Private legal practitioner, Mr Gary Nimako
Private legal practitioner, Mr Gary Nimako, has said the 2,400 sample size used by the Ghana Centre for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana) for their post-election survey cannot be a representation of the views of majority of Ghanaians.
He indicated that CDD could have used at least 3,000,000 sample size for the survey to enable them conclude that majority of Ghanaians have expressed their views on an issue.
Speaking on the Key Points on TV3/3FM on Saturday September 4 with host Dzifa Bampoh, Mr Nimako, also a member of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) said “My initial comments will be every government, every political party takes these information more or less as feedback. I read the report yesterday and I had a great difficulty with the report itself. One is the sample size, 2400 Ghanaians.
“2,400 Ghanaians do not represent majority of Ghanaians. When you even dichotomize the total number of adult Ghanaians or total number of Ghanaians from the total number of people who can vote, you cannot use 2,400 Ghanaians as a sample size of majority of Ghanaians.
“If you want to have an aggregation of a view of at least the mood in the nation, reasonably I was expecting that CDD would have increased the number to at least 3,000,000.”
A survey conducted by the CDD-Ghana said in general, a significant minority of Ghanaian are optimistic that in the next four years, the Akufo-Addo NPP-led government will perform “much better or better” in addressing public/social service delivery. But are less optimistic about government’s ability to reduce crime.
The survey added that Ghanaians are also less optimistic about government’s ability to fight corruption, and ability to promote collaboration between the ruling and opposition parties.
It further revealed why the New Patriotic Party (NPP) lost several seats in the parliamentary elections to the National Democratic Congress (NDC).
It said attributed this to nonperformance of MPs in the 7th parliament and also a bad campaign leading to the reduction in their number.
“Our respondents attribute the loss of seats by the NPP as a result of the NPPs MPs non-performance, the NPP’s bad campaign and the non-performance of their candidates.
“Our respondents attribute the gains the NDC made in the parliamentary elections as to the NPPs MPs non-performance, the NDC’s campaign and the performance of their candidates, and a way of punishing the NPP for nonperformance,” the survey said.
Prior to the elections last year, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) had 106 seats in Parliament as against the 169 of the New Patriotic Party (NPP)
After the elections, both parties secure 137-137 seats each with one independent lawmaker.