NPP’s ‘Spare Tyre’ Attack Was Ill-Timed - Nii Lantey

Director of Operations at the Presidency, Nii Lantey Vanderpuije, believes members of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) are nothing more than simply “bad politicians” who only spend time and energy to indulge in petty name calling and baseless personal attacks even when the nation is in grief and mourning the loss of its president.

He was reacting to a press conference held by the NPP earlier this week.

On Tuesday, August 14th, 2012, less than a week after the burial of President J.E.A. Mills, political activity earnestly started across the country with the NPP, led by its National Chairman Jake Obetsebi Lamptey, describing President John Mahama and his Vice, Paa Kwesi Amissah Arthur as “spare tyres” who should be voted out of power by Ghanaians in the upcoming general elections.

At a press conference held in Accra, the NPP accused Mr Mahama and his Vice for being responsible for the economic hardships that Ghanaians are plagued with. The opposition party also added that nothing has changed with the coming into office of the Mahama-Amissah Arthur’s uninspiring caretaker team.

But the Director of Operations at the Presidency considers the press conference and remarks made at the function ill-timed. To him, the somber state of the nation should have informed the NPP that the time was not yet due for such needless attacks to be bandied about in the political arena.

Nii Lantey Vanderpuije reckons that irrespective of one’s political affiliation, now is the best time to work together in ensuring that the peace of the nation was strengthened.

He lauded President Mahama for being the gentleman that he was by not responding to the snide comments about his person when he had the opportunity to do so during his first “Presidential Broadcast” to the nation.

Speaking on Metro TV’s Good Morning Ghana Show, Nii Lantey, who is also the NDCs Parliamentary candidate for Odododiodio constituency wondered how some members of the NPP could exhibit high professional standards when they were called upon to be part of President Mills’ Funeral Planning Committee, and yet, their (NPPs)leaders simply disregarded how grief-stricken Ghanaians were just to engage in business as usual by launching a blistering attack on the presidency.

“We worked with Hon. Elizabeth Sackey, Hon. Esther Dapaah, Hon. Opare Hammond and K.T. Hammond at the funeral committee, and I sat down sometimes when they were making points and I asked myself, ‘Am I hearing correctly? Are these the same people I have been listening to all these while?’…I also gauged the reactions of the NDC people within the committee working with them…if we can work like this, why then do we paint a different picture to the people out there? Are we not the people who are rather misinforming and misleading the people out there into taking certain actions which continually heighten the tension in our political discourse?” he quizzed.