The Opposition National Democratic Congress, NDC has disowned one of its Communicators in the Ashanti Region, Dr William Atta Wusu for saying the next NDC government if elected, will implement a rearing of Lions as part of its 24-hour economy policy.
The Communication member within this week has been under attack after appearing on Kesseben TV, in Kumasi making a bizarre comments when discussing the NDC 24-hour economy policy.
In the video of 2:26 minutes, Dr Atta Wusu who was recruited into the Ashanti Regional NDC Communications Team last year to use his knowledge to help the party said the NDC as part of its 24-hour economy policy will introduce a modern farming technique where there will be a rearing of wild animals such as lions and elephants where a Chopper will fly over its location to feed them.
He continues that this initiative which is under the Agricultural sector will gain employment for students from the KNUST and also generate income for the country by exporting the wild animals for dollars to build the economy.
However, the said comments which even got the Host of the show confused have sparked widespread discussion and confusion regarding Dr Wusu’s affiliation with the NDC, with the party quickly distancing itself from him.
The NDC has been finding it difficult to explain the policy with gurus churning out bizarre explanations.
Dr Wusu is regarded as a high level member having seen him in the company of NDC flagbearer John Dramani Mahama and Nana Oye Bampoe Addo, secretary of manifesto committee of the party among others.
Scores of netizens including the members of the ruling New Patriotic Party, NPP after the video, have also taken on the NDC Communicator on social media by chastising him for making such comments as well as mocking the NDC party with images of Lions.
However, the NDC members, who are already struggling to explain the 24-hour economy policy to the electorate have disassociated themselves from the comments and also disowned the Communicator saying he is not their member.
In a statement, the Ashanti Regional Communications Officer for the NDC, Abass Nurudeen said Dr Wusu is not a parliamentary candidate nor a member of the NDC’s regional communications team.
He emphasized that the views expressed by Dr Wusu in the video, do not represent the party’s official stance on the 24-hour economy policy.
He further urged producers of political talk shows in the Ashanti Region to adhere strictly to the list of approved NDC communicators when inviting representatives to their programs.
“My attention has been drawn to a video in circulation in which one Dr. William Atta Wusu is seen on Kessben FM offering a bizarre explanation of the transformational 24-hour economy policy of the NDC”.
The statement said “For the records, Dr. William Atta is neither a Parliamentary Candidate nor a member of the NDC’s regional communications team that I lead. The views expressed by him on the 24-hour economy policy don’t in any way represent the position of the party”.
“We urge all producers of various political talk shows in the Ashanti Region to stick to the approved list of communicators sanctioned by the party in inviting representatives of the NDC to their programs” the statement underscored.
NPP Concerns
In an earlier reaction, the Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, Samuel Abu Jinapor, has pooh-poohed the 24-hour economy mantra of the NDC.
According to him, the John Dramani Mahama-led opposition NDC is not trustworthy enough to carry through the promise, owing to their track record from 2013 to 2017.
The Member of Parliament for Damango explained that it was the government, led by the same John Mahama, which plunged the nation into an erratic power supply that collapsed businesses in a 12-hour economy and cannot, therefore, be taken seriously to implement a 24-hour economy.
Speaking on Saturday, February 17, 2024, at his acclamation as the Parliamentary Candidate for the Damango constituency in the Savannah Region, he told the supporters that NDC itself is struggling to explain the policy, stating that since its inception the party has never been able to make any substantive policy propositions to the Ghanaian people.
“All of a sudden, from nowhere, out of the blue, they say 24-hour economy. And when you ask them what the 24-hour economy means, they either say Jack Toronto or something else. They are not able to explain it. And sometimes they say it will mean that Ghanaians will have an economy not by day alone, but by day and night, 24 hours. “But the last time they were in government, from 2013 to 2017, for the four years that they were in government, they subjected this country to dumsor,” Jinapor argued.
He continued, “They subjected this country to erratic power supplies and, therefore, when they were in government, even in the day, not in the night, in the day, tailors could not work; in the day, there was no economy for welders; in the day, there was no economy for carpenters; in the day, there was no economy for fitters; in the day, there was no economy for thousands, hundreds, and millions of Ghanaians not in the night”.
-BY Daniel Bampoe