A member of the NDC National Communication Team, Julius Karl Fieve, has rejected claims that political parties, particularly the NDC, do not take research seriously when developing their policies and manifestos.

According to him, the NDC undertook extensive consultations before producing its 2024 manifesto.

Speaking on Joy Prime’s News Flash, Mr Fieve said he was personally involved in a youth manifesto process that contributed to the party’s youth policies.

“I was part of a youth manifesto lab that resulted in having the youth policies for the NDC manifesto of 2024,” the Deputy Volta Regional Youth Organiser hopeful said.

He said the party established committees at various levels and engaged experts from different backgrounds.

But Mr Fieve said the NDC went beyond relying on experts and committees.

“We’ve gone all the way to the ground to speak to the people that we are coming to lead us, the Ghanaian people, children in the schools, our university students, our lecturers, the market women, the farmers,” he said.

He said those engagements were intended to gather citizens' views and ideas on what the party should do if it gained power.

“We were on the ground to speak with them to solicit their views and their ideas on what we should be doing when we come into power,” he said.

Mr Fieve said the consultations were reflected in the party’s manifesto.

“So even before we come up with the manifesto, or before we come to power, we were quite conversant with what we’re coming to do because our manifesto wasn’t just out of the blue,” he said.

He also contrasted the NDC’s approach with what he described as examples from the NPP, citing past comments attributed to Dr Mahamudu Bawumia.

Mr Fieve further defended the NDC’s record in government, arguing that the implementation of its manifesto promises demonstrates the role of research in shaping its policies.

“For us, the NDC, you can even see the level of intellectuality and intellectualism that the NDC displays in everything we do,” he said.

He cited what he described as progress on free SHS, support for first-year university students, the 24-hour market policy and the economy.

“A government that is delivering, and Prof himself has attested to it. A government that is delivering at this magnitude cannot be a government bereft of research,” Mr Fieve said.