Veep debunks Bawumia’s claims

The Vice-President, Mr Kwesi Amissah-Arthur, has debunked claims by the New Patriotic Party’s running mate, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, that the Mahama-led administration has run down the economy.

Dr Bawumia in a lecture last Friday among other issues accused the government of mismanaging the economy to the level where interest payments currently had exceeded capital expenditure.

But Mr Amissah-Arthur who addressed a rally at the Mandela Park at Ashaiman in the Greater Accra Region on Sunday to launch the Greater Accra eastern corridor campaign hit back at Dr Bawumia, describing his claims as hollow.

Reaction

He explained that “anybody knows that when I borrow money to pay for a road and it is going to take me 10 years to pay for that road, I take one tenth of the money and use it to pay back from the person I borrowed the money from.”

According to the Vice-President, it was a basic economic procedure that interest payments for which money was used for were classified and that all Dr Bawumia did was to pick and choose figures to suit his political agenda.

“At the appropriate time, we shall respond in full measure to all the lies that have been told. We shall correct him and teach him the things that he does not know,” Mr Amissah-Arthur said.

He told the rally of NDC supporters that President John Mahama had worked hard to develop the country to its current state for which reason he deserved a renewed mandate.

Cautioning party supporters against complacency, Mr Amissah-Arthur urged the rank and file to close their ranks and work assiduously to clinch a one-touch victory at the December polls.

The Vice-President used the rally to introduce the NDC parliamentary candidates from that part of the region and asked candidates who lost their primaries to support the elected candidate.

He said the NDC had expanded its delegate base to give an opportunity for all its members to elect parliamentary candidates and  rally behind them.

Speakers

Speaker after speaker called on the electorate to retain President Mahama, since he had demonstrated the kind of leadership that could transform the country.

The National Organiser of the NDC, Mr Kofi Adams, who doubles as the campaign coordinator, charged supporters of the NDC to take the campaign to every nook and cranny of the country.

“We will sell our message from room to room, door to door, market to market, church to church and mosque to mosque,” he said to cheering NDC supporters.

A Presidential Staffer, Mr Sylvester Mensah, said the NDC had targeted a victory margin of not less than 1.5 million of aggregate votes in the Greater Accra Region.

Additionally, he said the party was poised to capture 25 seats out of the 34 seats in the region. The NDC currently holds 20 parliamentary seats.

The Greater Accra Regional Chairman of the NDC, Mr Kobina Ade-Coker; the Member of Parliament for Ashaiman, Mr Alfred Agbeshie, and the Ga South Municipal Chief Executive, Mr Jerry Akwei Thompson, also addressed the rally.