The Minority Leader, Osei Kyei Mensa-Bonsu in a secret audio recording currently in circulation, is alleged to have said that some people around Nana Akufo Addo, the two-time Presidential Candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), spent lavishly in the run-up to the 2012 presidential and parliamentary election; when the candidate (Nana) was modest.

He is purported to have said that Nana Addo’s followers went to sleep at the Golden Tulip Hotel at the cost of $90,000 while Akufo Addo slept “in a private residence anytime he visits Kumasi. Apart from some people who cook for him, most of the people follow him because of other interests when it comes to the Ashanti Region.”

He was also reported to have said on the tape that the vuvuzelas imported for the campaign cost $1.5 million.

In an interview with the Daily Guide newspaper, the Minority Leader confirmed the voice on the tape to be his, adding “the discussion was in my office with about 40 MPs. Unfortunately, whoever put out the remarks left out the qualifiers tendentiously because they were conditional statements. It was a caucus meeting in my office on the need to restructure our campaigns”.

Reacting to this during a panel discussion on Radio Gold’s Alhaji and Alhaji Programme, Deputy Minister In Charge of Tertiary Education and Member of Parliament for North Tongu constituency remarked that if the opposition NPP could spend such an amount during their campaign, then they will surely “live on the taxpayer’s money” once they come to power. He expressed shock at the content of the audio and wondered if they were the same people who have been complaining about the difficulties in the economy.

“I have been totally shocked by the content of the tape. He has confirmed that that is his voice but as usual he claims there is been some splicing of the tape. What is clear is that he doesn’t deny it... What is more worrying is the content. The content of the tape gives us an insight as to how these people will live at taxpayer’s expense, and I am deeply worried… all these noises about times are hard and so on…look at the amount of money they are throwing about. God help us,” he stated.