We ‘erred’ in criticising Kufuor’s trips – NDC

• Posted on November 10, 2014November 10, 2014
• by Nana Kwesi Coomson
• Comment

The National Democratic Congress (NDC) has acknowledged that it erred by overly criticising ex-President John Kufuor’s frequent travels during his tenure as President of Ghana.

“We do agree that we might have erred in the past to have overly criticised him for those travels because some yielded positive results,” said the Propaganda Secretary of the NDC, Richard Quarshigah.

The NDC is known to have widely criticised ex-President Kufuor for his travels; some of which they alleged were of no benefit to the nation.

The NDC, then in opposition, chronicled President Kufuor’s trips and often used that to discredit the ruling government.

Criticisms over President John Mahama’s travels have however intensified following the refusal of the Speaker of Parliament to be sworn in twice within a space of one week as President.

The need for him to be sworn in became necessary due to the absence of President Mahama and his Vice, Kwesi Amissah- Arthur, from the country.

The President on Wednesday travelled to Burkina Faso in his capacity as ECOWAS chair to help resolve the political unrest in the country.

On Friday, he travelled to Nigeria on the invitation of President Goodluck Jonathan to attend a sporting event.

On Sunday, he is expected to embark on an official trip to the Vatican in Italy and will be back on Tuesday.

Some Ghanaians, including the Deputy Minority Leader, Dominic Nitiwul, have questioned the President’s frequent travels, but according to the NDC, all of his travels are necessary.

Richard Quarshigah, who is also the Member of Parliament (MP) for Keta, on Eyewitness News remarked that “President Mahama’s travels have actually yielded lots of results; lots of investments are coming in, lot’s of loan agreements at the behest of these trips that he made in these past months.”

He admitted that the party overly condemned ex-President Kufuor’s trips because “it got to a point where it was realised that he was taking regular vacations abroad and his entourage usually was so big. I think President Kufuor’s was quite intermittent.”

According to him, President Mahama is ECOWAS Chairman in a sub-region facing serious challenges; therefore, it is unfair to judge him.

“In this particular instance where there is a burning issue in the sub-region, and as the chairman of the ECOWAS, there is the need as it were for him to be alert 24/ 7 to ensure that there is total peace and total tranquillity in Burkina Faso, and if there is need for him to travel out of country at the shortest possible notice, shouldn’t he do that?” he asked.

-citifm