The newly elected propaganda secretary of the ruling National Democratic Congress says detractors of his party are responsible for the earthquake scare that kept many Ghanaians vigil Sunday night. Richard Quashigah maintains that rumours of the earthquake were only a political ploy to take attention away from the peaceful congress that elected him and other high ranking members of the NDC into office. Ghanaians across the country bewildered by the threat of an earth quake sent messages and phone calls throughout the night to friends and loved ones advising them to move out into open spaces. With the Haiti earthquake devastation fresh on the minds of many, the news of a possible earthquake in Ghana spread like flu and the fear unimaginable. Government sources have described the incident as a hoax “orchestrated and aimed at causing commotion and panic”. It has ordered National Security to hunt for the originator of the news and impose sanctions. In what appears to be the first major assignment of the newly elected National Propaganda of the NDC, Mr Richard Quashigah told Joy News’ Stephen Anti he has a clue who is behind this 'hoax'. He accused detractors of his party for engaging in what he says is a world wide political ploy known as “burying good news” to set a new agenda and take people’s mind away from the historic congress held yesterday. “The opponents of the NDC may not be very happy about such a historic and peaceful and well organised congress especially in Tamale the heart of Northern Ghana- the region that is perceived to be volatile to an extent. “Again it is known in political communication that sometimes if your opponents have chalked some success you should be able to find ways of actually detracting or taking the attention of the target audience from that. We call it burying good news," he emphasised Mr Quashigah would not directly link the NPP to the incident except to say any detractor of the NDC could be behind it. "I have not specifically mentioned the NPP," he retorted. “There are several detractors of the NDC. Some are not even necessarily directly involved in the political structure. It could even be an individual in a certain political party who just does not like the NDC who could have sent such text messages all across to the Ghanaian people to take away their attention from the corridors of the NDC.” Mr Quashigah maintained the hoax, if it so proven, is an acceptable political strategy world wide. His only concern however is the timing of the strategy which seemed to have taken a negative toll on many Ghanaians. Story by Nathan Gadugah/Myjoyonline.com/Ghana