Poor patronage of party paraphernalia

The 2016 general election clock is fast ticking but various markets across the country are yet to be flooded with paraphernalia of the various political parties as was the case with previous election years.

Checks by The Mirror at various markets including the Kaneshie, Makola, Madina , the Kwame Nkrumah Circle and the Kasoa revealed that paraphernalia are uncharacteristically missing as only some few market women had stock.

They said compared to 2012 where patronage of paraphernalia of the various parties was high, patronage has been poor this election year. 

While some attributed the poor sales to the current harsh economic environment in the country, others attributed the decline to the nature of the Ghanaian who waits till the last minute before buying.

Some of the traders also noted that some Ghanaians prefered not to disclose their political affiliations and  buying any party paraphernalia would give away where their sympathies lied.

Huge losses

Some of them pointed out that they are still reeling from  the huge losses incurred during the 2012 election period following the defeat of the New Patriotic Party (NPP).

According to them, they had tipped the NPP to win and, therefore, imported a variety of paraphernalia of the party but could not sell  following the party’s defeat.

They are, therefore, now selling the old  stock.

“For now, we are only selling the paraphernalia we imported  four years  ago. We take them to party rallies. We have also slashed the prices in order to clear them  off fast,” one of the traders pointed out.

They, however,  said they would import  paraphernalia of the party that would win since sympathisers would patronise the paraphernalia for the inaugural ceremony.

Tagging 

Some of the traders also complained that some customers refused to buy from them when they stocked colours of political parties they (customers) did not sympathise with.

“Some people tag us as sympathisers of certain political parties. When they come around and see the paraphernalia of such parties, they refuse to buy other goods we have for sale,” one of them bemoaned.

Joshua Asante, a vendor, said “ Sometimes when we hang party paraphernalia, other people who do not support that party refuse to buy from us. That affects the sale of the other items.” 

They, however, admitted that whenever the political parties are having  rallies or holding  events, a handful of people pass through to buy a few flags and hats. 

They appealed to Ghanaians to be tolerant of people of other political parties in order to sustain the peace the country is enjoying.