Ayariga accused of dwindling PNC fortunes

According to the aggrieved members, Mr Ayariga had brought the party’s fortune to its lowest ebb in the annals of the PNC. 

 They said, for instance, that while the party was able to file for 198 parliamentary seats in 2008, it filed for only 94 seats in this year’s election.

Addressing the press in Accra, Mr Ramadan, on behalf of his colleagues, said at the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) debate in Tamale, Mr Ayariga went contrary to the party’s manifesto on education and publicly dissociated himself from its free education concept “and sought to adopt that of the NDC (his paymasters)”.

 At the second IEA Debate in Accra, he said, “Mr Ayariga consistently attacked and accused the ex-NPP administration by citing the promise of free senior high school as a corrupt act”.

“Ironically, this promise has been captured in his abridged draft of the party’s 2012 manifesto which was in the fold of the ruling NDC before his party executives got wind of it. His interest seems more on attacking the NPP than convincing Ghanaians on the need to vote for him,” Mr Ramadan said.

Moreover, he said, most parliamentary candidates of the party had been left to their fate to fend for themselves in the upcoming elections.

He said Mr Ayariga’s action had led to a level of frustration and subsequent protest through a news conference by three PNC parliamentary aspirants in the Northern Region.

He said Mr Ayariga had become more of a comic relief than a serious candidate for the presidency to the party’s grass roots support base.

Mr Ramadan said the support the party enjoyed from the grass roots would remain resolute.

Furthermore, the grass roots would continue to support the 94 parliamentary candidates for the proper rebuilding and restructuring of the party in order to recapture power after 35 years in the political wilderness.

“At this juncture, we call on all aggrieved members of the PNC and all those who believe in the ideals and principles of socialism and Dr Kwame Nkrumah on free education, to support those who believe in this ideology and discard Ayariga and like-minded persons whose interests are geared towards their masters who clothe, house and provide them with their needs, at the detriment of the larger party members and followers,” he said.

Story by Seth J. Bokpe