The New Patriotic Party (NPP) says President Mahama’s decision to participate in the IEA Presidential Debate smacks of hypocrisy and deceit.
A statement signed by the party’s Communication Director, Nana Akomea, said: “The NDC government gave several reasons for their boycott of the IEA debate. Ghanaians were told that the IEA has no credibility; that the IEA is a partisan body; that the organizers are all stooges of another political party; that the IEA Platform is not effective and potent; and that the NDC government had its own platforms to engage with Ghanaians; that by convention, no sitting president had taken part in IEA presidential debates in the fourth republic.”
It would be recalled that the NDC under the late President J.E.A. Mills decided not to participate in the Presidential Debates because in the past, no sitting president had participated in the debates.
But last week, the NDC rescinded its decision to boycott the debate after several meetings with officials of the IEA. The party’s new flagbearer, President Mahama, finally decided to participate in the debate in order to tell his own story to the public.
But the NPP says there is more to it than meets the eye.
The party said “the NDC grossly insulted the integrity of the IEA, and the integrity of the organizers of the debates, which includes eminent citizens of this country such as, Mr. Emile Short, Pastor Mensah Otabil, Prof. Efua Sutherland Addy, Prof. Stephen Addai and others.”
The NPP is therefore asking if the reasons given for the NDC’s decision to boycott the debate earlier has been buried with the late President Mills.
Nana Akomea stressed that the “U-turn should not be surprising to the many Ghanaians who expect nothing better from the NDC than this two-faced approach to governance.”
The party is calling on the government to tell the public the true reason for the earlier decision to boycott and the U-turn.
Source: GhanaWeb
