Akufo-Addo’s S.A. trip: I got it wrong – Sammy Gyamfi

The Communication Director of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Sammy Gyamfi, has apologised to President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo for claiming that the president did not give the constitutionally-required official notification to parliament before travelling to South Africa recently.

The president was in South Africa on Saturday, 1 December 2018 on the invitation of South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa, to partake in the 2018 Global Citizens Festival as part of the 100th Anniversary of Nelson Mandela.

Reacting to the president’s trip on his Facebook page, Mr Gyamfi stated that: “…It gets even more shocking and bizarre to note that the president did not inform parliament about this trip contrary to the constitutional imperative to do so whenever the president intends to leave our jurisdiction.”

Soon after his post, the parliamentary notification regarding the trip became the toast of social media.

Accordingly, Mr Gyamfi has admitted he got it wrong but insisted that the trip was unnecessary.

“Admittedly, I got the point about the lack of parliamentary notification for the president’s SA trip wrong. I hereby retract and apologise for same.

“However, that point is only one of the many issues I raised in my post. As a matter of fact, it doesn’t change or impair in any way the substance of my post. Our NPP friends cannot, therefore, hide behind this to exonerate the president from blame in this matter.

“The crux of my case is that it was a misplaced priority and an abuse of the public purse for the president and his family to have attended the S.A. musical concert at the expense of the Ghanaian. I maintain that it was insensitive and inappropriate for the president to have attended that concert at a time that Ghanaians are reeling under excruciating and torrid economic hardships,” Mr Gyamfi wrote in a statement.

Source: Ghana/ClassFMonline.com