NPP's ‘breaking the 8’ agenda is possible by deeds not words – Dr. Amoako Baah

Dr. Richard Amoako Baah, a Political Scientist and a member of the governing NPP, is of the view that the governing New Patriotic Party's 'break the 8' agenda is mere rhetoric. According to him, it will be difficult for the governing party to achieve that aim because going beyond the eight-year cycle as has been the case since 1992 can only be possible by deeds or performance and not words. “When people are saying that you cannot break the 8, that is what they are saying, you cannot. What are you going to do to break the 8 anyway? It is your performance that breaks whatever you want to break not you yourself saying it…it is others who are going to vote to look at your performance and they thought that they will break it for you. So, we see these things because there is a lack of performance,” Dr. Amoako Baah said on Joy FM, Friday, October 21. The political scientist was reacting to the Global InfoAnalytics survey report which revealed that 70% of eligible voters doubt the ability of the New Patriotic Party to win the 2024 general elections. To him, the survey is not scientific although it gives an idea of where the country is heading. He noted that the unpopularity of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo is a clear testimony of the position of the NPP in the 2024 elections. “The party in power and especially when the leader, the President becomes this unpopular it is very easy to decide where this is going. You will know the outcome beforehand but this research is unscientific that is all it is.” Global InfoAnalytics survey in its October 2022 report stated that the majority of the voters have ruled out the possibility of the NPP ‘breaking the eight’. “On the question of whether the NPP can ‘Break the Eight’, approximately 70% of voters do not believe the NPP can win the 2024 election, whilst 19% believe so and 10% have no opinion”, a summary of the survey disclosed. The survey also revealed that former President John Dramani Mahama, if given the mandate as the NDC flagbearer, will beat any of the two frontrunners of the governing NPP in the 2024 elections. The report noted that Ghanaians are likely to vote for John Dramani Mahama as the next president over Dr Mahamudu Bawumia or Alan Kwadwo Kyerematen. “In the general elections, the poll shows Mahama (JDM) continues to lead his potential rivals from the NPP, Bawumia (DMB) and Alan Kyeremanten (AKK) by a significant margin if the elections were held today. “The poll shows further that among voters who are likely to vote in the 2024 elections, JDM leads DMB 62% to 33%, representing a 29% lead. 6% of voters prefer to vote for someone else (SO). In the race between JDM and AKK, JDM leads AKK 60% to 36%, representing a 24% lead. 5% prefer to vote for SO”, excerpts of the survey read. Global InfoAnalytics Global InfoAnalytics Ltd, is a research company based in Accra. The company describes itself as "the trusted foundation for decision making; we earn that trust through the application of sophisticated methodologies to the real-world problems of companies, political organisations and policy and strategic decision-makers." Global InfoAnalytics has uniquely addressed the market demand for big data analytics solutions and services and provide clients with cost-effective and result-oriented service offerings that enable them to gain a competitive edge. PEN/SARA