President of the Ghana Union of Traders Association of Ghana (GUTA), Dr Joseph Obeng, has said political parties who have outdoored their manifestos have only made known their intentions to the public but could be taken seriously only if their policies are implemented.

According to him, the Association cannot be brainwashed by any political party who holds stakeholder meetings with GUTA for interactions.

His comments come after it was reported earlier that flagbearer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), John Dramani Mahama, held a secret meeting with some executives of the Association on Wednesday, September 16.

In an interview with GhanaWeb, Dr Obeng stated that “GUTA welcomes every political party and its manifesto if it is presented to us for us to be educated on but one thing I also want to say is that manifesto does not influence our thinking and that we see manifestos as a mere declaration of intentions…it is only when things in the manifesto have been implemented and real solutions have been found in them by the trading community, that is when manifestos become relevant to us and we want to make this point clear to all political parties so that they will take their own manifestoes serious and work on them”.

He noted that “What will inform our mind is to compare previous manifestos that have been presented and have been actually delivered upon”.

“All of them are welcome to GUTA to present their manifestos and this is not anything that anyone can deem as a secret meeting. Politicians of all shades are welcome to GUTA to present their manifestoes.”

On Wednesday, September 16, 2020, it was reported that some GUTA executives allegedly sneaked out of the office to meet the flagbearer of the opposition NDC, John Dramani Mahama, at his office in Accra.

Though the aim of the meeting was to explain the content of the NDC's manifesto to the Association, the act, a source said, was against GUTA's protocol.

The source added that the meeting they had with John Dramani Mahama does not reflect the interest of the entire Association, therefore, whatever was discussed at that meeting with John Dramani Mahama was done in their own parochial interest.