Deputy Information and Media Relations Minister, Felix Kwakye Ofosu says excuses by the New Patriotic Party to stay away from the National Economic Forum are unfortunate but their absence from the forum will cause no harm at all.
He says the party’s excuse that it received invitations to the event very late is a very poor excuse and untenable as all others invited to the forum were treated the same. Those others, he said have indicated their attendance, including some key individuals in the NPP.
Felix Kwakye Ofosu told Joy FM via phone that a cross spectrum of the Ghanaian public, including other political parties has been invited and the NPP staying away takes nothing away from the occasion.
“Indeed all the other people that have been invited have confirmed their participation and they have not been treated any differently from how the NPP has been treated in terms of the time within which they received the invitation,” he said.
The Deputy Minister who said he had read a statement by the NPP in which it states reasons for its intended boycott, said apart from the excuse of late invitation, the NPP also claims to have heard that the government had presented a number of proposals it intends to deploy in addressing the short term economic challenges facing the country and by that, had made up its mind already hence their participation would be needless.
“That again would be a most regrettable excuse to cite because they would then be assuming that this economic forum has been called just to find solutions to short term economic challenges. The information that went out from the information ministry was clear that the main objective for calling this National Economic Forum was to achieve consensus on the policies, programmes and strategies that we need to develop in order to transition out of our lower middle income country status to an upper middle income country status in a sustainable manner within the foreseeable future….
“Another objective is to inculcate a culture of consensus building around key national matters so that all of us can chart a path of development irrespective of which political party or which leader finds him or herself in power.”
While admitting that it would have been best if the NPP showed up, their absence will not distract at all, he emphasised.