not call for 
power-sharing or send partisans out on the streets.  He 
stressed that any challenges or irregularities to election 
results needed to be resolved in the judicial system, with 
the loser accepting the will of the electorate and the winner 
remaining magnanimous in victory.  END SUMMARY. 
 
¶2.  (SBU) Ambassador met with the NPP flag-bearer Nana 
Akufo-Addo October 23 at the candidate's residence in an 
upscale suburb of Accra.  He explained that he was meeting 
with all major party candidates, and emphasized U.S. 
neutrality in the upcoming election and the importance of 
continuing the strong bilateral relationship that the two 
countries enjoyed.  When the Ambassador noted that both 
countries were holding elections and attempted to draw other 
parallels between the nations' democratic traditions, 
Akufo-Addo took exception, saying that the difference was 
that democracy in the United States was well entrenched, 
while Ghana's political history since independence had been 
marred by long periods of turmoil, coups, and military 
authoritarianism.  In a clear reference to former president 
Jerry Rawlings, Akfuo-Addo maintained that elements within 
the NDC still did not embrace democratic concepts and 
presented a lurking danger to the progress and stability that 
his party had brought to Ghana. 
 
 
¶3.  (SBU) Akufo-Addo also seized on Ambassador's statement 
that the election should produce definitive results leading 
to a peaceful outcome because the political situation in 
Ghana was far different than that which existed in Zimbabwe 
and Kenya.  He agreed that that was indeed the case, and 
rhetorically questioned why the opposition continued to raise 
the specter of those two countries in the public mind unless 
it had mischief up its sleeve. 
 
¶4. (SBU)  When Ambassador asked Akufo-Addo for the provenance 
of references he had made to independent polls showing the 
NPP well ahead and easily claiming victory on the first 
ballot, the NPP candidate was unable to specifically cite any 
polls other than a survey done by Ghana's Bureau of National 
Investigation several months ago. (NOTE: This poll did not in 
fact show a decisive NPP lead. END NOTE).  He asserted that 
the party's confidence level was based on the simple 
arithmetic of its demographic support in the most populous 
regions of Ghana.  He claimed that despite the party's 
fragmentation a year ago, the NPP had pulled together and had 
strong grassroots organizations throughout the country.  He 
said that the party's strength with the electorate rested on 
three fundamental pillars:  its successful delivery of 
services, especially in the areas of health care and 
education; the ability of all Ghanaians to speak their minds 
openly and freely (in contrast to the situation for nearly 
two decades under Rawlings' rule); and the economic 
prosperity and GDP growth that the country had experienced 
under President Kufuor. 
 
¶5. (SBU)  Akufo-Addo clearly is not taking an NPP win for 
granted.  Giving the devil his due, he acknowledged that the 
NDC's strong suit in the campaign is the fact that despite 
economic gains of the past 8 years, most Ghanaians did not 
feel appreciably better off.  But he blamed rising petroleum 
prices and increasingly expensive imports for that situation, 
and pointed out that if one separated out domestically 
produced foodstuffs, the average Ghanaian could eat quite 
well and had made considerable gains under Kufuor. 
 
¶6.  (SBU) Asked about the spoiler role that the Convention 
People's Party (CPP) might play, Akufo-Addo allowed that 
their presidential candidate, Paa Kwesi Ndoum, had mounted a 
strong campaign and could poll as much as 5% of the vote. 
Most of that support, however, would be drained away from the 
NDC. (NOTE: While that might be a positive for the NPP in the 
initial election, Akufo-Addo failed to note that in the event 
of a run-off, most of those votes would likely go back to the 
NDC.  END NOTE.) 
¶7.  (SBU) COMMENT:  All of the trappings of incumbency were 
clearly evident as Ambassador and Poloff pulled up to 
Akufo-Addo's compound at 8 a.m., including two large touring 
buses, dozens of luxury vehicles, SUVs, trucks mounted with 
loud-speaker systems, and an entourage of at least 50 
supporters lounging in his yard and inside his home.  A video 
team trained their camera on the candidate and the Ambassador 
for the full hour of the conversation.  Yet despite these 
obvious advantages, Akufo-Addo and the NPP are not complacent 
about the election.  While his distrust of Jerry Rawlings 
knows no bounds, he also conceded that the NDC is better 
organized than it has ever been, and that its base is strong, 
which leads Embassy to believe that his claim of an easy 
first-round victory may fall more in the realm of posturing 
than certitude. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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