The governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) has revealed that the main opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) deliberately did not show up at the former’s National Delegates’ Conference in Koforidua on Saturday, 7 July because the General Secretary, Johnson Asiedu Nketia was not happy that the invitation letters to them were signed by a “low-level” NPP executive.

The NPP’s Director of Elections, Evans Nimako, told Chief Jerry Forson on Accra100.5FM’s Ghana Yensom on Monday, 16 July that Mr Nketia had expected his opposite number John Boadu to have signed the invitation letters which rather bore the signature of the Director of Finance and Administration.

At the conference, there were representatives of other opposition parties who shared goodwill messages except for the NDC, despite having been invited.

Explaining the absence of the NDC, Mr Nketia told Chief Jerry Forson on Ghana Yensom on Accra 100.5FM on Monday, 9 July that the party got the invitation very late.

According to Mr Nketia, after several failed attempts to reach then-acting General Secretary, John Boadu, who was elected substantive General Secretary at the conference, he personally conveyed the party’s inability to honour the invitation to Dr Bawumia at the one-week memorial service for the late Amissah-Arthur.

“We have always been present at NPP functions over the years but this time the invitation didn’t come early,” he said.

He continued: “I had difficulty in accessing John Boadu on phone, he didn’t pick the calls. I also don’t have Freddie Blay’s contact and also the Eastern Regional Chairman of the NDC is sick, so, he couldn’t attend.

“So, when the Vice-President came to the funeral ceremony, I personally gave him the message that we can’t attend the event.”

But in a post-conference analysis, Mr Nimako noted that the NDC failed to show up because Mr Nketia had expressed his reservations about the weight of the signature on the invitation letter sent to them.

“We feel insulted by his comment that a low-level officer in the person of Director of Finance and Administration of our party signed the letter, and, so, they won’t show up.”

“Asiedu Nketia was expecting John Boadu to have signed the letter but John Boadu himself was an aspirant, and, so, he wasn’t directly involved in the organisation of the event.”