Former President Jerry John Rawlings has mounted a spirited defence for the Presidential Candidate of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), saying he is not a person who engages in tribal politics.<\/p>\n
According to him, despite Nana Addo\u2019s shortcomings, \u201ctribalism is not one of them,\u201d hence must not be tagged with such attributes.<\/p>\n
President Rawlings made the comment in a statement in reaction to claims by former Minister of Transport, Dzifa Attivor, suggesting that the NPP has a negative agenda against key personalities in the governing National Democratic Congress who hail from the Volta Region.<\/p>\n
Dzifa Attivor is on record to have said that she and the current Minister of Transport, Fiifi Kwetey, are likely to be jailed under an NPP government and has thus called on NDC members to ensure that the NDC does not lose the upcoming elections to the NPP.<\/p>\n
But a statement signed by Jerry Rawlings rebuked Madam Attivor for making such comments.<\/p>\n
\u201cI do not subscribe to the politics of ethnic bias and never have. While I may not be a fan of the NPP, I know their presidential candidate is not tribalistic or ethnocentric. Whatever Nana Addo\u2019s shortcomings, tribalism is not one of them. Some known and respected Voltarians like Nutifafa Kuenyehia should be able to testify to his political nature,\u201d he noted.<\/p>\n
Ex-president Rawlings also cautioned politicians to make their arguments based on \u201ctruth and desist from emotional and non-factual statements.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAs we draw closer to the next Presidential and Parliamentary elections we all as Ghanaians expect ALL parties involved in the process to base their arguments and campaign rhetoric on the truth and desist from emotional and non-factual statements, especially where my name has to be mentioned. I implore the electorate not to allow immature behaviour and pronouncements to cloud their judgment,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
NPP tagged with tribal politics<\/strong><\/p>\n The NPP\u2019s flagbearer, Nana Akufo-Addo, has for long been tagged by the NDC as someone who condones tribal politics because of some comments he is alleged to have made in the past.<\/p>\n The NDC has in some instances accused Nana Addo for silently condoning supposed ethnocentric comments made by some members of his party.<\/p>\n Nana Addo has however rejected the tag and has called on his party folks to run a campaign devoid of ethnocentric comments.<\/p>\n The NPP flagbearer during his Rise and Build Tour in the Western Region last year said: I\u2019m not coming on any tribal agenda in Ghana; I\u2019m coming on a Ghanaian agenda for all the people of Ghana.\u201d<\/p>\n Below is the full statement from former President Rawlings:<\/p>\n STATEMENT ON ETHNOCENTRIC COMMENTS BY DZIFA ATTIVOR<\/strong><\/p>\n My attention has been drawn to a statement made by a former Minister for Transport, Dzifa Attivor at a political event at Wodoaba in the Volta Region.<\/p>\n I find it distasteful that aside making ethnocentric references accusing the NPP Presidential candidate of being tribalistic, she also insinuated that because I was the Founder of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), the electorate in the Volta Region should vote for the party on that basis.<\/p>\n Before making such unfortunate statements let\u2019s remove the logs in our own eyes.<\/p>\n I do not subscribe to the politics of ethnic bias and never have. While I may not be a fan of the NPP, I know their presidential candidate is not tribalistic or ethnocentric. Whatever Nana Addo\u2019s shortcomings, tribalism is not one of them. Some known and respected Voltarians like Nutifafa Kuenyehia should be able to testify to his political nature.<\/p>\n As we draw closer to the next Presidential and Parliamentary elections we all as Ghanaians expect ALL PARTIES involved in the process to base their arguments and campaign rhetoric on the truth and desist from emotional and non-factual statements, especially where my name has to be mentioned.<\/p>\n I implore the electorate not to allow immature behaviour and pronouncements to cloud their judgment.<\/p>\n Thank you. Former President Jerry John Rawlings has mounted a spirited defence for the Presidential Candidate of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), saying he is not a person who engages in tribal politics. According to him, despite Nana Addo\u2019s shortcomings, \u201ctribalism is not one of them,\u201d hence must not be tagged with such attributes. President Rawlings […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":209815,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[58,10,11],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n
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\nBy: Godwin A. Allotey\/citifmonline.com\/Ghana<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"