Former President John Mahama lost the 2016 presidential election due to the governing New Patriotic Party’s “efficient deceptive campaign,” the Member of Parliament for Tamale North Alhassan Suhuyini has stated.
According to him, the NPP’s promises heading into the elections were so enticing that Ghanaians gullibly bought into them.
Mahama lost the 2016 presidential election collecting 44.4 percent of valid votes cast to Akufo-Addo’s 53.85 percent.
Mr. Suhuyini’s remarks were in reaction to a research conducted by some political science lecturers at the University of Ghana that stated that some comments by the former president ahead of the 2016 polls led to his awful performance.
The research also attributed the failure of the NDC to win the elections on their over reliance on the so called unprecedented infrastructural development by the administration.
It also blamed the inability of the former vice President Kwesi Amissah-Arthur to counter the economic reviews of the government by the then running mate of the NPP, now vice president, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia.
Addressing the media on their findings, one of the researchers and lecturer, Alex Frimpong said the release of the Montie three also contributed to the NDC’s electoral misfortune.
“The first factor was the confusion of whether NDC was seeking a second or third term. NDC over relied on the unprecedented infrastructure development. Issues of impunity of government appointees; they had become prophets of who should and others who could never become President,” he noted.
He added: “You also remember the pressure the government appointees put on the president to release the Montie three. But the President also had his own slip ups; ‘Ghanaians have short memory’, ‘Ashanti and the golden roads’, ‘Only former President can debate me’, ‘the sleeping Opana on the Western roads’ and ‘Opana will destool chiefs’.
“You also remember Vice President Amissah-Arthur could not answer any of the 170 questions Dr. Bawumia put to him”.
But speaking Friday on Morning Starr, the Tamale North lawmaker said for him he believes Mahama lost the elections due to the NPP’s well-crafted illusionary campaign message.
“It was because of a very efficient deceptive campaign that the NPP run. Very, very effective deceptive campaign,” he told Morning Starr host Francis Abban.
Meanwhile, the Kwesi Botchwey committee set up by the NDC to gather information from the various regions on why the party lost the elections is yet to complete its work.
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