Peace Messages Will Not Change Mindset of Supporters After SC Verdict- Kwesi Pratt

Kwesi Pratt Jnr., Managing Editor of the Insight newspaper is of the view that peace declarations by political party leaders involved in the election petition would not determine the actions of their supporters. �There are many instances where leaders have accepted a certain position and their members have said no. And in fact their leaders have been compelled to change their position,� he asserted. Using a development in the New Patriotic Party (NPP) after the 1992 general elections to drive home his argument, the Managing Editor of the Insight Newspaper stated that �the NPP wanted to do business with the NDC government�.you remember�and the supporters said no, they won�t agree. And eventually, the leaders came back to review that position as a result of pressure from the grassroots�. �So yes, there may be leaders and so on but they don�t have the final say. What they say may or may not be accepted by the supporters�. Speaking on Metro TV�s �Good Morning Ghana�, he further called for a proper evaluation of the risk that might come with the judgment of the election petition in the runoff of the court case and not �assumptions that may turn out to be false�. Mr. Pratt believes an assessment of what is likely to happen after the verdict is delivered is crucial due to the fact that, �over a period of about seven months, various political parties have been pumping up their members and giving them the impression that no matter what, they are going to win. That psychological process is not going to change in a twinkle of an eye�a certain psychological process has been created and we need to be mindful of the process�.