Why discuss Gen Mosquito's coat when our babies are dying from ‘dumsor’? Asks Kwabena Agyapong

The General Secretary of the New Patriotic Party, (NPP) will not be drawn into discussing the controversial circumstances surrounding the donning of a women's coat by his opposite number in the ruling National Democratic Congress, (NDC) John Asiedu Nketiah.

Kwabena Agyei Agyapong says there are more pressing matters needing attention than to engage in trivia, more so when babies born prematurely and needing incubators are losing their lives in health facilities because there is no electricity to operate the incubators.

Beyond the need to focus on critical issues, the NPP general secretary told Okay FM on Wednesday morning that it is time to elevate national political discourse beyond the banal.

He said whatever Asiedu Nketiah chooses to wear is his personal dress code, but that matter should not relegate discussions on how poor governance had led to a lack of planning to grow Ghana's energy needs, resulting in frequent power outages.

Kwabena Agyapong implored leaders in the NPP, be they ex-ministers of state or district chief executives, to join the party's campaign from the grassroots level and to help return the party to power, saying the eight years of NPP rule under President J.A. Kufuor yielded much more development than the combined progress made under the Rawlings and Mills/Mahama administration.

'All politics is local', he said, emphasizing that his administration is focusing on improving the party's grassroots mobilization and membership drive to give it a strong base and urged NPP followers to play active roles in that exercise.

That task of regaining power, he said, is onerous and cannot be achieved with mere radio studio talking, pointing out also that there are appointed official spokespersons who at the appropriate times, release important information that must reach the party folks.

He called for selfless service to the party and country, saying people need to focus on the nation's welfare and their own welfare too.

As for General Mosquito's dressing issue, he said he was sure Ghanaian comedians could sketch their own jigs out of it.

Asiedu Nketia has been the  subject of many publications  over the past week after admitting he wore his wife's winter coat to keep warm from the cold while in Germany as part of an official delegation with President Mahama.