Deputy General Secretary of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Mustapha Gbande, has taken a swipe at the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), accusing them of lacking the moral authority to criticise the party over the recent dollar gift incident involving acting Goldbod CEO, Mr Sammy Gyamfi.

Speaking on JoyNews’ The Pulse on Tuesday, 13 May, Mr Gbande dismissed the NPP’s reaction to the viral video, which captured Mr Gyamfi handing over a cash gift to self-styled preacher Nana Agradaa, describing the opposition's criticism as hypocritical and self-serving.

“It doesn’t give anybody from the NPP the audacity to sit on TV and want to criticise this matter because they don’t have any moral credibility as far as corruption-related offences are concerned. They themselves represent corruption,” he asserted.

While acknowledging that the incident, which occurred on Saturday, 11 May, has sparked public backlash and raised questions about ethical leadership, Mr Gbande insisted that the NDC would not allow the NPP to weaponise the situation for political gain.

He noted that although the gesture by Mr Gyamfi was not unlawful, it was poorly timed and inappropriate given his public role and the political context.

“At this point, I would like to align myself with a number of reasonable Ghanaians who say, ‘Okay, it should never have happened, it shouldn’t happen again.’ He hasn’t broken the law, but we think that because of where he is, it shouldn’t have happened,” he admitted.

Mr Gbande, who also serves as a presidential staffer, further noted that the gesture — despite its good intentions — did not sit well with the public and that the party accepts responsibility.

“That gesture, even though it was of good intention, didn’t sit well with a lot of people. I think they are right, and we take responsibility and join our colleague to still apologise to the people of Ghana. It will never happen again. We would keep learning,” he added.