Director of Elections and Research for the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Evans Nimako, has intimated that the report from the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) on election 2024, is not the final decision of Ghanaians.
Mr Nimako revealed that it is still early days yet for anyone to suggest that the incumbent NPP will not win the 2024 elections. He noted that although government has had challenges in fulfilling its promises to Ghanaians, it cannot be wholly blamed as it can be partly attributed to external factors such as the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war.
The Director of Elections and Research for the NPP iterated that discerning and reasonable Ghanaians will be able to determine that the challenges government is encountering is not “mainly the making of the New Patriotic Party”, as some of the issues are beyond the power of government.
“The New Patriotic Party has received the report. It’s not the final decision of the good people of Ghana. For me, it serves as an advice. As we speak today, it’s 19th April 2022, Ghanaians will go to the polls on December 7, 2024. It’s a long way to go and I will not run away from the fact that there are some challenges in Ghana and times have never been the same”.
Evans Nimako
Despite the fact that the EIU report placed the opposition NDC ahead of the incumbent government in the 2024 election, Mr Nimako expressed confidence that the NPP will win massively come the next elections.
“I can assure you we’ve always said the battle is the Lord’s and know we are going to the elections in 2024, a huge majority of the Ghanaian population will be going to that polls and they will decide the way forward for the good people of Ghana. I can assure you that, definitely, the people of Ghana will vote for the New Patriotic Party once again”.
Evans Nimako
NPP disagrees with EIU report
Mr Nimako further disagreed with a portion of the EIU report which stated that its “baseline forecast” on the presidential election, which pitched the NDC ahead of the NPP, is predicated on the ongoing public dissatisfaction with the slow pace of improvements in governance, infrastructure development, job creation and easing of corruption.
Citing issues regarding employment as a case in point, he opined that it is an unending activity that every government will be confronted with. This, he explained, is because graduates are churned out from various universities yearly, thereby infiltrating the job market.
The New Patriotic Party, Mr Nimako noted, recognizing the challenge in that area, sought to use the “private sector as the engine for growth”, through which government has offered financial assistance to individuals to venture into entrepreneurship.
“So, issues of employment has always been key. It was a key demand of the good people of Ghana in 2016, it was in 2020 and I know it’s not going to run away in 2024. Definitely, it’s a huge demand of the good people of Ghana [and] the youth need to be given employment”.
Evans Nimako
On April 13, 2022, the Economist Intelligence Unit, in its report, among other things, revealed that the NDC stands a reasonable chance of winning the 2024 elections due to some inactions of government regarding the running of the country’s economy. It noted that government’s inability to address some pertinent issues in the country “will trigger anti-incumbency factors” and push the voters to seek change.
Despite declaring a win for the opposition NDC, EIU intimated that the chances of the NDC will be higher if Mr Mahama, who led the party to two election losses in 2016 and 2020, is replaced to re-energise the party and boost its prospects.
READ ALSO: The Goal of GASIP Bungled
