‘NDC can’t blame NPP for economic hardship’

The Upper East Regional Organizer of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Mr. Yaw Mort, has strongly criticized the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC) for always accusing the opposition party for the country’s economic mess.

He said the poor performance of the Mahama administration should not be linked to the election petition, and that it was rather due to the bad management of the country’s resources by the President and his appointees.

Speaking in an interview, Mr. Mort stated that since President Mahama went about his official and legitimate duties as President at the time the court case was ongoing, the NDC cannot turn around to accuse the NPP of inflicting hardship on Ghanaians by going to court.

President Mahama and the NDC have openly criticized the NPP for contesting the presidential election results in court which the Electoral Commission had declared Mahama as winner.

According to the President and his governing party, the NPP leadership knew they had lost the election and, therefore, should not have gone to court; but they chose to go to court just to slow down the economic progress of the country. This way, they would turn round and blame them for poor governance.

The NDC claimed the election petition brought about uncertainty as investors did not come to invest in the economy.

But Mr. Mort disagreed and said the current economic hardship was as a result of poor performance and bad management of the country’s resources by the President and his team members.

In his view, the political power of Ghana found its way into wrong hands, but he is optimistic that when the NPP is given the mandate in 2016 to govern, things would improve and Ghanaians would no longer suffer the kind of hardship they are going through now.

Mr. Yaw Mort, who is also seeking re-election in Saturday’s regional executive election, debunked the assertion by some of his own party people that they, the incumbent executive, contributed to the poor performance of the party in the 2012 general elections.

Though he agreed that the party did not perform as expected, the problem was a national one which reflected in some other regions.

According to him, if he is retained, he would embark on a unity campaign across the region to ensure party members’ grievances were resolved before the elections.

Mr. Mort is facing stiff competition from Mr. Jerry Asamani and Mr. Karim Ahmed Bediako in tomorrow’s election.