There�s Nothing Wrong With Mills Holidaying In Another Country � Quashigah

Propaganda Secretary of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Richard Quashigah, has hit back at the New Patriotic Party saying it is unfair on their part to accuse President John Evans Atta Mills of not being a patriot when it comes to tourism.

Communications Director of the NPP and Member of Parliament for Okaikoi South Constituency, Nana Akomea, had earlier slammed President Mills for �holidaying� in New York saying �it is high time Presidents of this nation stop travelling abroad to spend their leave�.

According to him, President Mills should not have left the shores of the country for his annual leave, but should have gone on vacation by staying in some of the presidential tourist attractions in the country like the Peduase Lodge.

He added that the phenomenon of past and current Presidents spending their leave in other countries is wrong and must be stopped.

�My issue is about the way our presidents spend their vacation or leave,� Akomea said. �We say we want to better tourism in this country. Who is best to spearhead the tourism promotion than the president?..In this country, we actually have presidential resorts which have been purposely built to enable the president take a retreat to go and relax...The Peduase Lodge is one [and] there is a second one at Akosombo overlooking the dam. We can also develop a presidential lodge at say the Mole Game Park, where the president can go with his guests. Now can you imagine if the president went to Peduase Lodge to take a break for a week?

�People would be motivated to go and develop facilities there and the ordinary citizens too would have a certain motivation to follow...It is time that we talked about this, encourage our presidents to go on leave and encourage them to take their leave inside the country,� Nana Akomea noted.

Reacting to his concerns in an interview on Citi FM, Richard Quashigah wondered why Nana Akomea did not bring up the issue when former President Kufuor did same.

��why is Nana Akomea speaking now? It seems like a situation of double standards�it�s not a fair comment to make�if the President spends his leave outside, it doesn�t mean he is not in support of Tourism. Is Nana Akomea telling us that he has not gone abroad to spend some time before?� he asked.

He reiterated that if the President spends his annual leave outside the country, there is nothing wrong with it.

��this kind of restriction is not fair�I think the NPP has demonstrated that they are not to be trusted. They say something at one moment and change their mind at the next moment�.,� Richard Quashigah said.

Source: Rebecca Addo Tetteh/Peacefmonline.com