President Akufo-Addo’s recent reshuffle failed to significantly impact the positive sentiments surrounding the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP), as per data from IMANI Africa’s Public Understanding and Literacy for Sentiment and Election (PULSE).
According to the report obtained by JoyNews, the reshuffle appeared to generate more negative sentiments towards the NPP.
Covering the period from February 11 to February 26, 2024, the report revealed that while both party candidates experienced an increase in purely negative sentiments, the NPP witnessed a higher percentage rise – from around 21% to just over 28%.
This marked a 7% increase in negative sentiment compared to the NDC’s approximately 4% increment during the same period.
The report suggested that, overall, more people harbored negative feelings about both parties, with the NPP receiving more mentions and a growing negative sentiment.
Despite the reshuffle, the Periodic Social Media Sentiment Analysis Report published in March indicated that the NPP continued to lead in social media mentions.
“The inference here is that generally more people feel negative about both parties, with NPP however having more mentions and more growing negative sentiment”, it added.
The report noted that the NPP’s dominant presence on social media might be due to being the ruling party, with more commentators focusing on their policies and the messages of their presidential candidate than those of the NDC.
The data also revealed that former President John Dramani Mahama experienced an 8.27% reduction in negative sentiments during the observed period. Additionally, his reach on non-social media web sources decreased by 6.78%, indicating a significant drop.
“while there was the ministerial reshuffle during the period, the gap in mentions and social reach was nevertheless still dominant. The NPP is probably being mentioned more as the ruling party with more social media commentators putting their policies forward, as well as the current messages of their presidential candidate under the spotlight, more than they are doing with the candidate of the NDC.”
Background:
On February 14, President Akufo-Addo announced a ministerial reshuffle, the first major overhaul since assuming office in January 2017.
The reshuffle involved the removal and reassignment of ministers, including Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta, Roads Minister Kwame Amoako-Atta, and Health Minister Kwaku Agyemang Manu.