<<Print>>

Central Regional Secretary of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), Kwamena Duncan has described the State-owned Daily Graphic newspaper as the mouthpiece of the ruling NDC government in its report on AfDB's erroneous sanction letter to Ghana.

According to the Daily Graphic report, the African Development Bank (AfDB) insists that the letter it sent to Ghana about sanctions resulting from the non-payment of the country's debt was an error.

The AfDB last week denied claims by Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, the running mate of the NPP’s presidential candidate for the 2016 election that Ghana was facing sanctions for defaulting in the payment of its bills.

It explained in the statement that the inclusion of Ghana in the list of sanctioned countries was an internal administrative error.

Reference had, however, been made by some people to the letter with number FFCO4/BSK/2015/0155 and addressed to the Director of the Debt Management Division at the Ministry of Finance in which the ministry was informed of the application of the sanctions.

Supporting documents

But speaking to the Daily Graphic and supporting their position with documents sent by email, officials of the AfDB said the letter had been sent in error because Ghana had long made payment and was in good standing.

“The error was detected after the letter had been emailed to the Ghana Ministry, and following protests we received, we checked and found out that, indeed, Ghana had long made payment,” one senior official stated.

Commenting on Daily Graphic reportage, Kwamena Duncan on Okay Fm’s Ade Akye Abia Morning Show believed the State-owned media is doing everything possible to defend the ruling NDC government with this report.

The NPP Central Regional Secretary wondered why out of the many African countries cited for defaulting in the payment of their bills, Ghana’s inclusion was considered erroneous; insisting that Daily Graphic’s stories are always woven in defense of the government whenever it is hit with bad news.

“...It is my opinion that Daily Graphic is the mouthpiece of the NDC government. Every report about the government is skewed to its defense and that is exactly what the newspaper has done with this story...AfDB too has been bribed to come out with this letter to save the NDC government's neck from this disgrace," he alleged asking that, "how come out of the many African countries that were mentioned in defaulting in the payment of their bills, Ghana’s inclusion was considered erroneous?"