NPP members fear being sacked for admitting party’s wrong direction- President Mahama

President John Dramani Mahama says members of the opposition New Patriotic Party, (NPP) are afraid to admit that the party is heading in the wrong direction ahead of the elections.

According to the president, many party members are silent on the issue for fear of being sacked or suspended.

“I’m campaigning and I’m saying that we need at this stage of Ghana’s history somebody who can bring the country together and my opponent’s track record does not fit that role because in his own party, he is not able to bring his people together. Today; it is the truth, people can’t criticize Akufo-Addo in NPP, if you criticise him, they will suspend you or sack you or his attack dogs will set on you. Ask people in NPP, they are quiet, they can see the bus is going to crash but if they say it they will attack them. So they are waiting for the bus to crash, and when it crashes, I said they will take the bus and send it to Kokompe to repair it and put it back on the road for 2021.”

President Mahama said these in an interview with Host of Metro TV’s Current Affairs Program, “Good Evening Ghana” Paul Adom Ochere in Accra on Tuesday evening.

The president recently described the NPP’s flag bearer Akufo-Addo as a “dictator” and a “divisive” figure at a rally in Bimbila in the Northern Region,

He further told voters the NPP flag bearer is too “dangerous” for the destiny of the nation to be entrusted into his hands.

The president’s sustained attack on the NPP leader follows a bitter internal party politics which led to the suspension of three national executives and the death of the party’s Upper East Regional Chairman of the party.

The NPP has subsequently criticised the president for targeting Nana Addo for attack.

Addressing a press conference in Accra on Thursday, 25 August, Mr Boadu said the NPP is at peace.

“We wish to tell the president that the New Patriotic Party is not divided; we wish to tell him that the only fight that the NPP is involved in is the fight to rid Ghana of his bad leadership,” he said.

“The attacks, much to our bemusement, are being led by the commander-in-chief himself, our president. It is said that if you want to know the true colour of a person, see how he behaves when under pressure. President Mahama is now showing his true colours. Rather than addressing the myriad problems the country is facing, he has reduced his bid for re-election to a manifesto of lies and insults against Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo,” he added.

But President Mahama believes the main focus of the NPP flagbearer should be to unify the party ahead of the elections.

“He should learn to accept criticism, I do, people insult me, vilify me, I don’t utter a word. And so when I say you cannot unify your party so you cannot unify Ghana and I think that the kind of president Ghana needs at this stage in our history is one who can bring us together. And so you must prove a track record that you can bring people together and most people do not think that he can do that,” he said.