R 240922Z NOV 08
FM AMEMBASSY ACCRA
TO SECSTATE WASHDC 7274
INFO ECOWAS COLLECTIVE
CDR USAFRICOM STUTTGART GE

UNCLAS ACCRA 001477 
 
SIPDIS 
DEPT FOR AF/W 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL PGOV PHUM KDEM GH
SUBJECT: AMBASSADOR MEETS PNC CANDIDATE EDWARD MAHAMA 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary. Ambassador Teitelbaum discussed the up 
coming election  with People's National Convention (PNC) 
presidential candidate Dr. Edward Mahama.  Mahama is making 
his fourth run for president as the PNC's candidate, although 
he has never received over three percent of the national 
vote.  Mahama lamented the lack of media attention he 
receives, and how the power of incumbency works to the 
benefit of the ruling party. He also described organizational 
problems within the PNC. The PNC won four seats in parliament 
in the 2004 election, and draws most of its support in 
Ghana's Upper East and Upper West Regions.  Ambassador 
Teitelbaum used the meeting to stress that the U.S. was 
neutral in the election and looked forward to working 
positively with a new government, so long as the polling 
reflected the will of the Ghanaian people. End Summary. 
 
¶2. (U)  Dr. Mahama met Ambassador Teitelbaum and POLOFF in 
Mahama's home in a suburb of Accra. Mahama is a physician, 
while his wife runs a small pharmacy out of their garage. He 
lived in Chicago for fifteen years, and quipped that this 
could be Chicago's year to produce two presidents. His four 
children are U.S. citizens; one serves in the U.S. Navy. 
 
¶3. (SBU)  Mahama noted that Ghanaians want change, and noted 
that conflicts occur when people become frustrated with the 
pace of change.  Mahama said that the NPP government had an 
interest in "rigging" the election.  As an example, he said 
that he typically gets thirty seconds worth of coverage on 
GTV's evening news, while the NPP vice-presidential candidate 
gets five minutes. (Note: GTV is the government owned 
channel. End Note.). He believes that the government owned 
Daily Graphic newspaper had pulled its reporter from covering 
his campaign.  (Note: The Daily Graphic Wednesday carried a a 
quarter page article quoting Dr. Mahama, although its 
coverage of the PNC is typically less than for the two 
leading parties. End Note.). He mentioned that he had 
received, by accident, a text message from a NPP operative 
saying that the party would not allow a run-off election. 
Ambassador Teitelbaum noted that civil society groups had 
consistently been calling for a peaceful election, to which 
Mahama rejoined that "they have seen the signs."  Mahama 
emphasized that he could not be part of violence, and that of 
the four major party candidates for president, he has 
integrity, while the others had amassed wealth while holding 
government office. Ambassador Teitelbaum stressed that the 
U.S. was neutral in the election, and that we would work 
positively with the next government, so long as the election 
was seen as reflecting the will of the Ghanaian people. 
 
¶4. (SBU) Asked about the role of the Electoral Commission, 
Mahama said that "their work is suspect,"  noting problems 
with the voter registry.  The candidate said that his party 
needed money to support polling agents, who staff polling 
stations to prevent fraud. He seemed surprised when told that 
the EC would be offering training to polling agents this 
week, as if the message had not reached him through party 
officials who liaise with the EC.  He lamented the quality of 
the PNC's polling agents, some of whom, he said, had accepted 
bribes from other parties, and some of whom were illiterate. 
Pointing again to the power of incumbency, he said that the 
NPP was able to use teachers and civil servants as polling 
agents. 
 
¶5. (SBU) Comment.  Dr. Mahama and the PNC are unlikely to see 
an increase in support this election, either in the 
presidential or parliamentary elections. The party's base is 
in the sparsely populated northern regions of Ghana, where in 
2004 it was unable to win more than 12% of the presidential 
ballots.  Together with the other Nkrumahist party, the 
healthier Convention Peoples' Party (CPP), the PNC could win 
enough votes force a run-off in the presidential election. 
End Comment. 
 
 
TEITELBAUM