In an interview on Adom FM’s Dwaso Nsem morning show, the Associate Professor at the University of Ghana Business School (UGBS) explained that the nickname was coined by members of the New Patriotic Party (NPP). However, he clarified that he isn’t a fan of Jollof rice.

“I prefer rice and stew. I think Jollof is overrated,” he said with a smile.

The nickname, he revealed, came about after he conducted a training session for political actors and later for the National Democratic Congress (NDC) constituencies in Hull.

At the same time, he was also appointed to work with the NPP, but that appointment did not materialize.

“I came back to Ghana and criticized Bawumia, and then they went fishing for a picture I shared on Facebook of us eating. They accused me of flirting with the NDC and thus named me Prof Jollof. They even created a cartoon and circulated it, which I eventually framed,” he laughed.

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Speaking to Kwame Dadzie on Joy FM’s Showbiz A-Z, he said he and his team have developed about twelve tourism products and services.

One of these products, Night Tours, he believes, aligns with the NDC’s 24-hour Economy concept.

“I have focused my attention on building products and services and also costing them—that is, making projections for the next five years. That is what my team has been doing. So far, we have created almost twelve products.

“We are going to do Night Tours (Accra by Night), a Science Park Tour, and the Ghana Tourist Market Place. You have to create products to generate resources, which can then be reinvested into the projects,” he noted.

According to him, the Night Tours will allow Ghanaians to visit tourist attractions even after working hours.

“I don’t see why we cannot have Night Tours. The days are so choked in Accra, and I still do not understand why people rush home around 4 or 5 o’clock after work.

“We cannot force people to spend two hours after work, but we can encourage them because you can’t legislate for people to stay out. However, you can instigate them with well-planned programs,” he explained.

He further disclosed plans to introduce a Tourist Incentive Voucher (TIV), which will reward high-performing employees with vouchers to visit various tourist sites.

He added that his office is working on several initiatives not only for the 24-hour Economy but also for the Black Star Experience.

GTDC is one of the 13 agencies under the Ministry of Tourism, Culture, and Creative Arts. It was established as a Private Limited Liability Company in 1972 under the Companies Code 1963 (Act 176) to promote tourism development in Ghana.

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His argument is that, many of the promises earlier made by Dr Bawumia ahead of Election 2016 and 2020 have not been fulfilled therefore it will be difficult for Ghanaians to believe in Dr Bawumia’s promises again.

For him, Vice President Bawumia has on many occasions failed to keep to his promises, thus it will be difficult for Ghanaians to trust him on his new promises.

In a radio interview on Accra-based Neat FM on Monday, Prof. Mensah expressed concern about how politicians are buying their way into political leadership with money.

According to him, political parties must take action against their members who influence the voting pattern with money, adding that such persons should be referred to security agencies for investigations.

Prof. Kobby Mensah said it is possible for people to volunteer to work for their political parties when they find the right leadership, adding that the party must not pay delegates to do the party’s work.

For him, it is wrong for delegates to expect to be paid by their parties for doing the party’s work, saying becoming a delegate affords “you the opportunity to learn leadership skills.”

He said politicians who pay money to delegates to vote for them “should be ashamed of themselves.”

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The General Secretary of the party, Justin Kodua, has already cautioned aspirants about the use of vile language against one another in the race to be elected presidential candidate.

But the political marketing expert says although it is good to call for calm, some level of conflict is always anticipated during such an event and therefore the party should rather focus on devising conflict resolution mechanisms ahead of time.

“Obviously, it is a good idea that the General Secretary will call for calm but they must brace themselves for a very competitive, heated debate, obviously jabs here and there. Because this is a competition for the soul of the party and so any of these candidates really wants to go for the jugular. So I feel that the party should also prepare itself in terms of the leadership structure to prepare for conflict resolution. Because certainly, you do not expect that in a very heated debate, people would not go after each other. They’ll definitely go after each other. There’ll be cracks.

“But of course, the most important thing to do is to have a framework that could be used to resolve those cracks when they happen. So certainly, they have to expect a very difficult outcome in terms of how people are going after each other. People will make sure that they say things that they would never in the ordinary say. So the party should put up a very effective conflict resolution plan so that after the event, they could actually resolve it amicably,” he said on JoyFM’s Midday.

Aspirants are campaigning quite massively in a bid to become the flagbearer of the party in the 2024 election. Some have vehemently expressed their displeasure at the current NPP-led government in the wake of the national economic challenges.

An aspirant, Kwabena Agyepong, the latest to launch his campaign lamented that five other co-contestants have been part of the poor-performing administration and therefore, the party needs a “new face, a pair of clean hands, a leader to reconnect with our base and earn the trust of Ghanaians.”

Other aspirants are also boasting of their respective sacrifices for the party and why it is their time to lead the party.    

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