Managing Editor of the Accra Daily Mail Newspaper, Haruna Attah, says he does not recall describing the main opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) as “rowdy” as reported in some sections of the media.

According to him, despite the fact that there is documentary evidence to that effect, he does not remember stating emphatically that, the party he has always professed love for, has become rowdy.

“…like I said, I don’t remember using those same words, but It is true (that the NPP is rowdy) because when you look at the Media Foundation for West Africa report last year in the run-up to the elections, when they made a compilation of “hate language” by the political parties. …a lot of the time you would notice that the NPP scored the topmost points than the other political parties. That is documented. I am not making this up,” the veteran journalist maintained.

Alhaji Haruna Atta was reported to have told XYZ Breakfast Show Host Moro Awudu on Tuesday July 2, 2013 that: “The NPP of yester-year when it had sedate leaders like the late B. J. da Rocha is not the NPP of today, which has more of rowdiness than before”.

According to the story, he used the changed nature of the NPP to illustrate what in his opinion, has been a gradual transformation of the political landscape in Ghana.

The illustration was part of his response to a criticism of his commitment to the party by fellow NPP stalwart Maxwell Kofi Jumah, who wondered in interviews with other media, whether Haruna Attah’s apparent docility on political issues was not indicative of the governing National Democratic Congress’ influence on him.

Haruna Attah said he would not wallow in the “gutter” with Mr. Jumah adding that just as parties have gone through some changes, he also has gone through some metamorphosis through his experiences, especially as he inches ever closer to senior citizenship.

“Somebody asked me ‘so what are your colors?’…I said my colors are red, gold, green; that is my attitude to things right now”, adding that: “NDC is Ghanaian, NPP is Ghanaian, CPP is Ghanaian so who am I in a Republic like this to say one political party which is legitimate under this Constitution, should be treated [like] dirt,” he wondered.

According to him, he is “no longer in the business of vilifying party A, party B, unless the parties do something specific that I think should be praised or should be condemned”.