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review commissioned by the New Patriotic Party into the its performance in the 2020 elections has cited a number of key personalities for blame over what many consider a poor showing at the polls.
The Daily Post has obtained a copy of the damning report and will be serializing same across a number of editions.
The report said to have been compiled by an eight member body led by veteran politician, Yaw Osafo-Marfo and presented to the NPP’s National Executive Committee yesterday names President Akufo-Addo, his cousins Gabby Asare Otchere Darko and Ken Ofori Atta who doubles as his Finance Minister as persons whose acts of omission and commission led to the less than impressive output in the said elections.
On Akufo-Addo, the report noted that the prevailing view of large sections of Ghanaian voters about him was one of deception and dishonesty following his failure to fulfill many campaign promises. The report also noted that Akufo-Addo was widely considered as “aloof, dictatorial, intolerant of critics and someone whose only interest in the Presidency of Ghana was to amass wealth for himself and his immediate family”, a situation the committee said led to “a significant decrease in support and goodwill compared to 2016”.
Still on Akufo-Addo, the report noted that “ his decision to appoint 125 Ministers and Deputy Ministers made him come across as insensitive to the views of the electorate and someone determined to please party supporters over and above the national interest”.
Other faults the committee found with the near octogenarian Akufo-Addo were the “removal of the Auditor-General, Yaw Domelovo”, “his inaction against corrupt appointees” and his “family and friends approach to governance”
Gabby Asare Otchere Darko came in for criticism from the report “for appearing arrogant and flaunting wealth whose source many doubted”. He was believed to represent all that the electorate detested in politicians who they suspect come upon instant wealth once their party came to power.
Though not holding a formal position in government, Gabby is widely known to be perhaps the most influential figure in the Akufo-Addo government aside his elderly cousin.
The Osafo-Marfo led committee found that many NPP supporters resented Otchere Darko’s centrality in the government and would want to see that curbed going forward.
Soft spoken Finance Minister, Ken Ofori Atta, was indicted by the report for contributing to a loss of support among the business community with his draconian policies which were thought to center around collapsing businesses which competed with his Data Bank empire.
The report singled him out for “an ill-advised pursuit of financial institutions deemed not to be aligned with the NPP and who could pose a threat to his own ambitious drive to expand his businesses”.
The reported also noted that many in the Ghanaian Business community accused him of practicing extreme nepotism by putting close associates mostly from Data Bank in charge of key financial sector regulators.
The voluminous report also attributed the party’s disastrous performance in the Parliamentary elections where it dropped from 169 seats to 137 to poor management of the party’s Parliamentary primaries where Constituency executives sought to impose unpopular candidates on the party.
Underperformance by MPs and a lopsided distribution of logistics and cash were also mentioned as causative factors for the abysmal results recorded by the NPP.
Other factors said to have added to the NPP’s woes were a high perception of corruption, the botched galamasey fight and general economic hardships.
Vice President Bawumia did not escape scrutiny in the Osafo-Marfo report. The report states that “unlike 2016, our Vice Presidential candidate, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, did not capture the imagination of the electorate especially among the middle class”.
The report continues that “many reason account for this, not least among them the constant attempt by the NDC to discredit him by pinning problems with the economy on him”.
“These economic challenges especially in the COVID era called his credibility and competence into question contrary to the widespread belief in 2016 that his lectures on the economy portrayed him as a highly knowledgeable economist who would lead a capable team in the management of the economy”.
“The selection of a woman in the shape of Prof Jane Opoku Agyemang as running mate to John Mahama shifted attention from Bawumia to what many saw as a new phenomenon and a milestone in Ghanaian politics. This made it difficult for the spotlight to be shone on Bawumia as was the case in 2016. In the circumstances, he had to focus attention on the Northern part of the country where our fortunes improved considerably”.
Your authoritative Daily Post will in subsequent editions publish portions of the report.
Source: Daily Post
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