Lecturer advises government not to jubilate over UG survey

A senior lecturer at the Political Science Department of the University of Ghana (UG) has cautioned the government against jubilating over a survey that suggests that majority of Ghanaians are happy with its performance.

Dr Isaac Owusu-Mensah said: “The New Patriotic Party (NPP) should not be complacent about our findings but should rather work harder since the vote they obtained in the 2016 general election has dropped by four per cent.”

He was speaking last Wednesday on Adom FM’s current affairs programme, Burning Issues.

The survey was conducted by political scientists at the same department and stated that out of some 5,000 respondents interviewed in 250 electoral areas across the country, a total of 52.7 per cent of Ghanaians said they would vote for the Akufo-Addo- led government. A paltry 33.1 per cent of Ghanaians said they would vote for the opposition, the National Democratic Congress (NDC), according to the study.

The survey also showed a 62 per cent approval rating for the current NPP administration which has been heavily criticised in its first year by the biggest opposition party.

“The biggest problem in the country now is poverty and if the government creates the jobs, the poverty will reduce,” Dr Owusu-Mensah stressed.

Dr Owusu-Mensah added that per their findings, the cost of living among Ghanaians was still high, a problem the government must address by rolling out policies to minimise the cost of living.

Dr Owusu-Mensah personally scored the NPP government 60 per cent for the first year in office.

According to him, the government must take the research findings serious by implementing the promises it made to the electorate ahead of the 2016 general election.

He commended the government for winning the fight against illegal mining and introducing the free senior high school (SHS) policy.