58% of voters expect Mahama to contest in 2020 – Report

A survey conducted by the Political Science Department of the University of Ghana, has revealed that 58% of voters believe that former President John Dramani Mahama, will lead the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) in the 2020 elections.

Head of the Political Science Department, Dr. Bossman Asare, who made this revelation while presenting the survey findings, said : “We wanted to find out who the voters think should lead the party [NDC] in 2020, and overwhelmingly 58% of the candidates we interviewed said they believed Mr. Mahama will become the candidate and a number of them generally said they wanted Mr. Mahama to come.

“It means when you look at the graph, some people were getting 2 percent. Prof Alabi, Ricketts Hagan, Spio Grabrah, I think all of them were getting less than 7% so we were all surprised.”

Several members of the NDC including, Nadowli-Kaleo MP, Alban Bagbin, Dr. Spio-Garbrah, former NHIA boss, Sylvester Mensah, Joshua Alabi, former MP for La-Dadekotopon, Nii Amasah Namoale among others, have given indications they may contest the flagbearership position.

Dr. Bossman Asare mentioned that, these other aspirants, particularly Spio Garbrah, Ricketts Hagan and Prof. Alabi had less than 7% in the survey.

The former President, John Dramani Mahama, is yet to make a definite decision on his future, although he has given hints suggesting that he may contest.

The survey, which was conducted by the Department focused on democratic governance.

62% of Ghanaians ‘happy’ with NPP’s performance – UG Report

The Political Science Department of the University of Ghana also said the Akufo Addo government’s approval rating in its first year, stands at 62%.

In the research conducted by the Department which focused on democratic governance, 49% of the 5000 voters sampled, endorsed the Free Senior High School [SHS] programme, making it one of popular initiatives of the government.

It was followed by government’s fight against illegal mining, which stood at 37%.

On the Office of the Special Prosecutors Bill, 64% of Ghanaians backed government’s decision.

On the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), Dr. Asare noted that “Although the NHIS for example is not so perfect, we heard the voters making it very clear that they thought that it has seen some revival.”

This rating comes days after the Industrial Commercial Workers’ Union (ICU) scored Nana Addo’s government 80% in its assessment, but emphasized the need for government to speed up processes to get the Special Prosecutor Office running effectively.

11 controversies that rocked NPP gov’t in 2017

The New Patriotic Party (NPP) government officially marked the first year of its administration on 7th January, 2017, after wresting power from the then NDC government led by John Dramani Mahama.

The party claimed electoral victory on the back of many campaign promises aimed at boosting social infrastructure and providing a convenient economic environment for private businesses to thrive.

Despite the 62% acceptance rating, the government has had its share of controversies, with several of them being alleged corruption scandals.