Parties Panic Over CDD Survey

Politicians continue to express divergent views on the latest Afro Barometer Survey Report which highly tips the New Patriotic Party (NPP) of wining if elections were held in Ghana tomorrow.

While others view the survey as one intended to mislead the public, others dismiss the findings of the report describing it as “nonsense and bogus”.

Other schools of thought hold that the Nana Akuffo-Ado led- NPP government ought not gloat because the 49% the survey gave the party means a re-run in the Ghanaian electoral context.

Report

According to the Centre for Democratic Development (CDD’s) Survey Report, a vast majority of the voting population have resolved to retain the NPP in government.

Fifty urban and 48 rural dwellers opted to vote for the NPP while 17 and 27 of the respondents respectively chose to vote for the National Democratic Congress (NDC) if elections were held tomorrow representing 49 and 22 percent respectively.

Only one person would vote for Dr. Kwame Nkrumah’s Red Cockerel’s Convention People’s Party (CPP) and its splinter party, the Progressive Peoples Party (PPP).

Bernard Mornah’s People’s National Convention (PNC), Nana Konadu Agyemang Rawlings’ National Democratic Party (NDP) and Dr. Hassan Ayariga’s All Peoples Party (APC) are set to wait a while longer on the political reserve bench as no person expressed the likelihood of voting for the three political parties.

Ayariga

But Dr. Hassan Ayariga founder and leader of the APC, one of the parties tipped to score zero rubbished the survey describing same as s “nonsense and bogus”.

He told THE PUBLISHER in a telephone interview yesterday that “If they think NPP will score 49% and the NDC 22% where is the rest of the thirty something percent? Who will get that one? When people are ignorant about their issues they should stop misleading (people)”.

Dr. Hassan Ayariga stated “If they say that some people will get 49% and some people will get 22% and the others will get zero are you being serious? Then that means (they) don’t know what you are talking about.”

The APC founder and leader was sure that if CDD knows what they are talking about they will know that voting in Ghana amount to hundred percent and not 49 plus 22 adding that “Sometime these people who come with this nonsense or whatever they call it should be mindful that there are more intelligent people in Ghana than they think”.

The plain-talking Ayariga wondered: “They are not being serious, how many people did they consider in terms of that survey? Who were the people they asked? And how many percentage of Ghanaians did they ask? And how come we are getting 71% out of 100? Are they telling us that 29% of Ghanaian will not vote? Or they just want to mislead people”.

The APC leader further argued: “We have to and half years to go so why will they do such a survey now? What is their aim? We are more mature in democracy than what they think…If they want to be popular they should look for ways and means of becoming popular rather than doing bogus political analysis.”

Kofi Adams

The National Organiser of the opposition National Democratic Congress [NDC], Kofi Adams has also dismissed the results of a survey

In his view, the reports by the CDD over the years have consistently been skewed to favour the NPP leading to the NDC cutting ties with the policy think tank about 15 years ago.

He added that despite repeatedly unfavourable findings from the CDD on the NDC’s prospects ahead of multiple general elections, the party has gone on to win two separate presidential polls.

“In 2003, because of the biased nature of CDD, the NDC severed relations with them. That was when Dr. Obed Asamoah was Chairman. We have since not renewed our relationship with them because they have been very biased. NEC approved that decision, it was reported at Congress and Congress okayed it and since then we haven’t changed that decision,” he told an Accra based radio station

“People should know the biases [of the CDD], it’s not a today thing. It’s something they have consistently done. We have won two elections even after all the things they have said against us, that we will never win an election. This is not the first-time institutions or people have made such comments about the NDC and we have proven all of them wrong.”

Meanwhile, when contacted for comments, Mrs. Rawlings, said she does not know of any survey while Ivor Kobina Greenstreet, Bernard Mornah and Mr. Richard Nii Amarh Nkunim of the CPP, PNC and PPP respectively are yet to read the report.

By: Jeffrey De-Graft Johnson