“If what has been reported is true, then it is prudent for President Mahama to come out with the names of those who ‘chopped’ his money without using it for the campaign…When NDC lost the elections in 2000, such blame game did not happen but since the 2016 defeat, there have been several issues being bandied about….there is no iota of truth in the report that some NDC officials ‘chopped’ former President Mahama’s money…resources did not come from Mahama but rather the party sourced for its own campaign funds,” says Eastern Regional Chairman for the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), Bismarck Tawiah Boateng.
The NDC National Executive Committee member wants the party’s 2016 flagbearer, former President John Mahama to name party officials who took money from him (Mahama) but failed to campaign with it.
Sounding unsure of the authenticity of the report that former President Mahama claimed some members of the Functional Executive Committee of the NDC took monies from him [Mahama] prior to the election campaign, Mr Tawiah Boateng stressed that campaign funds rather came from the party.
The Former President is said to soon name some members of the Functional Executive Committee (FEC) of the NDC who prior to the elections collected huge sums of monies from him on several occasions on behalf of the party for campaign purposes.
This follows reports that some members of the FEC have gone round telling people the President failed to resource the party which resulted in the NDC’s defeat at the polls. He has rather been accused of channelling funds directly to Parliamentary candidates and some voluntary groups.
But Tawiah Boateng, speaking on Okay FM’s Ade Akye Abia Morning Show averred that it is prudent for former President Mahama to come out with the names of those NDC officials who took money from him to campaign but pocketed it so that the current blame game in the party ends.
“If what has been reported is true, then it is prudent for President Mahama to come out with the names of those who ‘chopped’ his money without using it for the campaign so that the blame game will end. When NDC lost the elections in 2000 such blame game did not happen but since the 2016 defeat, there have been several issues and it is making it difficult for the Kwesi Botchwey Committee to come out with an accurate report to ascertain the truth,” he said.
He insisted that “there is no iota of truth in the report that some NDC officials ‘chopped’ former President Mahama’s money” because to him the “campaign money did not come from Mahama but rather the party sourced for its own campaign funds”.
“But if indeed former President Mahama has granted such interview and there is any truth in the report then he should come out with the names of those NDC officials so that the truth will come out and some of us, our names will be cleared in order to continue with our work for the party as we are supposed to”, he posited.
“Every day we are blaming one another for our defeat and if we had won the elections, what would we have done? Would we have named and praised all those who have helped in winning the election? Yet, with the defeat, we are pointing accusing fingers at ourselves”, he lamented.
source: peacefm