KEY POINTS
- Mustapha Gbande says the NPP lacks moral authority on corruption.
- NDC won’t let NPP weaponize the dollar gift for politics.
- The dollar gift act was legal but poorly timed and wrong.
Mustapha Gbande, the National Democratic Congress’s (NDC) deputy general secretary, attacked the New Patriotic Party (NPP) for being morally untrustworthy.
NPP lacks moral authority to criticize dollar gift gesture
He claimed that the NPP lacked the power to denounce the dollar gift incident involving Mr. Sammy Gyamfi, the acting CEO of Goldbod.
In response to the incident, Gbande made the comments on Tuesday, May 13, when he appeared on JoyNews’ The Pulse.
The NPP’s response to the widely shared video of Mr. Gyamfi offering money to self-styled preacher Nana Agradaa was ignored by him.
Gbande questioned the opposition’s attitude on corruption-related issues and called the NPP’s accusations politically self-serving and hypocritical.
NDC accepts public backlash but says NPP lacks moral authority
According to Myjoyonline, NPP members have no right to publicly criticize the NDC for corruption and label them as corrupt symbols themselves.
While acknowledging the negative reaction to the May 11 event, Gbande cautioned against letting political rivals take advantage of the matter.
He maintained that in order to gain political points with the public, the NDC would not want the NPP to use the issue as a weapon.
Gbande stated Mr. Gyamfi’s gesture was badly timed and improper given his public position and present political conditions.Although it was not illegal, he said he shared the opinion of many Ghanaians that the action was poorly thought out.
He insisted that even though Gyamfi didn’t break any laws, his position required him to behave more responsibly and in public.
Gbande, who is also a presidential assistant, stressed the party’s responsibility while acknowledging the unease of the public.
Even with the best of intentions, he emphasized, the gesture did not connect with the people and raised legitimate concerns.
“We acknowledge our responsibility and stand by our colleague in sincerely apologizing to the Ghanaian people,” Gbande stated.
He promised that such behavior would not recur and that the party is still dedicated to taking public input into consideration.
