Sammy Gyamfi schooled on Global Citizens Festival in South Africa

After lying about President Akufo-Addo's visit to South Africa, one would have expected Sammy Gyamfi to learn, but no, the newly elected communications officer of NDC, has rather doubled down on his ignorance.

Sammy Gyamfi did not only lie, he has shown gross incompetence and lack of understanding when it comes to global issues. For someone who is the lead communicator for the NDC, one would have expected Sammy to have researched extensively, on the subject matter before calling President Akufo-Addo's visit to South Africa "useless".

The Citizen Mandela Festival is designed, partly, to celebrate the former Icon and what he stood for. More importantly, the festival partners with world leaders to achieve Global Goals for Sustainable Development and ending extreme poverty by 2030.

Essentially, the festival was not just for entertainment, it brought together; world leaders, top celebrities, corporations and to raise billions of dollars to end extreme poverty, end world hunger and improve education. The initiative is expected to impact the lives of 130 million people.

So I ask, who is better to attend an SDG related program than Akufo-Addo, the Co-chair? For those who do not know, Akufo-Addo is the co-chair of the UN SDG program. Consequently, common sense should tell Sammy that the co-chair of the SDG cannot stay at home when an initiative designed to raise money for the program is happening, especially, in Africa.

So Akufo-Addo was not in South Africa to party as Sammy Gyamfi wants the people of Ghana to believe. He was part of an innovative solution to use Global Citizens, in this case, world class musicians, to raise billions to support a cause that matters to the entire world.

It's my fervent hope that the leadership of the NDC and those who genuinely care about the image of Ghana will take time and advise Sammy on his utterances.

Just imagine a headline in the global media like, "Ghana's Opposition Rubbishes Relevance of SDGs and the Mandela Global Citizen Initiative”.

Just imagine the embarrassment, for a moment.

Just imagine that a country whose last two presidents were co-chairs of SDGs now rubbishing it.

Just imagine Ghana's biggest opposition party undermining an initiative the entire world is rooting for.

Sammy needs to understand that he represents the biggest opposition party in our country. He needs to understand that his utterances matter, now more than ever. He needs to understand that his utterances will be linked to John Mahama who was once an SDG co-chair and currently fighting so hard to lead Ghana again.

We all make mistakes as young and upcoming politicians, but what we must not do, is to double down when we make mistakes in an attempt to mask our errors.

Seriously, Sammy needs to elevate the discourse or cease being the communications officer and adopt the title “Propaganda Secretary”.