A Deputy Information Minister, Pius Enam Hadzide has said but for the methodology used by policy think tank, IMANI Centre for Policy and Education to assess their performance, they would have scored better.
He has therefore asked IMANI to improve their methodology to reflect actual performance of political parties manifesto delivery.
Promises delivered in the 2016 NPP manifesto, according to Mr. Hadzide should have been higher than what IMANI presented.
Mr. Hadzide says the New Patriotic Party being scored only 3% ahead of what the National Democratic Congress attained during their reign is unmatched, compared to a 15% better score given the NPP by the Ghana Centre for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana).
Mr. Hadzide said it was time IMANI Ghana moved towards empirical data and public survey to know and understand what the people truly represent.
He says IMANI could have done better by extending their research beyond the NPP manifesto to introduce statements and policies they believe could fit under the party’s manifesto.
He was speaking with Joy News’ Evans Mensah.
The NDC scored 52.9% in 2016 when IMANI presented the final score card of their IMANIFesto, with the NPP upping theirs by 3% with a 56.77% score.
Read also: IMANIFesto 2020; NPP score 56.77% in final score card
But Mr. Hadzide says “the CDD-Ghana in a similar research used different methodology, they went to the people of Ghana and interviewed the respondents and it was clear that the NPP had a 15% point advantage over the NDC as far as public confidence in either party’s capacity to deliver on their campaign promises is concerned.”
He, nonetheless, lauded the think tank’s effort in ensuring accountable governance to the people.
IMANI’s Methodology
IMANI Ghana uses content analysis and codification approach based on a 4-step procedure — Setting out the yardstick as the NPP 2016 manifesto; Identification of themes for formulating the framework; IMANI Manifesto Assessment Framework (IMMA); Scoring and aggregation.
Multiple Data Sources, National Budgets (main and mid-year) Annual Progress Reports, Parliamentary Hansards, Portals and Websites of Ministries, Departments and Agencies, News Articles and Reports were all used.
Out of that methodology, empirical development and political economy literature showed the relevance of the quality of governance and a resilient economy to the well-being of the people.