Ghana’s Ambassador to Burkina Faso, Boniface Gambila says flagbearer hopefuls of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP), who are disputing government’s attribution of the prevailing economic crisis to the Covid-19 pandemic and the Russia/Ukraine War, will have questions to answer should they win the contest.
Speaking in an interview on State of Our Nation, Mr. Gambila said although it may be a mere propaganda tool to win the presidential primary, their utterances, which seem to put the party and its government in bad light, will come haunting them if they happen to be elected flagbearer of the party, thus, they must embrace themselves to answer questions that will be thrown at them in the aftermath of their victory.
“After this contest, we will come back together to contest 2024 and then whatever one says out there will follow the person and then they will need to know what communication strategy, what informed that (to be able to offset the damage). If it is true that they are disassociating themselves from the developments and things that have happened (in the government), then if you win, you’ll be able to explain further,” he stated.
As campaign for the flagbearership slot of the NPP heats up, some of the aspirants appear to be throwing their party and its government under the bus as they dispute claims by the Akufo-Addo’s administration that the country’s economic turmoil are as a result of the geopolitical tension between Russia and Ukraine as well as the Covid-19 pandemic.
Some of them including the party’s former General Secretary Kwabena Adjei Agyapong, serial contestant Dr. Kofi Konadu Apraku, MP for Assin Central Kennedy Ohene Agyepong and former Energy Minister Boakye Agyarko have argued that the situation cannot be solely blamed on external factors and that the government should admit that its failures have also contributed to the crisis.
Mr. Kwabena Agyapong, for instance, has gone further to urge the party’s electoral college not to entrust the leadership of the party in the hands of the people who played roles in the government that have brought the country to its knees.
But reacting to this, Boniface Gambila, who was a former Upper East Regional Minister under the Kufuor’s administration, said the government has delivered creditably well on its mandate.
He said although the aspirants are aware of this excellence performance of the government, their contestation of the reasons advanced as the cause of the economic meltdown is a communication strategy to woo the delegates.
“Sitting from their corners, they can have their communication strategy to suit them and what they think will suit their target audience. So that’s not a problem. But the facts are clear on the ground. Things that have been done and things that are yet to be done”.
He, however, served notice that there will be consequences due to their utterances and they must embrace themselves to face them.
