In its 28th May 2010 issue, The Daily Dispatch newspaper carried a story to the effect that, the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) had conducted a research that showed that, president Mills of Ghana would win election 2012 irrespective of which candidate the main opposition party in particular the New Patriotic Party (NPP) was to field in the election.

After reading that story, I laughed loudly to myself and asked; why did Ben and his Daily Dispatch newspaper choose to reproduce such a highly questionable research in the face of the current bad economic situation in the country? My conclusion was that, the Daily Dispatch newspaper was obviously doing propaganda for president Mills who in recent times has come under an avalanche of attacks from his own party members in relationship to how slow and how incompetently he was steering the affairs of the country. Not only was The Daily Dispatch story just a collection of trash, it was also to me like any “Bishop Bob Okallah’s comedy” except that this time the comedy was in a newspaper!!

The raison d'être for the story was that, the Economist had alleged that, the fiscal deficit of the country was better under Mills than it was under the former administration hence the grounds President Mills would win election 2012. Of what essence is deficit; fiscal or “biological” to the majority of Ghanaians who are unemployed and unable to pay their basic utility bills?
What must be made known and which makes The Daily Dispatch a huge joke on this occasion is that, it is not even known whether the person that is alleged would win election 2012 against the NPP will in the first place be a candidate at all? This is because for Mills to qualify to lead the NDC for election 2012, he has to first go into a very competitive primary of his party and the state of affairs now in the country shows that, he would be rejected massively in any NDC primaries any day!
Once the NDC has no candidate yet for election 2012 the logical thing that should come from a person and a newspaper that is not engaged in irresponsible and gutter Journalism or propaganda should be that, anybody rather than president Mills could lead the NDC to the election. So the curious question is why will a person who it is not yet known whether will be accepted by his party in the first place to lead it again already been hailed to be “Victor” in an election which is two years away especially when his party is not happy with him with some already calling for his replacement? Ben Ephson must answer this!
That study to me was premeditated, and orchestrated with “Evil” notion. Firstly it is not only NDC and NPP which are the only political parties in Ghana. We have the Convention Peoples Party (CPP), we have the People National Convention (PNC) among other political parties why should any serious research ignore the other parties and just concerned itself with NPP and who it will be presenting for election 2012, and of how a man who it is not yet known whether he will be a candidate in the first place for election 2012 would win that election? The Daily Dispatch must answer this!
In 2012 Ghanaians will be casting their votes based on a potpourri of issues and not just figures shunned out after drinking and eating Chelsea tea and grilled Kebabs!
Among other things Ghanaian would want to know in 2012 whether their wards who they invested a whole lot to educate have employment to take care of them-selves.
Ghanaians would be voting in 2012 after asking themselves am I able to pay my water, electricity, and health bills?
Other reasons that will inform the way Ghanaians would vote in 2012 will be whether the government of president Mills was interfering with various chieftaincy crisis in the country e.g., Dagbon, Tuobodom, Bawku, and recently Ga Mantse?
The electorate in 2012 would be voting by asking themselves whether it was right for President Mills and his NDC while in opposition to kick against the purchase of a president Jet but have bought two while in government in the face of high debilitating poor conditions in the country?
The electorate as to whether they will be able to locate their voter Identity cards in an electricity absence country with intermittent electricity black-outs be able to vote on election day is another thing, and if they will vote at all anybody can guess which party and candidate they would be voting for in 2012.
It is a tall list of items that would inform who would be voted for in election 2012. Ben Ephson and his Dispatch newspaper are in Ghana with us and if not for propaganda reasons they should have been the very first to consign that Economist Intelligence Unit research into the nearest dust-bin.
For now the very best description to give to the story that the Daily Dispatch published in its Friday issue is gutter, bogus and unprofessional!

Akilu Sayibu UK
Email: Akilu.sayibu@live.uwe.ac.uk