Inconsistencies between President's statement and NPP manifesto worrying - News Editor

The Editor for the Patriot Newspaper, Peter Bamfo has expressed worry over conflicting statements made by President Akufo-Addo and the Vice President on the Cape Coast airport.

He believes the president was not fully aware of the content of the New Patriotic Party’s (NPP) manifesto prior to its launch.

According to him, this was made evident in an interview the President granted on Friday prior to the launch of the NPP’s manifesto launch on Saturday in Cape Coast.

In an interview with Happy 98.9 FM’s Samuel Eshun, on the Happy Morning Show, the editor said, “A very interesting thing happened at the NPP manifesto launch last Saturday. The President and the Vice President both sang from different hymn books.”

He indicated that a day before the manifesto launch, the President in an interview stated that his government was not going to build an airport in Cape Coast because it is not needed presently.

The President is reported to have said, “This is a place (Cape Coast) which is one and a half hours from the capital which has a major international airport and there is also an airport in Takoradi. The response of the government should come after the matter has been thoroughly examined and the need has been established and the ministry of Aviation has begun the process to be able to decide whether the need for the airport can be justified”. This was his answer when reacting to the “No Airport No Vote” protest organized by some residents of Cape Coast in March.

However, at the party’s manifesto launch on Saturday, the Vice President announced that the New Patriotic Party (NPP) will build both a harbour and an airport for Cape Coast when re-elected into power.

He said, “For the people of Cape Coast, I have good news for you. We are building a new harbour in Cape Coast and a new airport in Cape Coast because it is known to be a tourist destination and as such it was very strategic to situate a harbour and an airport in Cape Coast.”

Peter Bamfo said, “I don’t know if the president was given a copy of the manifesto or not. It is a serious matter for the President and flag bearer to say the people of Cape Coast do not need an airport for his Vice to counter that.”

He noted that the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) presented a copy of their manifesto draft to candidate Mahama and expected the same to have been done by the NPP but it seems otherwise.

“Apparently, the president had not read the manifesto to know if there was going to be an airport in Cape Coast or not. It is sad. It seems he may have read and heard bits and portions of the manifesto and not because he knew it entirely.”