IEA Encounter: Nana Addo will appear after manifesto launch – Aide

The New Patriotic Party (NPP) has disclosed that its flag bearer, Nana Akufo-Addo, will appear at the Institute of Economic Affairs’ Evening Encounter with presidential nominees, after the launch of the party’s manifesto on October 9.

The IEA Evening Encounter with the NPP flag bearer has been postponed twice – first in July and later in August.

On Wednesday September 28, the IEA disclaimed that it had issued a release to announce the cancellation of Mr Akufo-Addo’s appearance.

Speaking to Class News about the readiness of the NPP to appear on the IEA platform, spokesperson for Mr Akufo-Addo, Mustapha Hamid said Nana Akufo-Addo will honour the invitation after the party launches its manifesto.

“This is an invitation from a body that is not a constitutionally mandated body. A presidential debate and encounters are not part of our electoral laws, they are just part of the educative processes and processes that enrich discourse in our country, so political parties have the privilege or the opportunity to either accept to be part of that platform or not. Our party somehow committed to be part of this platform. …Of course we said we were going to be part of that platform on our terms and of course that’s what it should be because we are a political party that has programmes that we must also follow so we said we will appear on your platform but we want to appear after we have launched our manifesto. This is because the IEA platform has proven to be a serious platform and, therefore, when we appear on that platform we will be speaking to issues that are verifiable, issues that have legitimacy and claims, and we want that legitimacy to be grounded in our manifesto. So we said we will appear after our manifesto launch” Mr Hamid explained.