Renowned pollster Ben Ephson believes that the entrenched positions taken on the ‘Akyem Sakawa boys’ comment by the New Patriotic Party and the opposition National Democratic Congress will drive away neutrals and swing voters.
According to Mr. Ephson, the two parties must find a middle ground on this matter otherwise the parties will risk losing neutrals in the upcoming elections.
“I have said on a different platform that the way the two leaders are going about things, they’ll lose votes from swing voters. I think it’s basically politicking and trying to create disaffection for the NDC. It’s like what the NDC did when the military were sent to the Volta Region.
“I think there’ll be a back down at a point. Because if this continues there could be a counter. That is, the NDC could whip up sentiments against the NPP in the Volta Region. So the two parties will have to back of. If they have taken entrenched positions, I believe the peace council will call them and ask them to back down,” Mr Ephson said on morning Starr on Thursday.
He added that stopping the politics of insults will be difficult but can be minimised if both parties commit to it.
“The ultimate will be for the hardcore people to say they won’t vote for the NDC. Trust me, a group in NDC will in coming weeks play something that the president has said which offends people in the Northern or Volta Regions. Stopping politics of insults will be difficult. We can minimize it. At a point, every four years, the voters will send you home. They [voters] think political parties have taken them for granted.
Mr. Mahama’s sharing of an article by Bolga Central Member of Parliament Isaac Adongo on Facebook in which he labelled some individuals in government involved in the controversial Agyapa deal as ‘Sakawa-Akyem boys’ has sparked uproar among members of the ruling New Patriotic Party and other groups.
A group calling itself the Concerned Citizens of Okyeman on Wednesday demonstrated at Asamankese in the Eastern region against former President John Mahama over the ‘Akyem Sakawa’ tag.
The demonstrators clad in red and black wearing armband and headgear hoisted several placards with various inscriptions such as “divisive NDC, JM you have lost our respect, Name-calling; Akyems can do worse please, NDC and JM where are your policies, we Akyems will no longer stand for this, Let’s reject JM and NDC and its bigotry”.
But spokesperson for the NDC 2020 campaign James Agyenim Boateng has also said the former President will not apologise over development.
“The point that Adongo made was that certain people close to the President are involved in some shady deal. There’s no apology to render because Mr. Mahama has not used the word being attributed to him.
“Those demanding an apology need to show they are members of government and also need to show they are behind the shady deal. This is a deliberate attempt to overshadow the NDC manifesto and we can clearly see-through,” he told Starr News.
Source: Ghana/Starrfm.com.gh/103.5FM
