NDC members must be wary of NDP - Nii Lantey

The National Democratic Congress’ parliamentary candidate for the Odododiodoo constituency, Nii Lantey Vanderpuijie, has cautioned all supporters of the party to be wary of the emergence of the new political party purportedly established by the Rawlingses.

According to the Director of Operations at the Presidency, “every political organization needs to be worried about some of these things because every vote matters in an election. One vote can make a difference.”

Mr. Vanderpuijie who launched his campaign on Saturday in his bid to become the MP of the area, in an interview with Breakfast XYZ on Radio XYZ 93.1 FM said, “everyone should be worried. We should be worried even if one person from our camp decides to vote for another party. We should be worried.”

He said in order to arrest the potential repercussion of the creation of the party, all members of the NDC must step out to work sedulously towards victory in the December polls.

“If we are all going to work assiduously, fervently, strongly towards that, [the NDP] would not make any impact” he said, adding “I will develop strategies in order to counter that. I know faithfully, I know strongly that that party would not have any foothold in Odododiodoo.”

Mr. Vanderpuijie said the NDC members must look beyond the NDP to convince supporters of other parties to join the NDC bandwagon. “I am working seriously; I am breaking the back of the NPP almost every day. I am winning people over to our party from the NPP almost every day.”

“I will not allow a soul that I have won to get lost,” he insisted.

August 25 Coincidence

Asked whether the NDC was going change the August 25 date for its official campaign launch, Mr. Lantey Vanderpuijie said an emphatic no.

“We have said we are launching our campaign on that day, they have said they are launching their manifesto,” he asserted adding the NDC was of the view that the NPP had already launched its campaign for the 2012 General Elections so this date should never have been a problem.

He said the fact that the two parties are launching at different places should rest the matter because the essence of the programmes are different in terms of agenda. “I thought we are in competition for attention, so it doesn’t really matter.”

Mr. Vanderpuijie stated that even if the NPP held its manifesto launch at Odododiodoo during his constituency campaign launch he would have pulled more crowd than they would ever pull. People Matter vs All-die-be-die

Mr. Vanderpuijie is certain that the NDC as a party has the populace at heart and therefore is better placed to bring the real meaning of the contentious slogan, ‘People Matter, You Matter’, to bare on the campaign.

He argued that the NPP flagbearer, Nana Akufo-Addo has already affirmed the use of ‘all-die-be-die’ as the official slogan of the party and that the NPP should stop engaging in the tussle for the ownership of the slogan.

“NPP has never said anywhere since 2009 when Nana Addo started going round, he has never said anywhere that people matter to him. All that he has said is ‘all-die-be-die’. ‘All die be die’ has been their slogan throughout. They advertised it, they have worn T-Shirts on television and on radio.”

Mr. Vanderpuije maintained that the NPP has shown over the years that it does not have the interest of the people at heart and therefore should stop claiming ownership of the slogan when it means nothing to them.

“The only way you can build a better Ghana is when you think about the individual, when you think about the people and so far we have shown that the better Ghana agenda has worked for all Ghanaians,” he said.

He said when Nana Addo recently met some chiefs in the North during his tour around the country he (Nana) clearly reiterated his position that ‘all-die-be-die’ is a mantra they intend to hold on to despite the numerous admonishment against it.

No property was destroyed

Mr Vanderpuijie further denied accusations that he commanded his supporters to pull down the billboards of the NPP candidate in the area, stating “these things are just meant to discredit a wonderful thing we did.”

Explaining what happened at the Bukom Park, he said “what we did was that on the Bukom Park, some people have come to erect a structure on the field. The AMA has come to write on it that it should be removed. It wasn’t removed. And that thing was going to affect the programme we were going to have… Nobody touched an y NPP thing there. Nobody touched anybody’s property in Bukom.”

On the contrary, according to Mr. Vanderpuijie, his supporters resisted acts of provocation from the opposition NPP.**