Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com
By William Yaw Owusu
Monday, July 18, 2016
The New Patriotic Party (NPP) has told President John Mahama to be
bold and ‘admit’ that he has been on a campaign tour and not any ‘accounting to
the people’ tour as the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) wants the
public to believe.
“Why can the president not admit that he is campaigning? Why does
the NDC lie to Ghanaians that the president is not campaigning but is only
‘accounting to the people?’ Why is this blatant lie being told so often to the people
of Ghana? What do President Mahama and the NDC lose if they tell Ghanaians the
truth?” a statement issued and signed by Nana Akomea, NPP Director of
Communications, said.
Active Campaigning
According to the statement, “Ghanaians have constantly been told
President Mahama is not on a campaign tour but is engaged in some ‘accounting
to the people’ tour. These insincerity and lies from President Mahama and the NDC
are even more shocking in the light of clear and present evidence that
President Mahama is engaged in outright campaigning in these so-called ‘accounting
to the people’ tours.”
Several Instances
Citing instances to buttress the party’s point, Nana Akomea said, “On
Thursday, February 4, 2016, President Mahama, while addressing the people of
Nyanoa-Kwaobaah, demanded to be given a second term so he could ‘start putting
money in your pockets.’ On Tuesday, April 12,
2016, he told the people at Atimpoku, Apeguso and Bosso in the Eastern Region
that those who had attained the age of 18
should register when the register was opened in order to ensure that they exercise their
franchise to retain the NDC in power to continue the transformational
agenda..."
The statement further indicated, “On Tuesday, June 28, 2016,
President Mahama told a crowd in his Ashanti Regional tour that he deserved a
second term. He repeated this demand on Wednesday, 29th June.” “On Thursday,
July 14, 2016, while addressing the chiefs and people of the Mamprugu Traditional
Area, President Mahama repeated his demand for a second term.”
According to the NPP, President Mahama again went to “admonish the chiefs
and people of Mamprugu to ignore their kinsman, Dr Bawumia, and vote ‘massively’
for him (President Mahama) as in his words, “Your brother may not be a true
brother.”
The opposition party noted, “These demands by President Mahama to be
retained, given a second chance or voted for again, have been repeated
throughout his tours nationwide.”
Incumbency Abuse
Nana Akomea said in the statement that “The NDC used to decry what
they termed ‘abuse of incumbency in political campaigning,’” adding, “Sad to
relate, President Mahama is indulging big time in incumbency abuse.
“In this campaign tour, there are over 400 billboards across the
country, branding of public buses, GBC TV
and radio live broadcasts etc., all at the expense of the poor Ghanaian
taxpayer,” the statement observed.
“Footage on President Mahama's visit to Yendi for instance, shows a
trail of over 40 heavy duty Landcriusers. All these expenses and the NHIS
remain underfunded; and unpaid feeding grant for schools in the North keeps our
schools closed.”
More Exposures
According to the statement, the ‘lies’, ‘untruths’ and ‘inconsistencies’
were not limited to the matter of President Mahama's campaign tour saying, “In
the recent matter of the very important electricity tariffs, the deputy
minister for power and the ECG announced on Monday, 4th July, 2016, that
tariffs per unit of electricity would be
reduced from 67 pesewas to 34 pesewas,
to be funded from government provision of a subsidy amounting to GH¢300
million.”
“Three days later, the president himself contradicted the July 4 announcement,
stating that there was no subsidy and that any reduction in tariffs would be
achieved through some ‘realignment’ of tariff bands and pricing. While
Ghanaians were in this state of confusion, the Finance Minister, Seth Tekper, also announced on Tuesday, 12th July, 2016, that subsidies would be provided,” the statement recalled.
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