Ignore 'fake' media stories on Botchwey Committee report - NDC

The opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) has in a statement rubbished news articles postulating reasons for the party's defeat in the 2016 General elections as chronicled in the Botchwey Committee report.

The statement comes on the back of a publication by the Daily Guide newspaper 'fingering' two close associates of former President John Dramani Mahama as major contributors to the party's defeat in last year's polls.

The news article alleged that aide to the former President, Stanislav Xoexe Dogbe and former Communications Minister, Dr. Edward Omane Boamah had been heavily criticized in the report of the Professor Kwesi Botchwey Committee that investigated why the National Democratic Congress (NDC) embarrassingly lost the December 7, 2016 general elections.

According to the story, parts of the report state that apart from the former president, who was described as living a life of a movie star’ in the run-up to the crucial general elections, the two aides should also take a portion of the blame for the NDC’s unprecedented defeat.

The story read "Between Pages 26 and 27 of the 65 page Executive summary of the 455-page report which the NDC has kept like a state secret, it recounted how the behavior of Stan Dogbe, in particular caused the then ruling party’s massive defeat."

But the opposition NDC has rubbished the report describing it as a move by the NPP to save itself from public pressure following the recent increase in petroleum prices.

Read below the full statement by the NDC

The attention of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) has been drawn to yet another series of false publications by the Daily Guide newspaper and which are being circulated as excerpts from the Professor Kwesi Botchwey Committee report.

The said reports, published on Tuesday September 19 and Wednesday September 20, 2017 by the Daily Guide are false, and are not contained anywhere in the report of the Professor Kwesi Botchwey Committee.

We have observed, rather sadly, that such deliberate publications about the NDC and especially the former President only come up when the Nana Akufo-Addo government has its back to the wall due to scandals or public agitation, this time arising from increasing fuel prices, increasing cost of clearing from the ports, negative fall outs from a poor implementation of the free SHS programme, public rejection of the attempt to rewrite the country’s history among others.

These are obviously more important issues the Daily Guide should be writing on instead of concocting stories about the NDC and its officials and publishing same.

Mr. Kofi Adams

National Organiser