Sarah Adwoa Safo, the former gender minister, acknowledged that the NPP government’s election failure during its second term was partly caused by its disregard for popular concerns.
She recognized the distinction between the party’s first and second terms’ approaches in an interview with Joy Prime’s The Pulse, pointing out that there was early zeal followed by complacency.
“I think that the first term was good. Ghanaians had a lot of expectations, and there was that eagerness and preparedness to meet them. But I think that moving into our second term, it was as if we weren’t hearing, as if we didn’t care, as if we were on our jolly ride,” she remarked.
She emphasized the general discontent among important parties, such as the young, chiefs, pastors, and party members, and the fact that their complaints were not given any weight.
“Chiefs were complaining, pastors were complaining, party people were complaining, the youth… everything that we were doing, it was as if there was no election ahead of us. Not that governance is about thinking about the next election—it’s about governance—but you should know that your track record is what is going to secure you your next term,” she stated.
She claims that many people were disillusioned by the government’s failure to address their issues. She said that “at the time, we weren’t paying attention, suggesting that the administration may have fallen into the “normal second-term syndrome” where ruling parties become disconnected from the electorate.
Source:Mybrytfmonline.com/Joseph Asare
