General News of Tuesday, 25 September 2012

Source: The New Statesman

NDC runs away from politics of morality

The National Democratic Congress (NDC) has called for a truce on the politics of morality that subjects public office seekers to strict moral standards since, according to the party, no human being is a saint and therefore can be fallible.

According to the NDC, even the first man created by God (Adam) erred and as such the public discourse of subjecting leaders to moral standards is totally unfair, stressing that those discussions will not solve the nation's socio-economic problems.

Kojo Adu Asare, Member of Parliament (MP) for the Adantan Constituency, made the call on Asempa FM.

“I think this country and its citizens should move away from this candidate is a womaniser and has this number of children with this number of women since those issues will not solve the bread and butter problems affecting the country”, he stated.

In March this year before the unfortunate demise of President Mills, Deputy Finance and Economic Planning Minister Fiifi Kwetey told Ghanaians at the NDC's “Forum for Setting the Records Straight” that the 2012 elections was going to be won or lost on moral grounds.

The sudden-u-turn by the NDC comes in the wake of questions being raised at various quarters about the 'moral uprightness' of President John Dramani Mahama.

President Mahama has confirmed the long-held public knowledge that he had engaged in extra marital affairs with a number of women and given birth to a number of children out of his adulterous lifestyle.

In an interview with the African Watch magazine, President Mahama, however, insisted that he was not a womaniser, though he had fathered undisclosed number of children outside his legitimate marriage.

The President claimed in the interview that his wife understood him and did not have any problem with his adulterous lifestyle.

Since President Mahama's public confirmation of his adulterous lifestyle, many people have been asking some questions they believe demand responses from the President.

For instance, how many children has he fathered out of his adulterous activities? Does he adequately cater for all the children? Does the extra burden of fatherhood put pressure on him to find extra income to cater for them? Could that lead him to engage in corrupt acts?

Could he be committed to the fight against HIV/AIDS? Why did he not see the wisdom in the use of condom to prevent a possible contraction of HIV?