Dr. Kobby Mensah, a political marketing strategist, says the New Patriotic Party (NPP) has eroded every brand equity the party had before coming to power. He noted that the NPP administration has dissipated the key segment that supported them to govern.

This follows former Chief Justice Sophia Akuffo’s joining of pensioners to demand an exemption from the debt exchange programme. Dr. Kobby Mensah cited a number of people he claims to have believed in the NPP administration, noting the pressure group, OccupyGhana. He added that these groups of people were represented by people of a particular social standing.

However, it seems they have departed from the government and calling on the government to do the right thing. This, according to him is worrying.

“I mean the middle class was huge for this administration to come to power. Not to talk of the various activism that they might have done. NPP has eroded almost every conceivable spot that they had coming to government.”
“To me, I think the NPP is not the best managers of the economy. For example, they can no longer hold on to the due process because, we haven’t seen any proper due process from this administration. So, they have actually eroded every brand equity that they had, coming into government.”
Dr. Kobby Mensah

When asked what government can do to revert the situation and control the likes of former Chief Justice coming out to protest an exemption of the debt exchange programme, Dr. Mensah proposed for government to move into crisis management mode and get people like Sophia Akuffo to negotiate.

He added that government should not use intimidation to resolve the situation, adding that they should engage more in the programme.

Government Has Invested $1Bn Into Sanitation And Water

In the meantime, Hon. Cecilia Abena Dapaah has proved that the NPP still has brand equity at their disposal when she made it known that Government had invested about $1 billion into facilitating the provision of sustainable water and sanitation needs across the country, which in the end adds value to the product of the NPP.

According to Cecilia Abena Dapaah, government employed a Public Private Partnership (PPP) approach in tackling the rising demand for water and sanitation needs over the years.

Mrs. Dapaah made this revelation when the Executive Secretary of the African Ministers’ Council on Water (AMCOW), Dr Rashid Mbaziira, paid a courtesy call on her in Accra. She noted that the deployment of the PPP approach led to the provision of Integrated Compost and Recycling Plants, Wastewater Treatment Plants, Condominium Sewers, Water intake and treatment plants.

She said that AMCOW was the future of water in Africa as through its summits, African commitment to ensuring the provision of sustainable water solutions to her citizens were renewed. “The country is open to new proposals and inputs in tapping into Ghana’s 53.2 billion m3 Renewable Water Resources,” she added.

Following the reviewing of the National Sanitation Policy, with focus on open defecation, the Minister of Sanitation and Water Resources indicated that the ministry was fully committed to supporting the activities of AMCOW through data sharing with sister countries for the collective good of Africa.

Mrs. Dapaah said it was important to mobilize high-level political buy-in and commitment for the roadmap to formulate the post-2025 Africa Water Vision in implementing continental and global commitments on water and sanitation. She reiterated Ghana’s full support for the proposal to appoint a United Nations Secretary General’s Special Envoy on Water to strengthen Africa’s voice at the global level in order to accelerate progress towards achieving water and sanitation goals in Africa.

Dr. Mbaziira for his part, stressed the need for African countries to focus on using the digital elements available to them for data collection in the water sector. He used the opportunity to commend Ghana for the successful implementation of the Greater Accra Metropolitan Area (GAMA) Water and Sanitation Projects, and the World Bank is considering replicating the project in other African countries.