Johnson Asiedu Nketia
The National Chairman of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), Johnson Asiedu Nketia launched a salvo at President Akufo-Addo yesterday, claiming that his recent address in Parliament only served to deepen the anxiety, hopelessness, and uncertainty about the country’s future.
“It was all too clear that this government is grappling with the extent of the crisis they have created, let alone figure out what to do to bring us out of the mess,” he stated.
Mr. Nketia stated in his “True State of the Nation” address in Accra yesterday that President Akufo-Addo has failed to persuade Ghanaians that “there is any end in sight to the suffering and pain that his government’s reckless and misguided policies have brought on us.”
“In the end, he cut an image of a leader who is hopelessly out of touch with the reality and genuine difficulties of his people; a President who believes that burying himself in a delusional bubble will make the problems vanish,” he added.
Even worse, according to the NDC Chairman, was the continuation of the discredited attempt to avoid responsibility for the economic atrocities that have brought Ghana to “this depressing point.”
He said, “Whilst they engage in vain glory, Ghanaians have to deal with the daily consequences of a collapsed economy.”
He claimed that the Akufo-Addo administration attempted to conceal the causes of the country’s disaster in order to avoid responsibility.
“We in the NDC, the only viable alternative to this bungling government, deem it necessary to straighten the records and expose the untruths presented to the nation through Parliament by President Akufo-Addo and to highlight that our dire state is self-inflicted and deliberately so by this government,” Mr. Nketia intimated.
According to him, NDC members believe that Ghanaians are suffering as a result of the NPP government’s ineffective and reckless governance over the last seven years.
NPP Response
However, in a swift rebuttal, the leadership of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) described the NDC’s address as mischievous, claiming that it was laced with propaganda.
“True to their unrepentant character, the NDC turned the press conference into a campaign platform, peddling blatant falsehoods, unsubstantiated allegations, and unprovoked attacks at the persons of the President, the Vice President and the Government of the NPP, the party said in a statement.
The NPP stated in a statement signed by General Secretary Justin Kodua Frimpong that ordinarily, the party would not have responded to “Asiedu Nketiah’s empty statement and unmeritorious effusions since he is no stranger to Ghanaians when it comes to such political theatricals.”
“However, paying regards to the enormity of the allegations and falsehoods he spewed, the NPP has decided to set the records straight by responding to the same with incontrovertible facts and data in order to assist discerning Ghanaians make an informed decision,” the NPP indicated.
“Details of the NPP press conference to respond to the NDC’s misrepresentations on the state of the nation would soon be made available. Notice is accordingly served,” the statement concluded.
BY Ernest Kofi Adu