13 Key Points from the show on April 13

On TV3’s Key Points on Saturday April 13, three topics were discussed.

They are; Performance tracker- Aftermath of launch of the platform, Ahead of elections 2024- Global Info Analytics tips Mahama to win and Eid-al fitr message- Dr. Bawumia rejects LGBTQ practice.

Here are 13 Key Points raised on the show:

1. Election 2024: Mussa Dankwah justifies sample size for survey that puts Mahama ahead of Bawumia

The Executive Director of Global Info Analytics, Mussa Dankwah has explained how his outfit arrived at the sample size it used in conducting their recent survey on the 2024 presidential poll.

He says the sample size is purely derived from mathematics and not by anyone’s imagination. He therefore called on those undermining the credibility of his work to scrutinise it carefully.

According to him, research methodologies, “whether it is rigorous or not doesn’t lie in the opinion of somebody.”

He explained how they arrived at the sample size using the voting population of the country as basis.

“The sample size they are talking about is not done by somebody’s imagination or somebody’s wishful thinking. It is driven by the mathematical formula. It is mathematics. If you are saying we have 18.5 million people in Ghana who could vote, and that you want to do a survey of this population and you want to have 99% confidence level of the survey you are going to embark on and you choose a margin of error of 1.6%, the result of the sample size we need to engage is 6,128. It is Mathematics, you can prove it or disprove it. Nobody can tell you that this will not give you this result,” he detailed.

2. Anti-LGBTQ Bill: ‘From where I sit and my love for…what will attract me to a man?’ – NPP MP

Member of Parliament (MP) for the Sissala East Constituency and Deputy Minister for Sanitation and Water Resources, Amidu Issahaku Chinnia, has stated that nothing will cause him to have intimacy with a fellow man.

Mr. Chinnia categorically pointed out that he doesn’t see anything in a man that should attract him, indicating that LGBT tendencies are signs of illness.

He also commended Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia for emphatically rejecting LGBTQ practices.

“I see it as illness when a man is attracted to a man or a woman is attracted to a woman, it means that there is something wrong with your mind,” he stated.

He further indicated that, as an MP, there is no way he can visit his constituents if he declares support for LGBT activities. He stressed that no NPP MP has openly declared his or her support for LGBTQ practices.

“From where I sit and my love for…I mean, what will attract me to a man?” he noted.

“I mean, I don’t know what will attract me to a man,” Mr. Chinnia reiterated.

Meanwhile, pressure is being mounted on the Vice President and NPP’s 2024 presidential candidate to advise President Akufo-Addo to sign the Human Sexual Rights and Family Values Bill 2024, into law.

3. Anti-gay Bill: We have gone beyond stating religious positions – Kofi Adams tells Bawumia

Member of Parliament for Buem, Kofi Adams has stated that the current discourse surrounding the Anti-gay bill has gone beyond declaration of religious stance.

According to him, very reputable religious leaders have already publicly declared their religious positions on the bill, adding that Ghanaians are now very much aware of the religious position.

The lawmaker stressed that what is really needed at this moment is execution of the legislative function for the bill to be fully implemented.

Mr. Adams was reacting to Vice-President Dr. Bawumia’s comment about aligning with the Islamic position on issues relating to LGBTQI activities during his speech at the recent Eid-ul-Fitr celebrations.

He said the Vice-President’s religious position is “meaningless” to the current state of conversation on the bill.

“The position of religion and whether the religion accepts or does not accept, we have long past that stage. Those who qualify to speak on religion on that matter have long spoken and we cannot take religious position from Dr. Bawumia anymore.

“Where we are now is about bringing finality to the legislative function of law-making and that we have gone through all the stages of preparing a bill and the bill has been presented to the President to sign. He has two things, to sign or to decline to sign, if he signs that brings finality to it.

4. Performance Tracker: Kofi Adams punches holes in gov’t job creation figures

According to the Member of Parliament for the Buem constituency in the Oti Region, Kofi Iddie Admas, the NPP government under President Akufo-Addo has supervised the highest number of job losses in the public sector than in any administration.

He said the government has reduced job creation opportunities in the public sector, and has been releasing conflicting numbers of jobs created.

