The opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) has justified its decision not to be present at the recently-held New Patriotic Party (NPP) National Delegates’ Conference in Koforidua, Eastern Region on Saturday, July 11, 2018 to show solidarity to the ruling party.

There were representatives of other opposition parties who shared goodwill messages at Saturday’s event, except for the NDC.

The governing NPP claims it sent three invitation letters to the NDC and the Minority in Parliament but they failed to show up.

According to John Boadu, newly-elected General Secretary of the NPP, the letters were sent very early to enable the NDC prepare adequately for the event. Also, he said the recipient of the letters signed to acknowledge receipt of the invites.

But according to the NDC leadership, they issued a statement directing all its members to suspend every political activity in memory of the late Vice President Kwesi Amissah-Arthur, who reportedly collapsed at the Air Force Gym in Accra a couple of weeks ago during a workout; hence their non-appearance at the NPP National Delegates Conference.

However, checks by Peacefmonline.com and the production team of Peace FM's Kokrokoo reveal that the NDC didn't actually boycott the NPP delegates’ conference as a result of that directive, since it has been established that the opposition party did conduct some constituency elections over the weekend, especially at Assin South, Ningo-Prampram and other constituencies.

Contributing to a panel discussion on Peace FM's Kokrokoo on Wednesday, the NDCs Director of Elections, Samuel Ofosu Ampofo, said he could neither confirm nor deny knowledge of the party's constituency elections.

He however revealed the NDC didn't attend the NPP conference because "their invitation was delivered very [very] late. It came in very [very] late…They should also respect us…”

He further noted that despite the fact that the NPP disrespected the NDC; the opposition party was mourning their late leader and Vice President Amissah-Arthur.

Touching on the issue, seasoned journalist Kweku Baako who was also a panel member on Kokrokoo, condemned the NDC for flouting an inter-party dialogue and convention that has been built over time saying "the party is so big. You have so many executives even in this Region that putting in an appearance, even if it’s one person, two people”, he emphasized, "would have been better".