Expensive political billboards are wasteful - DPP

Accra, July 7, GNA - The flag bearer of the Democratic People's Party (DPP), Mr Thomas N. Ward-Brew, on Monday condemned the use of giant and expensive billboards mainly by the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the main opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) to project their flag bearers for Election 2008 saying are a waste.

He said: "Former Vice President, Professor John Evans Atta Mills, NDC's flag bearer and former Foreign Affairs Minister, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, NPP flag bearer, are known political figures, so planting their effigy across the country has no effect. The funds should have been used to promote development projects.

"What the electorate is looking for is not the distortion of their sight with pictures of these flag bearers but their ability and capability to transform the nation, reduce poverty, fight corruption and the drug menace, create enabling environment for individual development."

Speaking in an interview with the Ghana News Agency, Mr Ward-Brew called on the electorate to demand accountability from politicians, especially the NDC and NPP, who were spending huge sums of the money on their campaign.

On the campaign plan of the DPP, Mr Ward-Brew said the party would launch its manifesto by the end of the month, choose a running mate in August, and later launch the main campaign to cause a major political shock in Ghana's history by winning the December polls. He said: "The DPP's manifesto is a departure from the promise, promise, promise but focuses on realistic economic development strategies."

It is designed to re-organise the challenges facing the country, particularly low productivity, rising corruption and other social vices. Mr Ward-Brew said a DPP government would project gender equality, defuse the tribal war and vigorously promote national unity, adding "my government would be committed to probity, accountability, integrity and prosperity".

The DPP flag bearer also condemned the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA), Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) and Association of the Ghana Industries (AGI) for discriminating against minority parties in their invitation to flab bearers to present their programmes to voters.

He said these institutions created a campaign platform for flag bearers of the four parties with representation in parliament to interact with the electorate without offering the same opportunity to the rest of us. "This selectivity defeats the tenets of multi-party democracy," he said, and called on the three institutions to create similar platforms for others to give alternative ideas to the electorate. "We must not deny the electorate the opportunity to assess all the flag bearers," Mr Ward-Brew stated. 7 July 08