It’s difficult for NDC to win elections in Ghana - Dr. Owusu-Mensah

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.