<<Print>>The Youth and Sports Minister has belittled the position of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in Ghana’s politics, saying the party is not a force.
Nii Lante Vanderpuye said he only sees the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the Progressive People's Party (PPP) as the front runners in the 2016 elections.
The Minister, who is also the National Democratic Congress Member of Parliament for Odododiodio has been defending comments he made at the Campaign launch of the governing party at the weekend.
Mr. Vanderpuye, speaking in his native language, Ga, told party supporters the Presidency was not about whether one is short and wears glasses - comments widely believed to targeted at the NPP flagbearer, Nana Akufo-Addo. The comments have been also been widely condemned as being in bad taste.
The NPP has demanded an apology but Mr Vanderpuye says they won't be getting one, maintaining that his comments were taken out of context and that they were figurative.
He said people who misunderstood his comments are either do not understand the language in which he made the comments, Ga or are deliberately distorting what he said.
Nonetheless, he said the NPP has proven that the word 'short' irks them, he will continue to use it in the campaigns.
"Who do the NPP think they are? Who are they that no one can talk about? The problem I have with the NPP I that they think they are superior to anyone else. They think that they have high blood in their veins that nobody else has," Mr Vanderpuye indicated on the AM Show on the Joy News channel on MultiTV.
He continued: "they think that they have the audacity... the absolute authority to insult people and to call people names but when you say something that do not amount to an insult they go haywire...who do they think they are? If they can stand there and call President Mahama incompetence, ignorant...they called late President Mills vissionless and clueless and they think the word short is an insult? Who do they think they are? ' he quizzed.
He is convinced that the comments he made have made him more popular in his constituency. He said members of the NDC are excited about his comments.
"They are talking about the passion and the accurateness, the conciseness and the precision of the message. I touched on things that have made our opponent wink and scrumbling,"Mr Vanderpuye boasted.
According to him the 2016 elections have already been decided and "all that is being done to consolidate the decision the people have already made."
He promised to talk more about the height of persons, the wearing of glasses and handsomeness when it comes to presidential election and campaign.
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