150m cedis manifesto was platform rhetorics

None of the individuals who bought the New Democratic Congress (NDC) manifestos at colossal amounts at an auction in Accra prior to the 2000 elections paid up.

"There is no evidence that those who pledged paid up, they were just platform rhetorics," the Minority Leader in Parliament, Alban Bagbin told the Public Agenda.

One of NDC's defeated parliamentary candidates – Opoti Botchway, had the rare opportunity of carrying away a copy of the manifesto, which were allegedly autographed with the blood of the former President Rawlings, for a whopping sum of 150million cedis. Two other persons also carried copies of the book for comparable amounts.

They were just pulling a fast one on the Ghanaian public, according to the Minority leader, Mr Bagbin who made the disclosure when asked if he was not being hypocritical when he never questioned those actions, but is crying foul, when someone gave money to bolster the security of the President at his private residence at the Airport residential area.

According to this paper, the Minority Leader said his role then, as the chairman of the Legal Committee in Parliament did not permit him to take on those issues. They were the duties of the Minority and their leader but his present role, as the minority leader requires him to question those actions. "The worst scenario in any democracy is for the minority to sink into a state of mere acquiescence," he added.

The Minority in Parliament over the last week has been calling on the President to a pay for the amount used to bolster his security in his residence. They are also asking the tax authorities to go into the books of the philanthropist, Kwame Marfo, who donated 41 million cedis to the State, to put the issue to rest.