Supreme Court live telecast is wrecking the economy - Mahama Ayariga

The Information and Media Relations Minister, Mahama Ayariga has also added his voice to numerous calls that the live telecast of the election case may impact on the economy adversely.

According to him, the live broadcast wrecks the economy and invariably repels investors.

He stated that investors would be enthralled into Ghana when productivity of the country is enhanced but devoting several hours to televise the election dispute before the Supreme Court will negatively affect the generation of revenues for the economy and as a result pose a threat to the nation.

“This is wrecking the economy…So, clearly, it will have an impact on the economy. It will have an impact on revenues because if there isn’t much traffic on the port, there isn’t much traffic in the economy. The income that will be tasked will not be there. And so, ultimately, our ability to deliver on our commitments and our targets may be affected by these things that are happening.”

Speaking on Radio Gold, the information minister also recounted that the NPP’s election petition has put the nation on tenterhooks.

He believed the NPP is bent on getting power at all cost, hence their decision to pursue their case in court even when, according to him, it is clear that nothing went wrong during last year’s general elections.

He explained that what the opposition party wants to achieve is “first, they are trying to undermine the Presidency, the executive arm of government. They are trying to undermine the legislature. And they are doing this in a way that is so contradictory and inconsistent that I’m having a difficulty understanding what kind of opposition we have today.”

He wondered why the NPP did not challenge the validity of the votes cast for its parliamentary candidates in the December, 2012 polls and rather contesting the legitimacy of the president, when it was the same electoral process that gave the Members of Parliament (MPs) mandate to operate.

He therefore stressed that “it seems to me that they will do anything to get to it, even where it is obviously impossible an approach.”