![\"\"](\"https:\/\/ghanamma.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/Maha.jpg.pagespeed.ce.ff-TR1WNEg.jpg\" "\\"Mahama")
<\/a><\/div>\nA leading member of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), has revealed President John Mahama\u2019s campaign team ignored critical findings by a research group in the party prior to the 2016 election.<\/p>\n
Rojo Mettle Nunoo said the former President Mahama and his campaign team dismissed crucial campaign intelligence provided by a team of experienced members of the party he led.<\/p>\n
Mr. Mettle Nunoo, who was at one time, campaign manager for the late President Atta Mills said a survey his team conducted revealed the party\u2019s 2016 campaign message was out of touch with the people and subsequently provided suggestions for messages that would resonate with the Ghanaian electorate.<\/p>\n
But the president and the party\u2019s campaign team turned a deaf ear to the advice.<\/p>\n
He was speaking to Gifty Andoh Appiah in an exclusive interview to be aired on The Pulse on JOY News TV later today.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe did a 32,000 household survey across all the 10 regions of this country, identifying attitudes, behaviours, perceptions and desires of the people of Ghana,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The former Deputy Health Minister said the managers of the governing party\u2019s campaign did not appear to want to hear contrary views because they believed they were winning.\u00a0![\"\"](\"https:\/\/ghanamma.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/810551983_144387.jpg\")
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He said even though the findings of the group were made available to the presidency at the time, \u201csometimes people want to hear what they want to hear.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI believe strongly that our message \u2013 our research data \u2013 was not accepted, it did not impact the strategy of the election and it was a disaster waiting the happen,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n
Since its embarrassing defeat at the polls last year, the NDC has been licking its wounds and wondering how an incumbent party with a superstar candidate in President John Mahama could be so annihilated.<\/p>\n
Leading members of the party have expressed varied views on the causes of the party\u2019s loss, many of them blaming complacency and aloofness of the government for the defeat.<\/p>\n
The party itself set up a thirteen member committee headed by former Finance Minister Prof. Kwesi Botchwey to analyse the party\u2019s performance in the 2016 general elections and make recommendations for future elections.<\/p>\n
It urged party leaders to refrain from commenting in the media their views about the loss and wait for the findings of the Kwesi Botchwey Committee.<\/p>\n
That committee submitted its report to the party\u2019s leadership a couple of weeks ago, recommending the \u201ccrowding in of the party\u2019s intellectual base.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Chairman of the Committee said he didn\u2019t believe that the NDC in the last few years, had done enough to crowd in this intellectual base.<\/p>\n
The contents of the committee\u2019s report have yet to be made public but Mr. Mettle-Nunoo said too many things went wrong.<\/p>\n
He said the party did not manage well the transition from the late President Mills\u2019 government to that of President John Mahama.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf people who worked very closely with the late Professor Evans Atta Mills were very well known by the party and Prof and suddenly there was no Prof for a transition and you have a new team, many people who were loyal to the party but were not known to the new team would be side-lined. We did not manage that transition very well; that to me was a major weakness of the party,\u201d Mr. Mettle Nunoo who was appointed Deputy Health Minister by President Mills said.<\/p>\n
Listen to Rojo Mettle Nunoo<\/strong>
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/adomonline.com\/ghana-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/Maha.jpg\" "\\"Mahama")
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