Akufo-Addo will not attend IEA debate – Kweku Baako

The Editor-in-Chief of the New Crusading Guide Newspaper, Abdul Malik Kweku Baako has said he’s hugely disappointed that the largest opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) and it’s Flagbearer Nana Akufo Addo, decided not to attend the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) evening encounter (debate) ahead of the December 7 elections.

The three-time Presidential candidate’s turn at the IEA debate which was scheduled for August 9 was called off indefinitely without any reasons put out by Institute.

That was the second time the IEA has called off the evening session with the former attorney general after an initial date in July also failed to pull through.

President John Mahama and the NDC also declined to participate in the encounters which has become a feature in Ghana’s elections beginning in 2000.

But speaking on Joy News Programme News File Saturday, Abdul Malik Kweku Baako stated that whoever was waiting for Nana Akufo Addo to attend the IEA debate must forget it, as his independent checks reveal that Nana Akufo Addo will never make it to the IEA debate.

He said the NPP missed the opportunity to use the IEA platform to sell its Presidential candidate and his vision for Ghana to the electorate in the period leading to the crucial elections.

“I’m so disappointed that the NPP and Nana Akufo Addo did not get onto the IEA platform…my own checks shows it is not going to happen. I do not think the NPP showed enough commitment, they gave all sorts of reasons about…we are waiting to deal with our manifesto before we come on board, two or three times, there is no formal letter from the NPP to the IEA as to the reasons why its candidate is not going to appear on the IEA platform. I say it’s a disappointment, it won’t happen now because it’s too late because of the way the campaign sequence is,…it’s too late. That is why I’m firm in my mind that they decided not to participate in it. The debate won’t happen, that is a disappointment I have to express publicly.”