Political Risk Analayst, Dr. Theo Acheampong, has indicated that the government’s debt restructuring exercise will definitely have a huge political consequence for the New Patriotic Party in the upcoming general elections.

According to him, while incumbent parties often do not perform well in a second term, the added burden of the debt restructuring exercise and the effects it will have on Ghana’s middle class especially, will potentially sway voters away from the ruling party.

Speaking on JoyNews’ PM Express, Dr. Acheampong explained that while the middle class often tend to side with the New Patriotic Party due to a shared ideology of property ownership, the devastating effects on their finances could lead to apathy and a rejection of the NPP come 2024.

“If you look at the middle class broadly in Ghana, many of them are aspirational and they tend to most likely be people that will subscribe to the political ideology of the NPP as compared to the NDC in a sense.

“Therefore, the current debt restructuring exercise in the form that the government is seeking to push, should that go through, will actually leave people worse off. And politically, when people are worse off and they’re angry, of course they will protest that with the vote,” he said.

His comments come to buttress the fears of some NPP stalwarts who have expressed concern that the much protested domestic debt restructuring programme and the inclusion of individual bondholders would eventually lead to the mass rejection of the party in 2024.

“That’s why you’ll see the likes of Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu and other people within the party now saying, ‘look, hang on with this thing because if we’re not too careful it is actually going to bounce back or bite us back quite strongly.’

“So yes there’s actually going to be a huge political consequence as a result of this restructuring exercise against the backdrop that normally even in a second term the incumbent don’t tend to do well as much as during their first term,” he said.