Political Branding on my mind: The Ruling NDC:

See, folks, like it or not, IMANI has built a brand with relatively few

resources and you know that since the Kufour days we still hold on to

IMANI’s mission of 'subjecting any government public policy that is likely

to have 'systematic implications for development' to basic 'value for

money', 'due diligence' and 'rational choice', 'public choice' and 'vested

interests' analysis and then actively engage in public advocacy to

publicise the results, with a view to promoting peace and prosperity

through human flourishing'...Dynamic consistency is the name of the game. I

am only telling the ruling NDC that with all the inner battles within the

party and outright despicable behaviour of some their followers, the NDC

brand is still at the level it was before Chairman Rawlings took it to

greater heights with NDC 1 and 2. This NDC 3, has been the most depressing

to their own values and it is a shame. Whatever happens on December 8,

especially if the NDC wins, will only confirm that there are many many

converts who do not care about growing a brand to have a 21st century

outlook, but then that in itself may not be wrong. It only shows people's

preference in a democracy and we will still continue to work at it. It was

amazing that the NDC could not have used IMANI's detailed 6-part commentary

against major aspects of the FREE SHS by their political opponents simply

because the current NDC BRAND simply does not lend itself to critical

enquiry but rather rely on their heart and mind wrenching media outlets to

be fed lies and propaganda. Sadly the President participates in a lot of

this too, accentuating it with ethnic-laden commetry lately. I hope the

party changes.

--

Respectfully yours,

Franklin Cudjoe

*Cudjoe is Founding President of IMANI Center for Policy & Education.

IMANI is a Think Tank of considerable local and international repute and

significance. We have carved a niche in Ghana’s policy environment for

putting out objective, independent analysis and critique on many issues,

using tried and tested techniques that apply across different disciplines.

In 2009, The Foreign Policy Magazine named IMANI, the fifth most

influential think tank in Africa. In 2010, IMANI was the only named African

think tank ranked in the top 25 most innovative think tanks in the world by

the joint United Nations University and Pennsylvania University Global

Think tanks Programme. In 2011 IMANI was voted the 6th most effective Think

Tank in Africa and among Top 20 most innovative think tanks globally by the

University of Pennsylvania, the UN University and Foreign Policy Magazine.

IMANI has won two John Templeton Foundation awards, the first Antony &

Dorian Fisher Award and cited in the United Kingdom's House of Commons'

debate on aid and development in Africa as well as by South Africa's

Supreme Court Judge on patents and intellectual property. In 2010 IMANI led

the World Bank's Africa region's taskforce within to investigate what

Africans needed from the World Bank. Email : info@imanighana.com Web :

www.imanighana.com*