Posted: Daily Guide |Friday, 05 March 2010
By Charles Takyi-Boadu
THE OPPOSITION New Patriotic Party (NPP) has provided just enough evidence to disprove the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) and its leadership’s claims that they were not invited to the former’s national delegates conference in Kumasi.
The party has been compelled by the raving and ranting of the likes of Johnson Asiedu Nketiah, the General Secretary of the NDC, and Richard Quashigah, the Propaganda Secretary, to provide substantial evidence of the invitations extended to the party.
The evidence included a receipt voucher which accompanied the invitation letters sent to the national chairman of the NDC, Dr. Kwabena Adjei, the NDC as a party and various political parties and their national chairmen, twenty-two clears days before the main event; February 5, 2010.
A copy of the receipt voucher, which is in the possession of DAILY GUIDE, indicates that not only the NDC, but the Convention Peoples Party (CPP), Peoples National Convention (PNC) and the Great Consolidated Popular Party (GCPP) indeed acknowledged receipt of the invitations extended to them.
In the case of the NDC, and for that matter its national chairman, Dr. Kwabena Adjei, the voucher indicated that one Bonney at the party headquarters duly signed and received the invitation on his behalf.
For this reason the NPP believes that if for one reason or the other Dr. Kwabena Adjei and the NDC failed to respond and honour the invitation, they should not create the impression that they were not invited.
The NPP believes that the NDC deliberately did not show up at its national delegates conference and for that matter their claims are false.
The opposition party thus demands that the ruling party retract statements suggesting they were not invited.
Communications Director of the party, Kwaku Kwarteng yesterday said they were making the documents public in order to stop the NDC from misinforming Ghanaians.
“We think it is healthy for our democracy that relationships be clean; political parties be cordial”, was how he put it, stressing that “this will conclude the matter and that the NDC retract their denial and apologise to the people of this country”.
As of yesterday, Asiedu Nketiah, popularly known as General Mosquito, was still insisting on Citi FM that the party that did not receive the invitation.
His argument was that it was not brought by a senior member of the NPP, and that accounted for the confusion.
In a related development, the International Democrat Union (IDU) has congratulated the NPP for a successful national delegates conference.
A statement signed by its General Secretary, Eirik Moen recognised the invaluable contribution of the party’s former chairman, Peter Mac Manu.
As party chairman and chairman of the Democratic Union of Africa (DUA), the statement said “Peter Mac Manu has been an excellent global ambassador for the NPP, as well as a superb DUA chairman”.
It thus expressed hope and optimism that the DUA will be able to benefit from his experience and good council for many years to come.