General Secretary of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) John Boadu has disclosed that despite announcing publicly to boycott the last Inter-Party Advisory Committee (IPAC) meeting as a result of the coronaviurs scare, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) sent their Deputy General Secretary, Peter Boamah Otokunor, to attend.
But unfortunately, Mr Boadu revealed, Mr Otokunor came to “virtually insult” everybody at the meeting held on Wednesday, March 25, 2020.
He said not even persuasion to have him apologise to the noble members of the Committee could get him to withdraw his comments.
He walked out on all of them, Mr Boadu indicated.
The NPP General Secretary disclosed these on 100 Degrees on Onua TV on Wednesday, May 20.
After the NPP chief scribe disclosed earlier this week that the NDC boycotted the IPAC meeting, same at which the current constitutional instrument (CI) was discussed, Mr Otokunor contested the claims and slammed the NPP national executive.
“This is a concocted bare faced lie that must be treated with the contempt it deserves,” the former Registrar of the Ghana Institute of Social Democracy (GISD) wrote on his Facebook page.
“It is preposterous for John Boadu to suggest to right thinking Ghanaians, that because the NDC protested and walked out of the last illegimate ‘partitioned’ IPAC meeting, that is why the NDC didn’t get the information about the amendments.”
Mr Otokunor further indicated that the NDC have had access to records of the meeting and the issue did not come up for discussion at all.
But JB, as the NPP General Secretary is affectionately called, told host Bright Kwesi Asempa that the issue was well-digested by the political parties present.
It was the same parties who proposed the outlaw of the existing voter ID cards for the new registration, Mr Boadu said, as they claimed that is the cause of the defects in the current register.
He said when Mr Otokunor made the surprise appearance at the meeting, his introductory comments were offensive to all the members as “he said all kinds of things”.
“He virtually insulted everybody there,” he said, shying away from quoting the exact words used by the NDC official.
He said the Electoral Commission, Ghana (EC) even gave him the opportunity to withdraw his words but “he did not”.
“Then, he walked out.”
He expressed surprise that the NDC will come out after barely two months to raise concerns about a decision that has been accepted by a majority of the political parties.
The NPP General Secretary says the NDC cannot be begrudged in challenging the decision of the EC to compile a new register.
“At the end of the day, if you challenge the rules, the rules must be challenged within the laws.”
By Emmanuel Kwame Amoh|3news.com|Ghana