Parliamentary candidates need psychologists to manage their pains - Prof. Osafo

Head of the Center for Ageing Studies at the University of Ghana, Prof. Joseph Osafo, has sympathized with the losers in the New Patriotic Party's parliamentary elections held on Saturday, January 27.

The senior psychologist urged the losers to reorganize themselves and recontest the elections in the next four years.

"Sorry for you, but I think you should organize yourselves again. Four years is not too long; you can come back and reclaim your good works," he said.

He also called for the losers to undergo psychotherapy, saying "there must be a strategic way of managing the pain. Life challenges will always continue to confront us, but some challenges must always be strategically managed, or they can become an albatross."

"People will become bitter in life; that's how it is. But there is a kind of bitterness that, if not managed, will make it worse. I think political parties will need a certain service, where every aspirant who represents the party in any election should find a way of managing them before and after the elections, he requested.

He further advised the political parties to utilize the services of psychologists, saying, "preparing them mentally and then, after a loss, managing them mentally so that the person will still say I am still part of the competition, but not to see the recent primaries that he or she has lost means the party doesn't like him."

Prof. Joseph Osafo made these submissions on Peace FM's "Kokrokoo" morning show.