A Senior Lecturer of the University of Ghana
(Legon), Dr. Isaac Owusu-Mensah, has revealed that it is much more difficult for
the National Democratic Congress (NDC) to win elections in Ghana, compared to
the New Patriotic Party (NPP).
He explained that per the demographical
map of Ghana, it is very difficult for the NDC to win elections, as far as those
who vote and do not vote for the NDC are concerned. On this score, Dr.
Owusu-Mensah has admonished the NDC not to take the masses for granted, and
govern Ghana well, when they are voted into power.
Dr. Owusu-Mensah, a
lead researcher who predicted a 52 per cent win for the NPP before the December
7 polls, was vilified by the NDC for forecasting a win for the NPP, and stressed
that regardless of the magnitude of the NDC campaign, they were going to lose
the December elections.
He, however, stressed that he knew the NPP will
win, but he never thought the NPP could pull 53 percent of the total votes
cast.
Speaking on Kumasi-based Fox FM morning show, he revealed: “During
our research, 83% of people we spoke with told us that they had taken the
decision to vote, and who their choice was six months away from the
elections.
In elections where Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo of the
opposition NPP pummeled
incumbent John Dramani Mahama, recording 53.85 per
cent of total votes cast, while the sitting President had 44.40 per cent, the
blame game is the order of the day in the umbrella party.
He attributed
the historical electoral defeat of the NDC in the December 7 polls to the
scrapping off of teacher trainees’ allowances.
He also said the
utterances of the NDC caused their defeat, stressing that their style of
communication contributed to their defeat.
According to the academician,
during the registration of new voters into the voter’s register, the Ashanti and
Eastern regions had 400,770 new voters out of the 1,800,000, and if the said
regions are able to moblise these people to vote for them, they will cancel the
number of votes President Mahama used to beat Nana Addo in the 2012
elections.
In what appears to be a misplaced priority of the John
Mahama-led administration, he outlined that the outgoing government spent funds
on infrastructure instead of attending to the grievances of the
masses.
The varsity don, therefore, urged the outgoing NDC party to
re-organise and restructure themselves, since that is the only means they can
come back to power.
He also advised the incoming NPP government to tackle
the ailing Ghanaian economy to liberate Ghanaians from the shackles of poverty,
to consolidate and add to the gains of the Danquah-Busia-Dombo
tradition.
