Spio-Garbrah calls NPP tribalistic and ethnocentric

Former Trades Minister Dr Ekwow Spio-Garbrah has labelled the New Patriotic Party (NPP) as an ethnic-based party and having been so for at least the past 16 years.

He said no wonder a senior member of that party can claim that only five regions can produce a president for Ghana.

Speaking on the sidelines of his party’s announcement of some major decisions from the Kwesi Botchwey report, Dr. Spio-Garbrah insisted that the National Democratic Congress (NDC) is the only party in Ghana that is really national.

“It’s a national party that on a normal day has more supporters than NPP because it’s a national party,” he told journalists on Tuesday.

“It’s not a tribal or ethnic-based party as the NPP has been for 16 years,” he added, “where their leadership comes from basically a particular set of regions of the country.”

He said the NDC is not particularly interested in where their leader hails from.

“There are some parties who have declared that in their opinion their leaders or Ghana’s own leadership should not come outside of some five Akan-speaking regions and that is a problem.”