Reacting to the number of public sector jobs stated on the government’s newly launched Performance Tracker, the Buem legislator pointed out some inconsistencies in the job creation numbers presented to Parliament in the 2024 budget as against what was captured on the Performance Tracker.

According to Mr. Adams, the government stated that it has created 1.4 million public sector jobs in the 2024 budget, which was present in November 2023.

“At least the budget was presented long after the termination date of the Performance Tracker, which is June 2023,” he said.

According to the Minister for Works and Housing, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, the projects captured on the Performance Tracker are from 2017 to June 2023.

Furthermore, Mr. Adams pointed out the job creation figures churned out by Dr. Bawumia at his February 8 lecture at the UPSA to demonstrate the continued inconsistencies.

He said, “Dr. Bawumia, in his lecture at the UPSA raised the number from 900,000 to 970,000 for the private sector and that of the public sector now drops to 1.2 million.”

“The public sector jobs, which were reported in the budget as 1.4 million in Dr. Bawumia’s situation, had dropped to 1.2 million but the private sector had increased.

“Then Performance Tracker now reports 267,933 as private sector jobs and 1.8 million as public sector jobs. This 1.8 million, let me accept Minister Kojo Oppong Nkrumah’s statement that it was up to June 2023; then how come they have 1.8 million and many months after the numbers are reducing to 1.2 million?” he quizzed.

5. Performance Tracker is an attempt but we need a Code of Conduct for public office holders – Kpebu

Private legal practitioner Martin Kpebu has welcomed the introduction of the Performance Tracker by the government.

But, he said, he would have wished that the government prioritized the introduction of a Code of Conduct for public officeholders over the Performance Tracker.

“The Performance Tracker is an attempt…the experts are still evaluating it, but corruption is our biggest problem and so we need the code of conduct for public officers.

“It is important but I will rank the code of conduct above the performance tracker,” he said.

6. Global Info Analytics poll: I reject certain aspects of survey – Sissala East MP

Member of Parliament of the Sissala East Constituency, Amidu Chinnia Issahaku, has stated that certain aspects of the recently published Global Info Analytics polls that put John Dramani Mahama ahead of Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia can be rejected outright.

He said some aspects of the polls will not be a true reflection of the report if an election was held in March.

Mr. Issahaku admitted to the significance of polls in the run-up to a general election. He noted that surveys help guide political parties to gauge the concerns of the people and factor them into their campaign messages.

“These are personal observations I have made that I accept certain aspects of the poll and there are certain aspects I can reject outrightly and think that it will not actually work the way it has reflected in the report,” said the Sissala East legislator.

7. Performance Tracker: Apart from God everybody can make a mistake – Deputy Minister of Sanitation on 67 projects mistakenly included

The Deputy Minister of Sanitation and Water Resources, Amidu Issahaku Chinnia has rationalised the inadvertent inclusion of some 67 projects in the recently launched government performance tracker.

According to him, it is due to human error.

“Apart from God, everybody can make a mistake. This is human error. Some of the people you put in charge of things like this can disappoint you. 67 out of over 10,000 projects should not mean the performance tracker is not credible,” Mr Chinnia said.

He noted that the portal will ensure accountability on the part of government.

“Everybody can go there and see what the government is doing. It will ensure accountability,” the Deputy Minister stated.

8. 67 errors can’t undermine the work of the Performance Tracker – MP

Sissala East lawmaker, Amidu Issahaku Chinnia, has said that the Performance Tracker launched by the government is an important initiative to enhance governance.

Despite the 67 errors that were identified, he said, the tracker serves a useful purpose.

He noted that the “67 errors identified cannot undermine this job on the tracker.”

“When you put data together, the intention is to let people see what you have done, where there are errors, you must admit. The fact that some mistakes have been identified does not invalidate the work,” he stressed.

The government, through the Information Ministry admitted and corrected 67 wrong entries on the Performance Tracker platform, just about 72 hours after its launch.

The Information Ministry, in a post on X with the handle (@PerfTrackergh), said those errors were reported by citizens within 48 hours after the launch.

The post also expressed appreciation to the public for their scrutiny and interest in the platform.

9. 2024 Elections: We have our plans but NPP is guided by Global Info Analytics poll – Sissala East MP

Deputy Minister of Sanitation and Water Resources, Amidu Issahaku Chinnia, has said that the New Patriotic Party (NPP) is guided by the results of the survey conducted by Global Info Analytics that put former President John Dramani Mahama, flagbearer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) ahead of Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia.

