Deputy Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture, Dr Ziblim Iddi has revealed the New Patriotic Party (NPP) cannot fulfil its campaign promises by 2020.
According to Dr Ziblim Iddi, who says he was being “realistic”, said the promise by the NPP to build a theatre for each region was not time bound.
“If you go to the manifesto, we didn’t put timelines on this. If by 2020 we are not able to do all 10, Ghanaian should be rest assured that if given the second chance and I know they will give us the second chance, this President will complete it,” he said in an interview with Joy News MzGee.
“To be realistic, we are not at a point where I can say that in this four years, the first term of this President we will be able to do that and I am just being realistic about it but in the end this President [Akufo-Addo] will likely be given an 8-year mandate by the people of Ghana,” he added.
The Deputy Minister came under heavy criticism after he indicated the NPP did not promise to build new structures when it canvassed for votes from the showbiz fraternity with the incentive of giving the industry a theatre per region (‘One Region, One Theatre’) in his previous interview with MzGee.
Dr Ziblim Iddi directed his critics to the NPP manifesto which, according to him, talks about pursuance of the construction of theatres.
“I’ve gone back (sic) severally to look at the manifesto, the clause on theatre. We said we will pursue the construction, we didn’t say we are going to build new theatres in all 10 regions so interpretation can mean where you find one on-going you pursue it, where there is none, you initiate and construct,” he explained.
Asked if he thought the communication in the manifesto was ambiguous hence the varied interpretation, Dr Ziblim Iddi said: “people are entitled to their opinion.”