The National Democratic Congress (NDC) has sharply criticized Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia's recent address at a New Patriotic Party (NPP) gathering in Kumawu, saying "his use of false claims and misleading information" is unacceptable.
In a news release issued today, the NDC charged the Vice President with spreading falsehoods and demanded clarification on his claims.
Vice President Bawumia asserted that the NPP government had developed more than 150 industries, whereas the NDC had only built two, which caught the NDC's attention.
The NDC vigorously denied this claim, emphasizing how, under their administration, they developed important state-owned industries that were crucial to the expansion of important areas of the Ghanaian economy.
The President Akufo-Addo/Bawumia-led administration, according to the NDC, has failed to build even a single state-owned industry since taking office in January 2017.
They called the assertion that the NDC had built more than 150 factories a "palpable falsehood." The NDC also emphasized that the NPP's 1D1F program, to which the Vice President referred, featured government assistance for private sector ventures rather than the establishment of state-owned companies.
"The Vice President's assertion is an outright untruth. For the record, the former NDC/Mahama administration set up strategic, high-priority state-owned factories that underpinned development in significant facets of the Ghanaian economy, according to the statement.
We have to be quick to remind the Vice President that his alleged claim of 150 factories is related to the government's shoddy implementation of the 1D1F.
He has to educate himself about the true nature of their so-called 1D1F project in order to overcome his ignorance of it. This is due to the fact that none of the alleged 1D1F industries were really constructed by the Akufo-Addo/Bawumia administration.
The news release also addressed Vice President Bawumia's contentious remarks on Guinea fowl traveling to Burkina Faso while the NDC was in power.
The NDC asserted that Bawumia's assertion was false and accused him of distributing false information on purpose.
They made reference to journalist Manasseh Azure Awuni, who had looked into the joint venture initiative between the Asongtaba Cottage Industry and the Savannah Accelerated Development Authority (SADA) for the production and sale of guinea fowl.
The inquiry, according to the NDC, did not turn up any proof of Guinea fowl traveling to Burkina Faso. They said that Bawumia's reiteration of this assertion was absurd and unfounded.
In its final statement, the NDC blamed Vice President Bawumia for the purported collapse and bankruptcy of the Ghanaian economy, criticizing his administration of the economic management team. They urged Bawumia to take his obligations seriously and to abstain from "nuisance comedy."
The statement read, "In fact, it is noteworthy to remind Bawumia and his likes that Manasseh Azuri Awuni, the journalist who investigated the joint venture project between the Savannah Accelerated Development Authority (SADA) and the Asongtaba Cottage Industry for the production and marketing of guinea fowl, is on public record to have refuted this claim.
The press release, which is endorsed by Sammy Gyamfi, Esq., the National Communication Officer of the NDC, asks that Vice President Bawumia retract his erroneous claims and stop disseminating them.
The opposition NDC's forceful response to the Vice President's address demonstrates the escalating political hostility between the two parties in advance of the approaching by-election in Kumawu.
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