General News of Friday, 27 August 2010

Source: peacefm

Sekou’s Endorsement Of Nana Addo Doesn’t Carry Weight - Ben Ephson

The former National Youth Coordinator of the National Youth Council (NYC), Dr. Sekou Nkrumah has lately been in the news for perhaps the contentious statement he made about the likely possibility of a one term presidency for Prof Mills.

Dr Sekou Nkrumah had been painting the town red hopping from one radio station to the other granting interviews on issues ranging from the President Mills’ ineptitude, uncharismatic nature, to the government’s poor performance, which have riled a lot of NDC functionaries.

But speaking in an interview with Emefa Apawu on the Big Bite Show on X-FM, an Accra Based private radio station, Editor in Chief of the “Daily Dispatch” newspaper and a well-known election analyst, Mr. Ben Ephson Jnr, posits that Dr. Sekou Nkrumah’s comments are the “views of an individual who is entitled to one vote.”

According to Mr. Ephson, if Sekou’s endorsement of Nana Akufo-Addo had come from a personality like ex-president Rawlings, he would, as a political analyst, have considered the comment as serious or something weighty.

Mr. Ephson used his party (the CPP) as an illustration, and stated that most people sympathized with them because of the name “Nkrumah”, but was of the opinion that over reliance on the name has not achieved the desired result for the CPP since it has not “fetch votes” for the party.

The renowned pollster was of the opinion that Sekou’s comments are immaterial and will not mean much to floating voters, and wondered if the electorate were prepared to vote for Nana Addo simply because he had been endorsed by Dr. Sekou Nkrumah.

“…I wonder if floating voters would vote for Nana Addo because Sekou says that he will win…as an analyst I do not think that Sekou’s opinion carries weight to attract floating voters,” he stated.