Blame aspirants, not NPP for opulence – Hamid

Minister of Information, Mustapha Hamid, has dismissed claims that the New Patriotic Party’s [NPP] recently held National Delegate’s Conference in Koforidua was ostentatious and a waste of resources.

Responding to Mr. John Hayward’s [UK Conservative Party rep] solidarity message that there were more “posters than delegates’ at the NPP Conference, Mr. Hamid said the NPP should not be blamed, but rather the over 40 aspirants who contested the various positions.

Speaking on Citi TV’s Face to Face with Godfred Akoto, Mr. Hamid likened an election to a psychological warfare.

He said aspirants were looking to gain the upper hand by spreading their campaign paraphernalia.

‘’Election is psychological warfare; somebody says Politics is war without warfare. Therefore, you ought to at any point in time be seen to inflict as much psychological trauma to your opponents as possible. And the way to inflict Psychological trauma on your opponent is to show that you have every place covered and the way they do that is to populate the place with posters, banners, leaflets, and so on.”

The Official Government spokesperson explained that accusations of extravagance and ostentation concerning the NPP Conference should be directed to the aspirants and not the party as a corporate body.

Mr. Hamid further stated that the NPP conference in Koforidua was not “ostentatious but rather untidy”.

“So if people have gone out of their way to raise money, to do these things, I don’t necessarily believe it shows ostentation on the part of the party as a cooperate body. You may want to accuse the individual of being ostentatious. But it becomes necessary in their bid to outdo their opponents”

A representative of the Conservative Party in the United Kingdom, John Hayward, during the recently held NPP Conference in Koforidua described as a waste of resources the numerous posters of aspirants in the national executives’ election of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP).

According to him, monies spent on such posters and banners could be used to improve the lives of Ghanaians.

“I came through the streets today, and I saw so many posters, posters of the wonderful candidates here in this conference. But I had to reflect. I think I saw more posters than the delegates here at this conference and I wondered, ‘is this really the best use of our resources?’”he quizzed.
Omari Wadie replies John Hayward

Meanwhile, the newly elected Third Vice Chairman of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP), Michael Omari Wadie, justified the splashing of numerous posters and billboards to market aspirants who participated in the party’s national executives’ election which was held on July 7.
NPP okayed 11.4 million loan.

Ahead of the conference, the newly elected NPP chairman, Freddie Blay was widely criticized for personally procuring some 275 buses for all NPP constituency offices across the country.

The issue had generated controversy with the opposition political parties and civil society organizations, including his closest contender, Stephen Ntim describing it as vote-buying.

According to reports, Mr. Blay as a guarantor, paid 3 million dollars which constitutes 30% of the total cost of 11.4 million dollars and has taken delivery of the first 100 mini buses.
Freddie Blay’s spokesperson, Richard Nyamah, subsequently explained that Freddie Blay contracted a loan facility from the Universal Merchant Bank (UMB) to procure the 275 buses and that the constituencies will pay for the bus over a two-year period.

Amid the allegations of vote buying, Richard Nyamah has revealed that the New Patriotic Party (NPP) was behind the acting Chairman’s decision to purchase a bus for each of the party’s 275 constituencies.

Mr. Nyamah said discussions were held with the NPP and that the party “agreed and okayed the deal.”

Credit : citinewsroom.com