The Deputy Minister of Communication, Felix Kwakye Ofosu, has reacted angrily to the New Patriotic Party’s (NPP) description of President John Mahama’s ‘Akufo-Addo sleeping’ comments as “unpresidential”.
According to Mr. Ofosu, the NPP is morally deficient, thus lacking the stature to criticise Mahama for his comments.
President Mahama campaigning in the Western region Tuesday hit back at the presidential candidate of the NPP Nana Akufo-Addo, stating that he must have been sleeping to have missed the numerous achievements of his government in the region.
“During my campaign in 2012, I realized that most of the roads here are very bad. I made the promise to invest heavily in roads here if I am elected President. I have kept my promise. Under the cocoa roads programme, most of the projects are in the Western Region. The majority of roads in this region, are many, I cannot name them. I heard someone came here and said he had not seen these roads. I am sure he was sleeping at the time,” he said.
But speaking at a press conference Wednesday the acting General Secretary of the NPP, John Boadu said that the President’s language was unfortunate and “unpresidential”.
“The president had a false start by resuming campaign rounds with insults. We all know that John Mahama is too sensitive to fair criticism but it gives him no excuse to use ‘unpresidential’ language against his opponents, chiefs and the people of the Western Region,” said Mr. Boadu.
This, however, did not go down well with Mr. Ofosu who is also deputy spokesperson of the NDC 2016 Campaign team.
Speaking on Starr Today Wednesday, he said: “I’m not sure that the NPP is in any position to lecture anybody about presidential conduct, especially when it (NPP) is a party that has no regards to the use of decorous language.”
He said there was nothing wrong with the president’s comments and that it was high time Ghanaians expose the NPP for its duplicity.
“This is a party that consistently has been cited for the use of abusive language through a scientific survey done by an organization [and] they have taken absolutely no step to curb it and months after months they continue to lead. They have done absolutely nothing. He is the General Secretary (John Boadu). Maybe he should tell you what they have done to reign their members so that they don’t engage in that kind of insulting behavior and yet they turn around and come and say that the president says somebody has come here and the roads have not been repaired perhaps he is sleeping,” he said.
Asked to be specific by host Bernard Nasara Saibu, Mr. Ofosu maintained that “I’m saying that the NPP is not in a position to speak about offensive language because they are the purveyors of offensive language in this country.”
The Deputy Minister of Employment and Labour Relations, Baba Jamal added that the president has been charitable in his jab at Akufo-Addo.
“The President was even charitable with him,” Mr. Jamal said on Starr Chat Wednesday.
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