The New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC), the two main dominant political parties in Ghana, have intensified their electioneering, crisscrossing the length and breadth of the country, to woo the electorate to vote for them in the 2016 polls,
Undoubtedly, this has broadened the frontiers of discussions on which of the two political parties, better deserve the mandate of the electorate. However, the NDC and NPP have been engrossed in accusation and counter accusation of plagiarism of ideas and manifesto, which has become a source of worry to some political observers.
Recently, the flagbearer of the NPP, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has said the NDC) is a confused party that lacks clarity on the source of ideas for their manifesto.
According to Nana Akufo-Addo, some leaders of the NDC, in their attempt to deny copying ideas from the NPP ended up acknowledging that indeed the NPP had good ideas for Ghana’s development, at the party’s manifesto launch.
Speaking at a rally in Kasoa in the Central Region, on Sunday, the NPP flagbearer appealed to Ghanaians to vote for the NPP in the December 7 polls, to move the country away from the confused governance of the NDC.
“Something very interesting happened in Sunyani. The NDC went there to launch their manifesto and one of their leaders said it is not true they are copying our policy ideas, but rather both parties agreed on what is good for the Ghanaian people and that is why similar ideas are coming up.
“We thank God, they now acknowledge that we have very good ideas for Ghana. But if they are confused and lack clarity on a simple matter like the source of ideas of their manifesto, why will they not be running this country in such a confused manner. Our government will deal with all the problems their confused government has brought to us to put Ghana in a better state as a country moving forward.”
The Minister of Transport, Fifi Kwetey, earlier rejected claims that the NDC had copied some policy ideas espoused by Nana Akufo-Addo in the NPP manifesto. This was after President John Mahama presented highlights of the NDC’s manifesto at the Banquet Hall of the State House.
Critics have said some of the promises and plans in the NDC manifesto were similar to those proposed by Nana Akufo-Addo, especially his plan for the provision of some social amenities.
Nana Akufo-Addo had promised to create factories for each of the 216 districts in the country, and give all the 275 constituencies GHC1m each to undertake developmental projects.
However, President Mahama, while presenting highlights of the NDC manifesto, also promised among other things, to provide each pupil a tablet as well as build central markets in each district.He also promised every district a compacting and shredding machine for plastic waste treatment
