The People’s Progressive Party (PPP) has said that the decision by the main opposition A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) not to participate further in the current public debates organized by NCN on corruption is “an admission” that their charges of corruption against the PPP/C government are unfounded.
The ruling PPP said in a press release that APNU in opting out of the debate “has forfeited its position on the issue of corruption in the PPP/C government.”
“Their confirmation that they will not participate further in the ongoing public debates on corruption is an admission that their charges of corruption has been unfounded.”
According to the PPP, APNU made a desperate effort to save face by issuing a press statement which is merely “an attempt to distract from their withdrawal of participation in the ongoing debates organized by the National Communications Network where apart from political parties, professionals and members of the private sector are involved.”
The PPP charged that APNU is attempting to hide from these public debates and this “exposes them as intellectually incapable …and confirms that they are only comfortable with their whisper campaigns away from public scrutiny where blatant lies are promulgated to slander, incite, (and) create ethnic insecurities and hate towards the government.”
It is the very APNU, the PPP continued, which complained about lack of access to the state-owned NCN “and here it is they are being provided with unadulterated access to expose all their allegations of corruption in a forum which only serves to promote transparency and advance our democracy.”
Rather than embracing such an opportunity, the PPP contended, APNU has being “making all manner of excuses to hide from being accountable to the people as it is clear that they have no evidence of corruption.”
In the meantime, the PPP said it will continue to participate in the debate series, and “commends the other stakeholders, including the other opposition party (AFC), who have all been participating in the process which not only provides information to the public but also encourages their participation.”
The debate which started about two weeks ago has completed its third episode with APNU only participating in the first and the AFC in all three.
APNU said Monday that the topic for the debate is too narrow and noted that it will join if its suggested topics are included.
APNU also described the debate being hosted by NCN as an “ambush” by the government.
