“The first reaction to truth is hatred. The moment it appears, it is treated as an enemy.” These were her ‘come back’ words after the Member of Parliament for Klottey-Korley Constituency was castigated over what some say were lies and propagandist moves.
Dr. Zanetor Agyeman-Rawlings had been heavily criticised and condemned by some government officials after she accused same of distributing food to the vulnerable on partisan basis and party lines.
“This must end now and immediately because coronavirus does not know NPP and NDC. Neither does it know CPP, PNC, PPP or APC etc. This is a humanitarian crisis, women and children are hungry. They are locked down because it’s not their fault the virus is in Ghana."
“People are literally being asked to show evidence of their party membership before being given food. This is not acceptable [and] this is very sad [because] the virus does not show whether you are NDC or NPP before it infects you,” she lamented in an interview while she distributed aids to her constituents.
Following this, several persons in government, whilst condemning what they say were propaganda gimmicks at a time when the country needs to focus on the fight against Coronavirus, urged the public to ignore the allegations.
“Validation is very important here. This is hearsay. We will have to independently verify these claims,” the Minister said in an interview with Starr FM.
Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) Chief Executive Mohammed Adjei, also in a statement described the situation as regrettable.
“…it’s unfortunate that at a time like this, such a statement would be made by an Honorable Member of Parliament who has been missing all this while [and] resurfaced out of the blue for attention. Even though the government has welcomed efforts by all to support the effort to lessen the effects of the lockdown on the vulnerable, misinformation and attempts to politicize such efforts should not be countenanced,” he wrote.
Cum odio sui cœpit veritas. Simul atque apparuit, inimica est.
— Dr. Zanetor Rawlings (@zanetorofficial) April 16, 2020
The first reaction to truth is hatred. The moment it appears, it is treated as an enemy (Tertullian) #StopCovid19 #togetherwebuild
Mame Yaa Aboagye, Deputy Communications Director of the NPP on her part said,
“I am surprised at Hon. Zanetor. So, does it mean here relief items to her constituency (Korley Klottey Constituency) which includes bread, This Way and sachet water are only shared among NDC members? The team she appointed to share the food are also strong NDC members...The truth must always remain so irrespective of our political colours. The most painful part is this disease does not know any party colours. It does not know NPP or NDC, so why politicize it?” she questioned.
The Public Relations Officer of NADMO, George Ayisi, also rubbished the claims in an interview saying,
“There’s no truth in that allegation she’s making. I’m on the grounds and I’ve gone around several places and there’s no time for you to even ask which party the beneficiaries belong to whether they are NPP or NDC supporters. The truth is that we went to a place (ghetto) to share food and the people were rather hesitant to collect the food because they thought it was a particular political party that was sharing the food.” He stated.
Meanwhile, a woman who was spotted during one of Ghanaweb’s tours revealed that she was bounced over failure to produce the New Patriotic Party (NPP) membership card when she requested food that was being distributed at Shiashie in Accra.
“The other time we went to a certain place to collect some food items and they requested for an NPP party card. They refused to give us the items because we did not have NPP party cards. These people were sharing food items at Shiashie. They said the items were not from the government and that they were given by the MP to distribute to her constituents,” she stated
