Member of Parliament for North Tongu, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, has identified poor communication within the National Democratic Congress (NDC) among others as a cause for the party’s return to opposition.
He said reflecting on why the NDC lost the 2016, he discovered that poor communication was the bane of the party.
“The issue has to do with our communication…and I think that traditionally it’s been a weakness and I have worked in the communication set up of our party before and I do know that it’s an area that we still have to get a handle on,” he told Moro Awudu on Class91.3FM’s Executive Breakfast Show (EBS) on Wednesday, 13 September 2017.
He continued: “To what extend are we able to get our message out? We shouldn’t always be reactive, we should be proactive. And all the time in government, it appeared that we were always reacting and we couldn’t really get a handle on the media to get our message and all our good deeds out.”
The former Minister of Education said he was taken aback when he received series of calls after stating in an interview that former President John Dramani Mahama started the Free SHS, and that his was even better.
According to him, Ghanaians did not even know Mr Mahama, beyond paying for all the items on the bill for senior high school students, also gave them cash grants. He said the policy was approved by parliament in 2014 and was implemented under the leadership of Mr Mahama and therefore called on the NDC to “strengthen its communication”.
The lawmaker further noted that the NDC lost the 2016 election because its main contender, the New Patriotic Party (NPP). made “mouth-watering promises”.
“If you look at what was on offer, our opponent in the New Patriotic Party (NPP) made a lot of mouth-watering promises. They promised milk and honey and that’s the disadvantage you have when you are incumbent. When you are in government you see the books, you see the reality and you know that it’s not possible. They promised all Ghanaians universal free education, they said our progressively free programme was not good enough and we know that the last campaign it was a clear choice between progressively free and then full universal free SHS which the NPP was promising for everybody. Now they are in power, they have seen the reality and know they can’t do it for everybody so they are starting with only first years,” he stated.
Source: Ghana/AccraFM.com
