Four opposition parties have condemned government for side-lining them during the maiden edition of the Government of the Peoples Forum held in Tamale.
In an attempt to showcase government’s achievements made so far, some Ministers and other government functionaries addressed a large gathering in Tamale and responded to question from the participants.
But the New Patriotic Party (NPP), the Peoples National Convention (PNC), the Progressive Peoples Party (PPP) and the Democratic Freedom Party (DFP) have accused government of deliberately marginalizing them in an event which was national in character.
[contextly_sidebar id=”gI37fwGtHGURAYSx2zMVjMMBymVWZKCw”]NPP Northern Regional Secretary Sule Salifu, the PPP’s regional Organizer, Alhaji Kwame Mohammed Mutala, the PNC regional communication’s Director, Seidu Abdulai Napodoo and the DFP regional communication’s Director, Dauda Keillan claimed the absence of the opposition parties meant the event was turned into an “NDC propaganda workshop.”
In a joint press statement copied Citi News, they stated, “the absence of the major political actors from the opposition turned the otherwise national program into an NDC propaganda workshop for its party functionaries giving Ministers of State free for all time to praise themselves thereby limiting the space and time for questions and answers.”
The statement added, “the presence of the opposition political parties would have brought clarity to issues such as the collapse of the National Health Insurance Scheme, the worsening unemployment situation, massive corruption under the John Mahama government and the filth the Tamale metropolis is faced with.”
They further took a swipe at government for peddling falsehood in the media on some projects which are yet to be executed in the Northern Region.
“Government would have been exposed on the claim that it has worked on the Banvim road, the construction of the Gnani and Kumbungu roads and the doubt we have over the sugar factory yet to be established in the Savelugu district: the sheabutter factory established at Buipe has since its establishment not produced a bucket of sheabutter for local consumption and for export.”
They thus advised government to involve all political parties in matters of national concerned as means of promoting building national consensus.
“We finally submit that the so-called Government of the Peoples Forum was yet another NDC propaganda workshop to teach their party people to say a cow when it is a goat and as means to continue to waste scarce resources under very corrupt circumstances.”
By: Abdul Karim Naatogmah/citifmonline.com/Ghana