"President Mahama is campaigning indirectly" – Ofosu Ampofo admits

Samuel Ofosu Ampofo, the First Vice Chairman of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) has admitted that President John Dramani Mahama is using his ‘Accounting to the people tour’ to campaign ahead of the November general elections. According to him, the exercise by the President is an indirect way of campaigning. President Mahama is on a nationwide tour showcasing developmental projects undertaken during his reign over the last three years. The tour which has so far taken him to the Western, Eastern and Volta Regions has seen him commissioning projects and cutting sods for road constructions while encouraging Ghanaians to retain him in power to continue with his works.

But the opposition parties, particularly the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the Progressive People’s Party (PPP) strongly feel the president is simply abusing incumbency and campaigning under the guise of “Accounting to the People” by using state resources.

 “As a growing democracy, we should be able to distinguish between purely party campaign activities from government activities, because these are the areas of concern in abuse of incumbency and how they relate to impartiality in elections….Because if you use government activities to portray the image of your party’s activities then I think that is an unfair treatment to your other presidential candidates….Is the president the one accounting to the people of Ghana or the NDC party who is accounting to the people.

From my look of things I believe the President is hiding behind his tour which he has named ‘accounting to the people’ to solicit votes for his party for the coming polls,” 2016 Campaign Manager of the NPP Peter Mac Manu categorically stated in an interview

The Editor-in-Chief of the New Crusading Guide Newspaper Abdul Malik Kweku Baako, has also criticized President Mahama for campaigning under the guise of accounting to the people. Speaking on Peace FM Wednesday, he described NDC communicators who are not bold enough to admit that the president was campaigning as cowards, adding that the President’s tour has an electoral capital effect.

However, Mr Ofosu Ampofo who was on the same programme with Mr Baako said “it is implicit and one does not have to tell that”, he conceded. He said the tour by the President is his way of accounting to the people for his stewardship, a style that is totally different from the one adopted by ex President Kufour where he chose to rather assemble the media at the castle and account to Ghanaians through them (media).

“As soon as President Mahama started showing how his government has used the loans secured by the country after being challenged by the opposition, then the political quantity surveyors started asking how much money was spent on the various projects. It is important that President Mahama showcases his achievements to the people.”