Anthony Karbo
The New Patriotic Party (NPP) has described government’s plans to order 2017 presidential diaries, as just another avenue to siphon money from the state coffers.
The Chief of Staff , Julius Debrah recently signed a contract with JIT Services Limited to publish next year’s diaries for the government even though it is not certain that the NDC and President Dramani Mahama will be in power after the December polls.
It was the same company that was contracted to print the 2016 edition of the presidential diary which was said to have cost the state about $10 million.
Speaking to Citi News, the Deputy Communications Director of NPP, Anthony Abayifa Karbo wondered why the NDC is planning to order presidential diaries when the next President is unknown.
He believes the move is just an attempt by the governing NDC to make money.
“Well I am not surprised that they have gone ahead to order 2017 diaries. This is breathtaking arrogance. You are not even sure of your fate in election. You do not even know whether this President will be the President in 2017 but I am sure this is a desperate measure and someone is just seeking to make some quick money and we cannot even have the patience for Ghanaian people to make this decision before they go ahead to print these diaries.”
He therefore cautioned the EC to come clear on issues regarding presidential diaries since such contracts in the past have caused a number of challenges.
“The EC has to be very clear about the situations surrounding presidential diaries. You recall that in time past there was some brouhaha in connection with how much government had spent on the diary and whether there was any competitive bidding process that led to the award of the contract and how much was involved in the xecution of the contract.”
CPP’s take
Meanwhile the Convention People’s Party (CPP) has also expressed concerns about government’s decision.
The party is rather proposing that the funds for diaries should rather be re-channeled into more beneficial projects for the citizenry.
“There are so many things that are not going right like giving reasons and explanations to the current deplorable nature of the economy of the country so the CPP would have expected that government should be mindful and prudent with their expenditure but it appears that government has taken a certain expenditure pattern which doesn’t actually resonate with common sense. Yes the printing of diaries may not be necessarily bad but what good is it going to serve at this critical juncture in the national economy of this country.”
About the diary
The 2017 diary is expected to be a ‘Special Edition’ as stated by the company because according to it, “It will catalogue the achievements of H.E. John Dramani Mahama.”
-citifmonline