A survey by Fish News through its social media handles has passed a damning verdict on former President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, for being largely responsible for the NPP’s stunning defeat in the December 2024 election.
The survey, which asked Ghanaians to share their views on factors which contributed to the NPP’s shocking defeat, had majority of respondents pointing fingers at immediate past President Nana Akufo-Addo, and also blaming his government’s harsh economic policies, nepotism, corruption and arrogance of some of his appointees, as key reasons for the defeat of NPP in both the Presidential and Parliamentary election.
The most common theme among respondents was former President Akufo-Addo, who was widely accused of not doing enough, thereby, getting the NPP, it’s flagbearer and parliamentary candidates to pay dearly for his sins.
Specifically, many of those who commented, slammed President Akufo-Addo for endorsing harsh and insensitive economic policies such as e-levy, betting tax, covid-19 tax and poor debt management.
For these policies, the former President was accused of shielding his cousin, former Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta, who was also accused by some respondents of running down the economy, before he was eventually removed, albeit belatedly.
Many other respondents also blamed the President for causing apathy in the party, with his refusal to listen to internal advice and effect changes in his government on time, across all levels of his administration, to spread opportunities to other party members who many grassroots members look up to. Refusing to remove Ken Ofori-Atta as Finance Minister, notwithstanding calls by overwhelming number of NPP MPs and ordinary Ghanaians, was cited to buttress the claim.
Apart from President Akufo-Addo being blamed directly, many of the respondents also slammed some of his government’s policies, which they said contributed to bringing hardship on Ghanaians.
Central to this were taxes such as e-levy, covid-19 taxes, betting tax as well as the government’s debt management policy.
Both the President and former Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta were up for harsh criticism over these policies, which the respondents said made the NPP unpopular among Ghanaians, including the NPP’s own supporters
Some of the respondents also had issues with government appointees, accusing some of them of being arrogant and inaccessible.
This, they observed, contributed to alienating them from the people and causing disaffection for the NPP.
Corruption also played a part, with many highlighting a number of scandals of the Akufo-Addo government. On corruption, many revisited the issue of labelling former President Akufo-Addo as a “clearing agent”, a nickname the President earned for clearing a number of his appointees accused of corrupt acts.
Respondents also blamed the Akufo-Addo government’s neglect of key projects in its strongholds, especially in the Ashanti Region, as well as parts of the Western and the Bono/Ahafo regions.
In the Ashanti Region for instance, many of the respondents faulted former President Akufo-Addo for not prioritising major projects in the Ashanti Region, especially the Suame interchange.
To sum it up, most of the respondents who commented blamed former President Akufo-Addo’s government for the defeat of Dr. Bawumia, as well as the unprecedented overwhelming majority of NPP Parliamentary candidates across the country
