Veteran journalist Abdul Malik Kweku Baako says the defeat of the National Democratic Congress in the general elections was down to a backfired strategy of using propaganda and character assassination against the NPP candidate Akufo-Addo.
He revealed that even the President, John Mahama, had cause to express shock at some of the vicious campaign ads against the NPP’s presidential candidate.
Kweku Baako revealed that President John Mahama called him days to the elections to express his disapproval of a terrible TV ad attacking the character of Akufo-Addo in unprintable terms.
“He thought that was a vicious thing. He had seen what his boys had done and he thought it was vicious”, Baako said on Newsfile Saturday.
Baako said he told the president, who had sought his opinion on the ad, that if he believed the ad was bad then it was bad and should be withdrawn.
Kweku Baako said, although the ad was pulled down, it was already on social media where it had gone viral.
The Editor-In-Chief of the New Crusading Guide said the NDC has for years institutionalized lies against Akufo-Addo and still believed that in 2016 this strategy would once again work for the party.
Kweku Baako also referred to the constant refrain from the NDC that the NPP was a disunited and a disorganized party that could not win elections.
He said the popular vote showed that the NPP which won in six regions could not fit the NDC’s narrative that it was a disunited political force.
Mr. Baako also believes the youthful appointees in government ‘let down their leader’. Popularly described as ‘babies with sharp teeth’ , these ministers, deputy ministers and others replied criticism with insults, Baako analysed.
Another factor, Kweku Baako believes affected the NDC was an excessive confidence that the government’s infrastructural projects would swing the votes for the party.
The infrastructure, documented in what the government described as the ‘Green book’ became the answer to every question posed to government officials.
“Everything you ask, they refer to the Green book. Even when you ask about Kwashiekor, they refer to the Green book” Baako said.
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