General Secretary of the largest opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), Johnson Asiedu Nketia has accused the President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo of campaigning to win power in this trying times than staying committed to fight against covid-19.
According to him, Ghanaians should not delude themselves into thinking the President Akufo-Addo means whatever he says, especially on measures put in place to fight the COVID-19.
“One of the eyes of the President is largely focused on how to win the 2020 elections in the midst of COVID-19; that is the area of most concern to the President. Thus every measure he has put in place in the fight against novel coronavirus is geared towards winning the next elections. The second objective of the President and that is obviously not his priority, is his fight against the COVID-19,” he asserted.
He reiterated that “at any point, if the President has to choose between what will make him win the next election and the one that will win the fight against the virus; he will definitely go for winning the next elections”.
Explaining further his claim, he said the president has on countless times chosen rejected decisions by experts to initiate policies that will win him power.
“I am talking about the behaviour of the President and not the speeches he has read to us, in the fight against Coronavirus. Behaviour in any situation is more important than the words used to address the situation. And sadly, the conduct of the president in the fight against Coronavirus contradicts his words . . .
“The President gave some directives to ban all public gatherings including going to church and mosque as well as political campaigning which were good in order to stop the spread of the new coronavirus . . . later, we realised that the NIA which is directly under the Office of the President in the wake of the President’s order to stop public gathering was still engaging the public to register people in the Eastern Region.
“So, we asked, is the President’s word not different from his behaviour? It is also reported that one of the clergies who was part of the President’s meeting at the Jubilee House asked him (the President) about the National Identification Authority (NIA’s) conduct (which was in direct contravention of his order), and he replied that he was unaware until some NDC Executives in the Eastern Region took the matter to court . . . We got to know later that the President is aware of the operations of NIA when his lawyers filed an appeal against the court’s ruling.
To him, it was only the public’s intense agitation that stopped the National Identification Authority (NIA) from resuming the exercise to register Ghanaians for their Ghana Card.
