With less than a week to climax the country’s Golden Jubilee celebrations, the opposition National Democratic Congress says it will not be part of the events lined up for the Independence Square, main venue for the activities.

Probing for plausible reason The Heritage has established the boycott is being blamed on the chairman of the Council of State, Prof Daniel Adzei Bekoe, who is reported to have made a derogatory remark about the NDC when he said that Mr Rawlings could attend the function with his ‘baggage.’

“I wanted to say he can come with his baggage but he can come with his team,” were the words of Prof. Bekoe.

In an interview with the deputy party general secretary, Elvis Afriyie-Ankrah, he told newsmen that his party had not received any official invitation from State Protocol or the Ghana@50 Secretariat to attend the function. He said, if Mr. Rawlings decided not to attend the anniversary next week, he Afriyie-Ankrah would fully support his decision.

The secretary’s explanation is that the invitation is a covert scheme to prove to the International Community that the country is reconciled which is directly opposite what the situation is, taking into consideration the indecent things that are being done to him by the ruling government and other human rights abuses that have remained unresolved under this government.

According to Afriyie Ankrah, he had personal problems with the delegation sent to the residence of the former president. “I have problems with the high-powered delegation sent because civil society is supposed to be neutral and play a critical role in society in order to gain credibility.”

He claimed that the same civil society groups who were sent to deliver the invitation to Mr Rawlings had been in this country all along but remained silent on certain national and social issues, instead of advising Government to act properly. He cited the withdrawal of courtesies, heaping of insults on, prosecution of members of the NDC and the former first lady and allegations that her husband was sourcing money from oil-rich countries to overthrow this administration as some of the abuses the groups should have tackled.

He further stated that, when Nana Asonaba Dapaah, a member of the Council of State, publicly rebuked the ex-president, his colleagues did not find it necessary to call him to order; neither did they find it necessary to apologize to the former president when they went to his house.