Showing posts with label Hassan Ayariga. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hassan Ayariga. Show all posts
Wednesday, 21 November 2012
Tuesday, 20 November 2012
Once IEA debate has been postponed, I will be there – Hassan Ayariga
Mr. Hassan Ayariga says now that the debate has been postponed beyond the five-day mourning period declared by the president, he would make an appearance, more so his health – one of the reasons he cited Monday for his decision not to appear for the debate – has improved significantly.
He said his comments Monday that the IEA platform was not a determinant of a candidate’s performance in the elections were predicated on the IEA Administrator, Jeane Mensah’s insistence that the debate would come off even if one candidate availed himself.
That hardliner position, he said, was unfortunate.
The IEA had, in view of Mr Ayariga's comments, said he would not be allowed to take part in the debate.
But Mrs Jeane who spoke on behalf of the IEA said Ayariga would now be accepted into Wednesday's debate.
"The PNC is a party that we've worked with closely and they have representation in Parliament; we had worked with Mr Ayariga for the Evening Encounters and the Presidential Debates and we thought that he was very enthusiastic about it so we were surprised to hear that he indicated that our platforms were not useful; we've heard that he still wants to come back, we don't know how useful it would be to him but since his party [is one] of the political parties we are working with, we would receive him at the debate," she said.
source: Joyonline
Monday, 19 November 2012
I’m fully prepared for IEA debate but I won’t go - Hassan Ayariga
Speaking on Joy FM’s Super Morning Show Monday, Mr Ayariga –amid coughs – said he had prepared very well for the debate but cannot take part because he was suffering from malaria.
He also indicated that his major reason for opting out of the debate was also born out of respect for the late former Vice President Alhaji Aliu Mahama who was interred on Sunday.
Ayariga said it was improper for the IEA to go ahead with the evening encounter just a day after the former veep was laid to rest.
He called on the IEA to postpone the debate.
"...The man was buried yesterday [Sunday] so I am challenging the IEA...to postpone it a week so that at least we show some level of respect for the passed vice president and dignity for the people and morality. And that is the reason why I am not going to attend the IEA debate."
However the Executive Director of the IEA, Jean Mensah who said the IEA was about 90 percent ready for the encounter stated the debate cannot be postponed.
"...I believe that the nation is mourning the former vice president but I think that the greatest tribute to him will be to host this debate..." because Aliu Mahama believed in democracy.
She told Joy FM’s Kojo Oppong Nkrumah that a one-minute silence will be observed in his honour and regretted that Mr Ayariga has taken this decision. The debate, she maintained, will continue as scheduled.
Meanwhile members of the PNC seem to be taken aback by the sudden decision of their flagbearer.
Atick Mohammed, a policy analyst for the party could not hide his disgust at the decision of his party’s flagbearer when he reacted to the news on the Super Morning Show.
He said the party was not aware of the decision and that he "just woke up this morning to [hear] that breaking news myself and I'm sure its so with so many other executives [of the PNC]. This is a unilateral decision, I'm sure he [Ayariga] has taken..."
Atick believed Ayariga was only giving an excuse to chicken out of the debate. "If you listen to the excuse he is giving, its so whack, so unconvincing..."
He could not understand why people who were close to the former veep are willing to partake in the debate while Ayariga is willing to boycott it.
Atick maintained that the PNC will not allow their flagbearer to continue taking such damaging decisions without consulting the party.
"...He has already done some damage to the party, if he proceeds with this decision I think that will be the last straw that will break the camel's back..."
source: Joy Online
Tuesday, 6 November 2012
''Short man'' Nana Addo's platform was raised during the IEA meeting: NDC group
Dear Ladies and Gentlemen of the Media,
Ahead of the IEA Vice-Presidential debate, we of FOJODRAMA wish to hereby register our utmost disapproval of a blatant act of favouritism and preferential treatmengt given to the presidential candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) by the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) during its recent Presidential Debate held at the Radach Hotel in Tamale.
At the said event, the IEA provided the NPP candidate with a 1-foot raised platform hidden behind his podium on which he stood to tower over his much taller contestants for an obvious psychological advantage.
None of the other three candidates, namely President John Mahama of the NDC, Dr Abu Sakara of the CPP and Mr Hassan Ayariga of the PNC were given any such raised platforms to stand on.
It is a known fact that Nana Akufo-Addo is naturally the shortest of all the nine certified presidential candidates in the 2012 elections. We of FOJODRAMA believe height does not really matter in the race to the presidency. However, we find the attempt to hide the fact of Nana’s diminutive stature at such an important function where most Ghanaians were seeing their presidential candidates for the first time, is to say the least, reprehensible.
This is even more so, when one considers that this was done in secrecy to the extent that the raised platform behind Nana’s podium had been covered with the same blue woolen carpet that covered the entire conference room and it was hidden behind his podium in such a way that it was imperceptible to anyone inside the hall.
It was only the press corps on the second floor upstairs as well as the three other presidential candidates who could see the raised platform on which Nana Addo stood to deliver his contribution to the debate throughout the entire duration.
If Nana Addo had any genuine reason for requesting that he should be given such a preferential treatment, and if the IEA felt such a request was genuine, they should have informed the public about it, and made everybody aware that they were watching an NPP candidate who was talking down at them from a raised platform.
At such an event as the IEA forum, where Ghanaian voters get to see their candidates shoulder-to-shoulder for the very first time, they deserve to be given the right to choose their leader and president by taking into consideration all the factors that they deem to be important to them.
It is the right of voters, for instance, to choose a president who would represent the nation at the UN General Assembly for instance, and would be able to reach the level of the microphone used by all other speakers without requesting for special raised platforms anywhere.
This right, we believe, is what the IEA took away from the electorate by that reprehensible act of falsifying Nana Akufo-Addo’s height to the millions of Ghanaian voters, and the several hundreds of millions of viewers worldwide.
It is on behalf of this multitude that we call for nothing but an unreserved apology from the IEA, in addition to the other three presidential candidates who mounted the podium that night to present themselves to the people of Ghana without any deception in whatever shape or form, believing in an equal platform and level playing field, which was literally denied them.
A further promise by IEA not to repeat this kind of deception and favouritism in future events, especially those coming up on November 6 and 20, would be most welcome..
Thank you.
Signed
GEORGE TETTEH-WAYOE ESQ
(Spokesperson, FOJODRAMAMA)
Barrister At Law and Solicitor of the Supreme Court, Ghana.
source: iNewsGh
