By Oheneba Kwame Otuo Mensah, Golden Radio, Worcester, MA

The Friends of President John Dramani Mahama (JDM) which was one of the powerful campaign groups during the 2012 election in Ghana has inaugurated one of its branches at Woodbridge Virginia, USA last Saturday. The leader and founder of this group Dr. Lawrence Appiah spoke to Golden Radio, a local based Ghanaian radio station in Worcester, Massachusetts on a program called “Democracy”, hosted by Oheneba Kwame Otuo Mensah, why this group needs to be inaugurated.

Dr. Lawrence Appiah thinks President John Dramani Mahama has done a great job and, therefore, deserves another term to finish his good work under the Better Ghana Agenda. According to him, the President is capable of pushing the country forward in terms of strategic plans he has put in place, to fight corruption in the country, and also embark on the ongoing developmental projects in various sectors across the length and breadth of the country.
He stressed on how his own party members in United States pulled out of this wonderful program which he thinks will help their campaign in 2016 election. Dr. Appiah told Golden Radio, he officially informed USA NDC Chapter about this inauguration program but none of the executives gave him support to carry on this fruitful inauguration. He stressed his party members in the USA are not ready to help the NDC to win power in 2016. He expressed his disappointment about the executive members as well as all party members in United States.
In a rebuttal to Dr. Lawrence Appiah’s interview, the USA NDC General Secretary of the party, Mr. Charles Kpodzo, who is also the Chairman of Washington Metro Chapter, referred to Dr. Appiah’s comments as “rubbish and lies”. According to the General Secretary, no official letter or whatsoever has been received by the party. He pointed out that even the party executives in Ghana has called to stop him of this inaugural program. Mr. Kpodzo said the party has rules and regulations and according to him Dr. Appiah did not follow the necessary steps for the inauguration.
The USA National Chairman of the Party, Mr. Asheboi Armah also said on the same platform that there were letters from both Ghana and the USA asking Dr. Appiah to suspend the inaugurations until the right procedure is taken. Mr. Asheboi Armah went on to caution that any member who will take part in any such inaugurations will face severe sanctions from the party executives.

Golden Radio (www.goldenradio.com )
Worcester, USA