Political Marketing Consultant at the University of Education, Winneba (UEW), Dr Bernard Tutu-Boahen, has called on the leadership of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) to ensure an overhaul of the party’s policies and vision ahead of the 2024 general elections.

According to him, the waning credibility and popularity of the party among scores of Ghanaians dictates that the party sits up to recalibrate for better chances of winning elections. He explained that when a party’s performance is given a reduced rating, then obviously it shows that there’s more work to be done.

Dr Tutu-Boahen stated that from a political marketing angle, if the NPP was a private business and the President has been appointed as the CEO and workers and customers are giving that low rating, obviously what it means is that the party leadership, or the board would have to take a second look at it and advise on getting a replacement.

“I believe that the NPP as a party, regardless of who is in charge should be able to put their heads together and probably advise the President appropriately, restructure the party’s strategies going into 2024 and come up with pragmatic policies between now and December 2024… If NPP supporters will give a high approval rating to the President, that is not a surprise, it rather becomes a misnomer when they give a low voting.”
Dr Bernard Tutu-Boahen

Dr Tutu-Boahen revealed that a report put out by Global InfoAnalytics which saw voter confidence in President Akufo-Addo’s performance decline significantly after a slight recovery in January 2023 does not augur well for the party. He indicated that although party supporters are still committed to the NPP, considering the dip in voter confidence, he would have been alarmed had the party sympathizers disapproved of the President.

Buttressing his point, he noted that party sympathizers will always support a party he is aligned with regardless of their non-performance.

“In terms of approvals, if we take partisan issues out for now, one thing that gives me some kind of scare with regards to the President’s approval rating, is the fact that a large majority of floating voters disapprove the President’s approval rating and I think that will be a major scare to the NPP campaign going forward.
“Again, when you put all voter cohorts together, and you still see a drop in the President’s approval rating, then it means that directly or indirectly, it is a loss of confidence in the current administration’s performance and I think that going forward, it is even more than mere rhetoric and it is not the issue that anybody within the NPP can take it for granted.”
Dr Bernard Tutu-Boahen

Delegates urged to vote for aspirants on merits

Commenting on the tendency of presidential aspirants to influence delegates to vote for members of parliament representing a particular constituency to go unopposed, Dr Tutu-Boahen expressed his misgivings and aversions to such recommendations. He stated that party representatives must be chosen based on merits.

Furthermore, he emphasized that delegates must make informed decisions for the country and not for themselves or for personal gratification.

“When you check regionals of the InfoAnalytics data, you see that Mahamudu Bawumia is leading in about eight regions, Kennedy Ohene Agyapong is leading two and Alan Kyerematen is leading about six. It tells you who is even popular among voters in these regions. So, if this data is anything to go by, then obviously, the first pick of the national voter is Dr Mahamudu Bawumia…
“You cannot discount the support base of each of them and depending on the unity in the party, if the unity is mild and the NPP management is not able to control the campaign messages, the insults, fights and more importantly, arm-twisting – someone favoring and supporting a candidate especially if the party leadership are in the position of doing that, then of course, it will be a negative against the other candidate.”
Dr Bernard Tutu-Boahen

Subsequently, Dr Tutu-Boahen urged the NPP leadership to be shrewd by keeping a close eye on the flagbearer hopefuls. He indicated that although the aspirants have comported themselves so far, there is the need to enforce such decorum.

“I have followed the campaign of all of them and as at now, I’ve not seen any insult coming from any of them. I think that they are all campaigning based on their strengths, they are campaigning and delivering messages based on their vision and giving reasons why the delegates should vote for them. I think that it is good for the NPP if they are able to manage this process.”
Dr Bernard Tutu-Boahen