NPP Boycotts ‘PR Forum'

NPP Boycotts ‘PR Forum'

By Mohammed Awal

The New Patriotic Party (NPP) will not participate in the four-day National Economic Forum, which will take place at Akosombo this week, the National Chairman of the NPP, Paul Afoko, has hinted.

NPP National Chairman, Paul Afoko

Describing the Forum as a government "PR gimmick," the NPP said they would not be part of any "incongruous arrangement," adding that the John Dramani Mahama-led administration had exhibited seemingly "bad faith" in the lead up to the National Economic Forum.

 The party said aside the late invitation to the Forum, they are also not privy to the base document on which discussions would be based on. "As we speak to you now, we are still unaware of the base document and the content thereof to be used at the forum," complained the NPP.

Based on these, Mr. Afoko told the media yesterday that "the NPP unequivocally declines the invitation to participate."

According to the NPP, the Forum is a deliberately schemed propaganda and PR gimmick, meant to hoodwink the good people of Ghana, in the face of the monumental hardships bedeviling them.

The first-ever National Economic Forum, which starts today, is aimed at achieving national consensus on policies, strategies, and measures to arrest the failing economy, and also accelerate Ghana's transition from a lower middle income nation to an upper middle income economy.

The NPP, again, disagreed, arguing that the government was just being "disingenuous" to Ghanaians, and that the Forum was a calculated attempt to keep Ghanaians in the dark on the real state of the economy.

Not against the Forum

According to Mr. Afoko, the NPP was not against the Forum. "In principle, we in the New Patriotic Party (NPP) are not against a National Economic Forum, however, in its present form, it offers us no opportunity to significantly engage in the process. We believe that such an important forum should have been initiated collaboratively."

Lack of ideas behind NPP boycott

The Executive Secretary of the Ghana Free Zones Board (GFZB), Kwadwo Twum Boafo, said the NPP's boycott of the forum is as a result of lack of common ideas to help the government resolve the current economic turmoil bedeviling the nation.

He told Asempa FM that the idea was a "brilliant" one and worthy of emulation by successive governments.