Political Marketing Consultant, Dr. Bernard Tutu-Boahene, says President Akufo-Addo’s opposition to calls for a reshuffle of his ministerial appointees is akin to product orientation in political marketing and “that is not good.”

Product orientation in political marketing is when the political party argues for what it stands for and believes in. It assumes that voters will realize that it is right and vote for it.

According to the Dr. Tutu-Boahene, now is not the time to be pushing product oriented narratives, rather the President should be focused on adequately addressing the concerns of the public by heeding to their calls.

He was reacting to the President’s refusal to sack the Finance Minister and his subsequent endorsement of Ken Ofori-Atta as one of his top five excellent ministers.

Speaking on JoyNews’ Newsfile on Saturday, he said, “For me, from a political marketing point of view, I don’t see that because you see the manufacturer will develop a product, but that product is not going to be used by that same manufacturer, it is going to be used by consumers, and so when it comes to the issue of determining quality, excellence, it is not something that the manufacturer himself can determine. It is for the consumer because the consumer has his/her expectation and that becomes the point of measurement.

“…I think that the President more or less is practicing what we call in political marketing as product orientation and that is not good. Because it is something that suggests that the President is so much concerned about himself and that of his mentality and I think that that didn’t go well with us.”

He explained that while the President may have appointed the Ministers, their output is felt by the citizens, as such, if the citizens are calling for the removal of certain Ministers it is obviously because their performance has not rewarded the public.

“Because you see the Ministers and their performance and deliveries, their outputs, you know the voter is that person who is going to receive the output of the Ministers, and it is not the President, it is not the Ministers.

“And so within this phase, what we’re experiencing with regards to what is happening in the market; you go to market today prices of goods and services have gone up and everyday there seems to be a price increase. Of course, the President will not feel it; the Ministers will not feel it looking at where they stand. But the ordinary Ghanaian on the street is going to feel it too much in his pocket.

“So I think that being described in the past as a listening President and coming back to say some of these things, I think that one didn’t go well with us,” he said.