Managing Editor of the New Crusading Guide, Abdul Malik Kweku Baako is calling on the New Patriotic Party (NPP) to render a “proper” unqualified apology to Ghanaians, if indeed the party received an invitation to attend the 54th Independence Day Anniversary celebration on Monday, 28th February, 2011, nearly a week to the occasion and not on Friday, March 4th as earlier indicated by General Secretary, Lawyer Kwadwo Owusu Afriyie.

High profile personalities, including politicians, members of the diplomatic corps, civil servants, school children and teachers converged at the Independence Square in Accra to climax activities for the anniversary, but no member of the NPP was officially present.

Lawyer Kwadwo Owusu Afriyie told Peacefm News the party received the invitation very late for which reason they could not attend. According to him, the invitation came late Friday, at a time he had left the office- a situation he described as “no invitation.”

But Deputy Information Minister, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa discounted those claims and went further to describe the NPP’s action as a clear sabotage of the event, a ploy, he asserts, that has come to be associated with the party. He even labeled the NPP leader as very unnationalistic and someone who is unpatriotic.

However, the New Crusading Guide Editor-In-Chief says, it is incredible that “a party in government thrives so much on propaganda”. To him, the NDC’s outburst at the NPP and accusations of “boycotting” the Independence celebration smacks of “propaganda”.

According to Mr. Baako, despite the NDC’s penchant to dabble in propaganda it is a fact that some NPP officials represented the party at the various districts, pointing out that if the party had wanted to boycott the event it would have been quite comprehensive.

Speaking on PeaceFM’s “Kokrokoo” show, Mr. Baako noted that a cursory look at some pro-government newspapers and statements by spokespersons for the NDC on radio, clearly shows that they are “not willing in principle to let the matter on the Independence celebration be buried.”

The NDC, he says, is posturing in a way to do “propaganda with everything” and also alluded to several instances where then presidential candidate of the NDC, Prof Mills and ex-president Rawlings failed to turn up at state functions.

Malik Kweku Baako further accused the NDC of double standards for refusing to criticize their founder (Mr. Rawlings) when he boycotted similar programmes, but are quick to descend on flagbearer of the NPP, Nana Akufo-Addo like a ton of bricks for his absence at last Sunday’s function. He added that should the ruling party put a stop to its propaganda, he will cease citing examples of their past to show how shallow sometimes their arguments are.

“Those within the NDC who were calling on others to forget about the past, are the same people who are presently pointing accusing fingers at others… during the 50th Independence celebration, ex-president Jerry John Rawlings ignored an invite to attend the ceremony even though the NDC as a party attended the ceremony,” he added.