‘Akufo-Addo Is Not Broke’

Contrary to media reports that the campaign team of Nana Akufo-Addo, an NPP presidential aspirant is cash strapped, Mustapha Hamid, the spokesperson of Nana Akufo-Addo says there is no iota of truth in the report saying “it is the figment of people’s imagination”.

It would be recalled that an Accra based tri-weekly newspaper “The Lead” in its Tuesday, 29th June, 2010 edition reported that the former is grappling with financial difficulties making it extremely hard for his campaign team to travel to the nook and cranny of the country.

The reports hinted of Nana’s campaign collapsing before August 7, the day of the election if some millions of Ghana cedis are not injected into his campaign.

Speaking to Citi Fm’s Shamima Muslim, on the station’s ‘Eye Witness News,’ Mustapha Hamid labelled the publication as “malicious, wicked and barbaric” designed to malign the efforts of his boss (Nana Akufo-Addo) who according to him, is far ahead of his fellow contenders.

He averred that “there is no way such publications would divert our attention from where and what we want to do,” stressing that the Akufo-Addo campaign team comprised experienced politicians and therefore would not be deterred by such “frivolous news articles”.

Although he admitted that touring the whole nation to reach out to every NPP member was not an easy task, Nana had more than what he needed to compete in the flagbearership race.

Asked where the campaign team is currently, he disclosed that Nana Akufo-Addo is in the Upper East Region selling “his campaign of hope and prosperity” to NPP delegates of the party.

“As I speak to you, we are in the Upper East region trying to convince them on why we think Nana Addo should be given the chance to lead the NPP in 2012.

… We are aware of how discerning NPP delegates are and we must explain to them why the Nana Addo ticket should be endorsed for the second time, so we are on the ground”, pointing out that his bosses’ team is not prepared to engage in what he described as “media war”.

Continuing, he said he could not fathom why people out of sheer hatred could sit in their office and concoct “something” just to dent the efforts and images of people whom they have never seen before.

He added that people must learn how to live in harmony with persons they share different political or social ideologies with.

“For me democracy is all about learning to agree and disagree so people should be circumspect of their actions and inactions,” Mustapha noted.

Against that background, the Islamic Religion Lecturer at the University of Cape Coast seized the chance to advise media personnel to refrain ‘arm chair journalism’ by cross-checking their information before going press with it.

“I do not recollect ever seeing a news like that but I think people who wants to earn a reputation in whatever profession they engage in should be guided by the work ethics”.