Spokesperson for former President, John Dramani Mahama, has bemoaned what he says is a spin added to reports about the prospects of his party, the National Democratic Congress (NDC), winning power in the 2024 presidential elections as predicted by the Economic Intelligence Unit (IEU) in its latest report.
According to Lawyer Edudzie Tamekloe, the EIU, contrary to media reports, did not premise an NDC win on a change in the party’s choice of flagbearer from former President John Dramani Mahama who is deemed by many as the obvious candidate.
“They did not say that with John Mahama NDC cannot win. Nowhere is it stated in the report,” he stated.
In its risk assessment of Ghana released in February this year, the EIU said the opposition NDC will win the 2024 presidential elections based on the political electoral history of the country.
However, it opined that former President Mahama who is said to be considering running for the presidency again must be changed as flagbearer by the NDC as a means of revitalizing its prospects.
“The next parliamentary and presidential elections are due in 2024. Under the constitutionally mandated term limits, Mr. Akufo-Addo cannot run for a third term. Mr Mahama is reportedly considering whether to run again, but we expect the NDC to seek to revitalise its prospects with a fresh candidate. After two terms of NPP government, we expect the NDC to win the 2024 presidential election and to gain a small majority in parliament,” the report stated.
Speaking on the Wednesday, April 20, 2022, edition of Okay FM’s Ade Akye Abia morning show, Edudzi Tamakloe stated that the media has added a spin to its reports on the EIU predictions.
He noted that the EIU report is not based on a scientific poll and must therefore be assessed within its right context.
“What we all ought to know is that the baseline forecast of the Economic Intelligence Unit is not what you will call a scientific poll. When I talk of scientific poll, an example is when “Afrobarometer comes out to say we have spoken to some ten-thousand Ghanaians covering the 16 regions of Ghana and that these people have outlined A, B or C, that such factors will cause them to vote for the NDC. Then the sample can be asked again who they will choose amongst a list of potential NDC candidates.
“When you do that, it offers us the opportunity to scientifically critique the report. When you are dealing with such a report, you can go ahead to say you disagree with the sample size, the conclusion or methodology of the research. When you read the report by the EIU it gives no data that was used to arrive at that,” he said.
