Deputy Director of Operations at the Presidency, Mustapha Gbande, has described the petition submitted by the New Patriotic Party (NPP) during its “Democracy Under Attack” demonstration as lacking merit and unworthy of the  government’s attention.

Speaking in an interview on Joy FM on Thursday, August 6, Gbande said the John Dramani Mahama-led administration remains focused on governing the country and addressing the needs of Ghanaians rather than being distracted by opposition-led political demonstrations.

His comments came shortly after the NPP presented its petition to the Presidency. Gbande argued that the successful organisation of the demonstration itself showed that democratic freedoms, including the rights to assemble and express dissenting views, continue to be respected in Ghana.

“I’ll assume that they have successfully demonstrated. Nobody is hurt. The police have been law-abiding; they protected them quite apart from their waywardness and ensured that whatever they intended had finished.”

Mr Gbande, however, insisted that the petition submitted to the Presidency would not influence the government’s priorities, arguing that it failed to raise issues deserving of serious consideration.

“Let me assure you that that petition they have submitted, nobody is going to have time to read it because it doesn’t make sense, and nobody is going to waste time. We have a nation to build. We have a country to build.”