President John Mahama
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.
By William Yaw Owusu