The Sissala East lawmaker said that the NPP has its own strategy going into the 2024 general elections but surveys such as the one done by the Global Infor Analytics will be an additional guide for the party.

“I don’t have a problem with the poll, it is a guide, we have our thinking, we have our plans and we are guided by that.

“We are not taking this analysis for granted, we are not taking Alan’s exit for granted, by the grace of God Dr Bawumia will win,” he said.

The poll puts John Mahama at 54.3 percent, while Dr. Bawumia secured 34.6 percent. Leader of the Movement for Change Alan Kyerematen had 7.5 percent, while the New Force’s Nana Kwame Bediako polled 2.3 percent.

10. NDC will not be complacent over favourable polls – Kofi Adams

The National Democratic Congress (NDC) will not go and sleep thinking that they have already won the 2024 general elections due to the favourable results of polls that are being conducted, Buem Member of Parliament Kofi Adam, has said.

He said that the NDC is determined to “save this country” from the “economic mismanagement” by the current Akufo-Addo administration.

The Global Info Analytics survey shows former President John Dramani Mahama is ahead of Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia.

The poll puts John Mahama at 54.3 percent, while Dr. Bawumia secured 34.6 percent. Leader of the Movement for Change Alan Kyerematen had 7.5 percent, while the New Force’s Nana Kwame Bediako polled 2.3 percent.

Kofi Adams indicated that per the report, 36 % of persons affiliated to the NPP believe Dr Bawumia has failed, and five percent say they are not sure.

He said he would add the five percent to the 36 percent, so it means 41 percent believe they have failed.

“They have mismanaged the economy,” he said, and “so such a poll is close to credible.”

He added “I am not surprised that they score Mahama high and will win the elections.”

11. NPP govt has mismanaged the economy – Kofi Adams

Buem Member of Parliament Kofi Adams has accused the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government of mismanaging the economy.

Specifically, he mentioned, Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia who is also a flagbearer of the party, for failing to manage the economy well as head of the economic management team.

Regarding the Global Info Analytics survey that put former President John Dramani Mahama ahead of Dr Bawumia, he indicated that per the report, 36 % of persons affiliated to the NPP believe Dr Bawumia has failed, and five percent say they are not sure.

He said he would add the five percent to the 36 percent, so it means 41 percent believe they have failed.

“They have mismanaged the economy,” he said, and “so such a poll is close to credible.”

He added “I am not surprised that they score Mahama high and will win the elections.”

12. Bawumia’s economic thesis have fallen flat – Kpebu

A private legal practitioner, Martin Kpebu has said that it will be impossible for the New Patriotic Party (NPP) to win the 2024 elections.

He said over the past seven years, the party has supervised a gradual erosion of the economic gains of the country.

Mr Kpebu said, “It is impossible for the NPP to win the 2024 elections. Look, Bawumia’s economic thesis have fallen flat. He was touted as the one with solution to our economic problems. How much is the price of fuel, what is the rate of inflation now?” He quizzed.

Mr Kpebu was contributing to discussions on the poll conducted by Global Info analytics that put former President Mahama of the NDC ahead of Dr Mahamudu Bawumia of the NPP.

13. Survey was deployed in 82 constituencies – Mussa Dankwah justifies outcome of poll that puts Mahama in the lead

The Executive Director of Global Info Analytics, Musa Dankwah has justified the methodology used by his outfit in the recent poll that put former President John Mahama ahead of Dr Mahamudu Bawumia.

According to him the sample size used is representative of the population of Ghanaian voters.

“The survey was deployed in 82 constituencies and the sample size cannot be said to be scanty” he said.

In the poll under reference, John Mahama leads with over 54% votes, followed by Dr Bawumia with 34%, Alan Kyerematen has a little over 7% while Nana Kwame Bediako of the New Force Movement garnered over 2% of the votes.

However, critics, especially from the New Patriotic Party (NPP) have played down the significance of the poll which has conducted between 22nd and 31st March, 2024.

Note: With additional files from Laud Nartey, Emmanuel Kwarteng, Raphael Ghartey and Felix Anim-Appau

The post 13 Key Points from the show on April 13 first appeared on 3News.

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