KEY POINTS
- Kwabena Agyepong, a senior member of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), accuses the NDC of lacking a clear campaign message and using illegal mining (galamsey) to divert public attention.
- Agyepong claims the NDC is trying to focus on galamsey to distract voters from their lack of policy direction ahead of the 2024 elections.
- He emphasized that the NPP has been addressing key national issues, urging Ghanaians to focus on development rather than political distractions.
Kwabena Agyepong, a fierce member of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) has accused the National Democratic Congress (NDC) of failing to come up with a proper and substantive campaign agenda as the country prepares for the 2024 elections. Agyepong said the NDC has made the fight against ‘galamsey’, which literally means illegal mining, an albatross in order to camouflage their inability to provide solutions to the problems facing the nation.
In a speech delivered at an event, Agyepong claimed that the NDC is using the issue of galamsey to divert the attention of the public from their failure to come up with clear development agenda for Ghana. He said the NDC has made a habit of focusing on galamsey in order to divert the attention of the public from the fact that the party lacks policy direction.
Galamsey: a political distraction?
Agyepong’s view was that even though galamsey is still rife and a problem, the NDC is wrong to make it the main campaign point. He opined that the opposition party should rather channel its energy in other national issues like economy, development of infrastructure, education and employment.
For his part, Agyepong pointed that the government of Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo of the NPP party has been implementing polices in the areas that concern sustainable development.
In an interview with GhanaWeb, Agyepong noted that the NPP has done a lot in education, infrastructure and in the management of the economy and that these are the areas of discourse that should be of interest to Ghanaians. He accused the NDC of not coming out with new ideas to address the current problems facing the country and instead resorting to the issue of galamsey.
NPP calls for development agenda
Agyepong called on Ghanaians to concentrate on the achievements of the NPP government in handling important issues in the country instead of what he referred to as political gimmicks. He stressed on the continuity of the government and said that the NPP is more capable to deliver the promises of growth and stability.
The problem of galamsey has been one of the burning political topics in the context of the politics of Ghana with both NPP and NDC parties criticized for incompetent in fighting illegal mining.
As for the NPP, the party has introduced several activities aimed at anti-galamsey operations and, according to the opposition, the problem still remains, which results in serious environmental problems and economic damage. But Agyepong leapt to the defence of the government and said that the NPP is determined to solve the galamsey issue in the right manner.
Looking for a constructive political discussion
With the 2024 elections in the offing, there are expectations that politics in Ghana will move up a notch and focus on issues and policies. Continued and uncontrolled assault/ calling by the owners of the Corps has been observed, prompting founder of the NPP Agyepong to switch to the defensive and to speak positively about the gains made in every sector that is in doubt by the owners of the Corps.
According to the party they think that if they continue to remind the Ghanaians of their achievements and the future plans they have in place then the people of Ghana will vote for them again in the next elections.
On the other hand, the NDC goes on to make fuss over some or some problems such as ‘galamsey’ and governance to make themselves relevant as a not-too-powerful option to the incumbent administration. With the election season adding pressure to the trader and consumer activities, the Riparian parties are expected to take more attention of the voters.
