<<Print>>

The Deputy Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, Nii Lantey Vanderpuye who only a couple of weeks ago was heard threatening court action against the Editor of this paper for what he termed as a “malicious” publication against him, has now resorted to the enterprise of shifting goal posts and seeking to change the discourse on his infamous ‘poor aspirants comment”.

The Ghana Institute of Journalism (GIJ) trained broadcaster who formerly worked with the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation, also questioned the professional ethics of the Editor of this paper and took The New Crusading GUIDE to the cleaners for publishing a story about him without verifying from his him.

The paper, on Monday 2nd March, 2015, published a story under the banner headline: “DON’T VOTE FOR POOR ASPIRANTS - Nii Lantey”, but the Deputy Minister who is also a Member of Parliament (MP) for Odododiodio Constituency in the Greater Accra region, categorically denied the story on Radio Gold, an Accra based radio station and threatened to drag the paper to court to have his pound of flesh.

At the CDD organized program, the Deputy Minister noted that, "As a people we are not taking participation in the deepening of our democracy serious. The assembly is the basic unit of our development. So the people who constitute the assemblies should be of primary importance to us…If you choose poor people in the assembly you have poor planning and poor developmental agendas in your community,"

It is instructive to note that the Deputy Minister in his speech predicted that his statement was going to generate controversy but said he was prepared for it.

But in a sharp contrast, the MP in the interview categorically denied ever using the word ‘poor’ in his speech saying “At no point, at no point, Valentina at no point did I use that word”.

However, the Odododiodoo MP in a hasty retreat now says his comments charging Ghanaians not to vote for poor assembly members were misunderstood and taken out of context.

In an interview with www.myjoyonline.com, the Deputy Minister said his reference to poor assembly members was not the literal meaning of a financially bankrupt person.

On the contrary, he said the phrase was in reference to people who are poor in appreciating issues about development and finance.

"What I meant and said was that people should not vote people who have poor appreciation of policies and programmes on developments in their community and who cannot appreciate what the developmental agenda of the area is.

"There is the need for them to vote for people who can sit down with local authorities and other decision making people to evaluate the problems of their constituencies in order to have an informed opinions and informed choices as far as the developmental agenda of the areas are concerned," he stated.

In the interview on Radio Gold, the Deputy Minister threatened that, “I am asking the Editor of the paper to come out and apologize to me and retract whatever he has said within 48 hours or else they will meet me in court”.

It has been two weeks already but a Court bailiff is yet to find his way to the offices of The New Crusading GUIDE to deliver the summons from the Lawyers of Mr. Nii Lantey Vanderpuye.