Sports Minister Nii Lante Vanderpuye’s comment that the presidency is not about being short or being bespectacled – a veiled swipe at the flag bearer of the main opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) – is an indication that the government is desperate ahead of this year’s elections, following its poor performance, Mr Anthony Karbo, a Deputy Communications Director of the NPP, has said.

Mr Vanderpuye, who is also the Member of Parliament (MP) for Odododiodio, speaking at the launch of the 2016 campaign of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), explained that God had ordained President John Mahama to lead and develop Ghana.

Without specifically mentioning names, he indicated: “Being a president is not about being tall. It is not about how short a person is. Being a president is not about the spectacles that one wears but the love for one’s country and its people and finding solutions that will benefit citizens.” The description, however, fits opposition leader Nana Akufo-Addo, who is the only presidential nominee in the race that is short and bespectacled.

But reacting to these comments on Monday August 15, Mr Karbo said: “This election is about the NDC’s record in office. These are people who came on the back of ‘I care for you’ and Ghanaian doctors are asking whether, over the last eight years, this government has really shown whether they care for doctors or not. Unemployed graduates will be wondering whether this government really cares about them.”

“ … The energy crisis itself has nothing absolutely to do with whether tall or short. The president is supposed to be tall or of average height but has he been able to resolve the ‘dumsor’ problem? No. Has the president been able to bring down inflation? No. Has the president been able to contain Ghana’s ballooning debt? No. Has the president been able to grow agriculture? No. Has the president been able to resolve manufacturing? No.

“So, once you have all these in negatives, then you will be [telling] yourself it is only a desperate government that will resort to denigrating people on how they have been created by their maker,” Mr Karbo told Citi FM.