Accra — Ghanaians went to the polls in their millions on Thursday to vote for a new president and parliament. Despite minor disorganisation and logistical problems, the polls passed off generally peacefully and enthusiastically, with reports of a healthy turnout.
Seven presidential candidates campaigned vigorously in the run up to the poll which marks the end of almost two decades in office for President Jerry Rawlings, who is barred by the Ghanaian constitution from serving a third term.
The question is whether most Ghanaians have opted to vote for change or to continue with the status quo in the person of the vice president, John Atta Mills, who is the candidate of Rawlings governing National Democratic Congress, the NDC.
Smiling cheerfully as he flourished his photo identity card and prepared to vote, Adjei Mensah Charway, an airport hire car driver and married father of four, said he certainly wanted a change in government, giving these reasons.
"We the young ones, (Mensah Charway is 45), weve seen for eight years that the NDC cannot do anything for us, for Ghana, for our future. We want positive change, we want Mr J.A. Kufuor and the NPP to come to power so that we see whether he can deliver on the policies he has outlined."
John Kufuor is the main political rival of the other John, Atta Mills, and is also running for president - again. He tried in 1996, but failed to push Rawlings out through the ballot box. Some Ghanaians say now is the moment for Kufuor.
That is how Yaa Elizabeth Baah, a 29 year old hairdresser and housekeeper feels. Mensah Charway gave her a lift to her polling station so that she too could vote. Baah has also been wooed by the message of Kufuor and his opposition National Patriotic Party and hankers after political and economic change in Ghana.
She candidly admits she voted for the NPP leader. Why? "Because I like him. I like Kufuor and I want a change. We dont have work in this country".
Baah laughs conspiratorially when asked if she thinks John Kufuor will succeed in creating jobs. "We believe he will do it. We want free education and free cash and carry in hospital," she adds. Asked to explain 'cash and carry, she says that if you do not supply a down payment at a clinic, they probably will not look after you until you hand over a deposit. Baah believes this too will change under Kufuor.
"Rawlings has been cheating us for a long time", Baah continues. "When he first came into power, he told us all Ghanaians would be equal. The rich and the poor. But he lied to us, we are not all equal. Now were tired of him. Let him go so that someone new can come in".
Baah and Mensah Charway appear to be reading from the same script and one that many Ghanaians are studying carefully. They say that Jerry Rawlings has not honoured his pledges over the years.
Mensah Charway complains that Rawlings said he was coming to wipe all the corruption. He gave us the promise that he was going to make sure that the rich and the poor were one. But since 1979, we havent seen anything like that. The cost of living is soaring.
This is the sort of hostility that John Atta Mills faces as he competes against Kufuor, a veteran, and other fresher faces on the Ghanaian political scene in the race for the presidency.
But, unlike Baah and Mensah Charway, many other Ghanaians continue to support Jerry Rawlings and wish that he could stay on as president, saying that he represents continuity and stability. The pro-Rawlings camp considers his twenty years in power as the best in Ghanas history and points to this as the reason why Rawlings is his countrys longest-ever serving leader.
Rawlings laughingly told reporters, after he cast his ballot on Thursday, that his vote was his secret. But he has made it quite clear that he was satisfied with the legacy he leaves for Ghana, only wishing that he could do more.
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The president has campaigned solidly behind his vice-president and chosen successor, Professor Mills.
And it is the Rawlings record under close scrutiny\ as Ghanaians decide who will be the next man to lead them.
The true test will be when the results of the presidential and parliamentary elections are announced, to see whether the loser will accept his defeat and honourably concede to his victor or contest the ballot and for how long.
Ghanaians have shown their political maturity by voting calmly, but it will be up to their elected leaders to prove that democracy is truly entrenched in the first African country to gain independence from a European power 43 long years ago, most of it under the stewardship of the former flight lieutenant Jerry John Rawlings.
