Brochure gaffe: NPP has no moral right to call for probe – Adu Asare

Kojo Adu Asare

Presidential staffer Kojo Adu Asare has taken a swipe at the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) for making political capital out of Ghana’s 59th Independence Day brochure gaffe.

Asare concurred the error-laden brochure embarrassed the nation, but insisted the main opposition party lacks the moral right following its track record to call for a probe into the scandal.

His comments come in the wake of NPP’s call for an independent investigation into the printing of the over 3000 error-ridden brochures for Ghana’s 59th Independence celebration. The NPP believes the findings can inform future actions to prevent a recurrence. Ghana has been ridiculed for capturing Kenya’s President, Uhuru Kenyatta, who was the Guest of Honour at the parade, as the President of Ghana in the brochure among a litany of unpardonable errors.

The gaffe has been generally condemned and some politicians say it is a manifestation of government’s incompetence. Acting head of the Information Services Department has been sacked and the Communications Bureau at the Flagstaff House is now under direct control of the Communications Ministry.

But a livid Asare, who spoke on Accra-based OK FM, said the NPP should be the last to attempt to feed on the current incident since they are worse culprits.

“Listen to who’s talking? Does the NPP think Ghanaians have forgotten about the litany of embarrassment they took this country through? They should give us a break,” he told show host Kwame Etikese.

He asked: “Wasn’t it under this same NPP that Ghana suffered the biggest embarrassment ever in its life when a simple voter ID card had its colours turned upside down? Instead of the colours of the national flag, horizontal stripes of Red, Yellow and Green, didn’t the NPP government print the Voters’ ID cards with horizontal stripes of Green, Yellow Red? So our cards were in the colours of Senegal? What was the NPP’s response to such a serious embarrassment? Did they call for a probe into that scandal?

“Isn’t it under the same NPP regime that its first Finance Minister signed a loan agreement in the German language, which he could neither read nor write? Isn’t it under this same NPP that the same Finance Minister brought a CNTCI loan to Parliament for consideration where it was later found out that the address of the company was actually a hair dressing saloon in London?

"Wasn’t it under the same NPP regime that saw an Attorney General filing a case in court and titled it the President versus Tsatsu Tsikata, instead of the Republic versus Tsatsu Tsikata?

“They should tell Ghanaians which of these issues compare with the unfortunate mistakes in the brochure. NPP should please leave Ghanaians alone.”

The former Adenta MP advised the largest opposition party to focus on selling a message to the Ghanaian electorate if they are really interested to win power and not resort to picking on issues they lack the moral authority to talk about.