9 crucial things we learnt from leaked Kwesi Botchwey report
The much-awaited Kwesi Botchwey report has been leaked by Joy FM with grave revelations to the reasons behind the party’s defeat in the 2016 elections.
YEN.com.gh does not lay claim to the intercepted document but we continue to pick some key issues or better still, secrets that according to the report, resulted to the huge defeat of John Dramani Mahama.
Here are highlights of the report which YEN is currently learning about.
1. Mahama acted as a movie star and not a politician
The intercepted Kwesi Botchwey report has revealed that John Dramani failed to live up to advise from campaign strategists who had warned him against concentrating much on television. But Mahama, according to the report, thought the magic of the media could work wonders for him.
2. Ill treatment of the media
According the the Kwesi Botchwey report, the NDC administration failed to focus on best ways of using the media as a good avenue to election victory. But this was never the case especially when the report revealed how some key members in the Flagstaff House failed to treat the presidential press corps well and fairly enough. YEN.com.gh had earlier reported of how Stan Dogbe confiscated the recorders of journalists in the media.
3. Divisions among party members
According to this report cited by Joy FM, the opposition NDC suffered the menace of party disunity two solid years before the 2016 polls since a section of defeated party executives adopted a laid-back attitude working against the party. This 455-page report intercepted by Joy FM has also revealed how ex president Mahama refused to embark on door to door campaigns but rather choose to throw cash at lavish bill boards across the country - a move, the report claims, created a negative perception from voters.
4. Mahama failing to campaign at dawn
Other aspects of the report has revealed how Mahama failed to listen to the advice by his campaign managers who had wanted him to embark on a door-to-door campaign at dawn. But the report claims that the ex-president failed to heed this call.
5. Poor campaign messaging
Unlike the NPP which succeeded in wooing undecided voters with base-line campaign promises, the Mahama campaign team, according to the leaked report, failed to convince Ghanaians most through its campaign messages - a development which caused him dearly in the lead up to the elections.
6. Harsh statements against Ghanaians
In the lead up to the elections, Mahama is claimed to have broken the hearts of most Ghanaians especially when he used the “dead goat” analogy and also the decision to scrap the allowances of nursing trainees. At a critical time when every Ghanaian was hoping to hear good news, this was never the case with Mahama as he still held on to his austere economic measures.
7. Corruption and mismanagement of funds
Former president Rawlings has argued that the party continues to suffer due to the high level of corrupt practices. This was also encapsulated in the leaked report which reveals that the issues of the mismanagement of funds and also bouts of corruption definitely got Ghanaians thinking twice about the NDC.
8. Mismanagement of Biometric register
According to the report, some members of the NDC’s Biometric Registration Committee were alleged to have worked “independently of the Committee” and started dealing with “aspirants and other interest parties.” The mismanagement of the Biometric process promoted “ethnicism in constituencies of diverse ethnic groups,” the report said.
9. No show of Jerry Rawlings
The Kwesi Botchwey report also touched on how the founder of the party - Jerry Rawlings was absolutely absent during the campaign period of the party. Without the moral support of Jerry Rawlings, there was just the possibility of defeat staring the NDC in the face.
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Source: YEN.com.gh