Hadzide criticises IMANI’s methodology for scoring manifesto promise implementation

Deputy Information Minister, Pius Hadzide, has criticised IMANI Africa’s IMANIFesto initiative as lacking a comprehensive methodology.

The IMANIFesto initiative by the policy think tank analyses the status of implementation of pledges contained in the manifesto of the ruling party.

It also assesses the feasibility of manifestos presented by political parties prior to elections and the impact of their promises on the livelihood of citizens.

In the latest IMANIFesto report on the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) led by Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, IMANI scored the administration 56.77%, three-points higher than it scored for the National Democratic Congress in 2012 under John Dramani Mahama.

However, commenting on the score of 56.77% awarded to the governing NPP on a current affairs programme on Accra-based Joy News, Mr Hadzide said while the score is good, the methodology used by IMANI fails to include the input of the public.

He said a similar analysis by another Civil Society Organisation (CSO), the Centre for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana) uses a more inclusive methodology.

“The CDD-Ghana, in a similar research, used a different methodology, they went to the people of Ghana and interviewed the respondents and it was clear that the NPP had a 15% point advantage over the NDC as far as public confidence in either party’s capacity to deliver on their campaign promises is concerned,” he said.

IMANI Africa’s team of experts rely on the national budgets, annual progress reports, parliamentary Hansards, portals and websites of ministries, departments and agencies, news articles, and reports to give a score of governing parties’ implementation of manifesto promises.