Over the past 10 months, I’ve seen a widening trust gap between citizens and the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government, Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh has admitted.

The former Manhyia South MP and running mate to Dr Mahamudu Bawumia said his biggest realisation in recent months is the extent of public distrust. He described it as deep and painful.

“One thing I’ve come to a conclusion in the last 10 months is that there was a broken trust between citizens to government. The trust that was broken hurt so much that we saw the results so broken,” he said.

Pressed by host Evans Mensah on what caused the rupture, he said leaders failed to pay attention at crucial moments.

“We didn’t listen enough. We assumed a lot of things we shouldn’t have assumed,” he admitted.

He said government’s sense of purpose was also shaken as crises piled up across the globe.

“Probably our purpose was a bit challenged for us,” he noted.

Dr Opoku Prempeh pointed to the global economic and health shocks that upended normal life, arguing that no country escaped unscathed.

“We had gone through the worst global economic climate, medically and economically or health-wise. Governments around the world have been toppled and changed, apart from probably dictatorial moments, autocratic governments, and the economic review has changed dramatically,” he said.

He described how the economic turmoil hit households and businesses.

“A container from China that cost $1200 logistic-wise had risen to $14,000. People’s lifetime savings have been wiped out. People had died in their droves that had never been seen before, without a military crisis or World War,” he stressed.

He said these shocks created frustration, fear and anger, and helped fuel the erosion of trust between the public and those in authority.

“So a lot of things that happened,” he concluded.