Opinions of Tuesday, 27 November 2012
Columnist: Jackson, Margaret
….Admonishes The NPP Comm. Team On Their Failures
By Margaret Jackson
Very reliable sources have disclosed that ex-President JA Kufuor has pointedly told some NPP gurus that the 2012 presidential election is all wrapped up for President John Dramani Mahama. Mr. JA Kufuor who was said to be unhappy stated in a shaken voice that at this time Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has no chance of becoming the next president of the country.
The sources indicated that Mr. JA Kufuor held a meeting with members of the NPP Communications Team on Thursday November 21, 2012 at an undisclosed location in Accra. It was gathered that the meeting was to take stock of the NPP’s fortunes and strategize for the final stretch to the Election Day.
During the meeting, Mr. Kufuor was said to have admonished the NPP Communications Team for their failures in selling the agenda of the NPP and to a large extent Akufo-Addo to voters. The ex-president blamed the communications team for dwelling too much on propaganda to destroy the achievements of the NDC; something he pointed out did not bring any good traction to the NPP.
He chided the NPP of failing to sell his 8 years achievements but always go on radio and television to tell listeners and viewers that the NDC people have done nothing since they took office. He told the meeting that voters have become very sophisticated these days, therefore, heavily relying on propaganda will not cut it.
Mr. Kufuor further told the meeting that even when President Mills died and the tide changed in favour of the NDC, the NPP instead of changing course was still using sheer propaganda to bamboozle their way through. “You have failed the party. Your strategy did not work, and as a result I will be telling you a lie if I say that we are going to win the elections”, Mr. Kufuor added.
The ex-president also drew the attention of the NPP communications team of spending too much time talking about the debt owed by Mr. Ibrahim Mahama to the Merchant Bank. He told them in plain language that it is not a crime for a brother of a president to owe a bank. “For your information, many voters out there did not like it when you branded President Mahama as corrupt simply because his brother is indebted to a bank”, he admonished them.
But things came to a head at the meeting when JA Kufuor released the bombshell by telling the meeting that at this point he does not think it will be smart politics for the NPP to throw in more money as the campaign goes down the wire because it is not going to help Akufo-Addo to win.
“Our own internal polls which you are all very much aware of, indicate that even in the Ashanti Region, our stronghold, the NDC which has done a lot of work there may win between 28-29 percent of the vote”, ex-president Kufuor stated.
The NPP Communications Director, Nana Akomea, who was at the meeting interjected that it is too early for the NPP to throw in the towel since the NDC is prone to serious gaffes and internal wrangling, something the NPP is waiting to happen for them to cash in.
Akomea, who also looked a bit crestfallen, is said to have further stated that the communications team did the best they could and that it would be wrong for them to take the flack for the floundering campaign. “We did our best, therefore, we cannot be totally blamed”, Akomea added.
But before the meeting came to a close, the sources indicated that they resolved to campaign relentlessly as the campaign goes down the wire and see if something remarkable comes out of it.
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