The First Vice Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Freddy Blay has defended the Party’s decision to boycott the upcoming National Economic Forum insisting the party is ill-prepared and would not make a meaningful impact should it partake.
The National Economic Forum is scheduled to take place from the 13th to the 16th of May in Akosombo where stakeholders are expected to deliberate on issues affecting the Ghanaian economy and raise solutions to them.
Aside this, the National Economic Forum further seeks to achieve a consensus on policies, strategies and measures that are, required to accelerate Ghana’s transition from a lower middle income nation to an upper middle income economy with sustainable path of development that guarantees improvements in the quality of life for all Ghanaians.
However, the New Patriotic Party has declined an invitation to partake in the upcoming forum saying it is a sheer PR gimmick and a propaganda tool being used by government to delude citizens of the real state of the Ghanaian economy.
Explaining the rationale behind this decision, Freddy Blay revealed that “The NPP was invited to come and participate in this economic forum that takes place tomorrow. We did make it clear at the press conference that the invitation was extended to us on Friday although it had been dated on the letter that the invitation was being sent on the 2nd of May.”
He further stated that “We [The NPP] have not been told what exactly is going to be talked about. We [The NPP] have not been given any document based on which we could gather people to make an input in the forum. When you are been invited to take part in a forum you don’t go and talk off your head. You don’t go and say this is my view and so on.
You need to gather facts, figures and know what kind of policies that government is bringing on the table. For you to say we already have an idea of the economic difficulties Ghana is going through you only prescribing confusion for an already difficult situation,” he added.
By: Benjamin Epton Owusu/citfmonline.com/Ghana