Dr Edward Omane Boamah
In a desperate attempt to tag Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) presidential candidate, as a dictator and divisive leader who should not be voted for, the Minister of Communication, Edward Omane Boamah, has rather called on members and supporters of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) to vote for the ‘elephant’ (symbol of the NPP) on December 7.
The minister, who has always described the flag bearer of the NPP as “a bad old man” who takes pride in violence, committed the political blunder saying, “If we vote for ‘all die be die,’ the country will go backwards… but due to the love we have for our country, we are going to cast a good ballot. This means we are going to vote for the Elephant on the ballot paper for the country to move forward.”
Dr. Omane Boamah openly endorsed the New Patriotic Party as a party that would move Ghana forward when voted into power while addressing NDC supporters in Koforidua, the Eastern Regional capital, on Saturday to crown its campaign activities.
He later issued a rejoinder saying that his words had been twisted. “My words to the effect that ‘we shall cast our ballots correctly even in the stronghold of the elephant’ has been twisted and misreported,” he said in a statement issued yesterday.
He said he rather admonished the electorate, particularly those in the strongholds of the opposition New Patriotic Party, not to be afraid of any intimidation by the NPP and vote massively for President John Dramani Mahama to renew his mandate.
Veep’s Fear
The minister’s speech seemed to surprise Vice President Paa Kwesi Amissah-Arthur and the party gurus at the rally ground and feared that it would obviously be capitalized on by their main political rival – the NPP – 72 hours to the general election.
When he got to hear that the communication minister’s speech was trending like wild fire, he quickly urged the party supporters to vote massively for the Umbrella and not any political party.
The vice president deliberately chorused the word ‘umbrella’ without giving any message but only urged the party supporters to vote for the “big umbrella” (President Mahama) and the parliamentary candidates in all the 33 constituencies of the region.
FROM Daniel Bampoe, Koforidua