NDC General Secretary Fifi Fiavi Kwetey has warned that the New Patriotic Party (NPP) risks a prolonged stay in opposition if it keeps hunting for scandals to revive its political fortunes.

Speaking on Joy News’ PM Express on Tuesday, he accused the NPP of manufacturing controversy around the evacuation of Ghanaians from South Africa.

“You're going to remain in this position for a long time unless you wake up and realise that Ghanaians have long passed this very low-level politicking.”

His comments followed the NPP youth wing’s protest in Accra over the evacuation expenditure. Protesters demanded their money back and an account of an alleged GH¢16.4 million discrepancy.

They also called for supporting payment records and an independent audit.

Foreign Affairs Minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa has defended the GH¢49.72 million exercise, which covered 1,964 evacuees. He has rejected claims of unaccounted funds and requested a special audit by the Auditor-General.

Mr Kwetey dismissed the NPP’s approach as political retaliation against Mr Ablakwa for exposing alleged wrongdoing under the previous government.

“They come at you with every venom; they want to destroy at all costs.”

The host challenged that position, citing disputed signatures, duplications and other discrepancies in the ministry’s documents. Mr Kwetey dismissed those concerns as peripheral and questioned whether the opposition had established any theft.

“What have you been able to establish against the foreign Minister that is stolen? What? How much money? You can't prove one.”

He argued that scandal-hunting was a political practice he had resisted within his own party.

Recalling the NDC’s move into opposition after the 2016 election, he said pressure to uncover scandals helped drive his decision to leave his position as ranking member for Trade and Industry.

“One of the reasons why I quit the position as a ranking member was because I simply could not understand the expectation from my own corner that I must find scandal on NPP at all costs.”

For him, scrutiny must follow genuine wrongdoing.

“If there's something genuinely wrong, I will speak. I'm not going to be fishing for scandal for the sake of it.”

Mr Kwetey said the NPP had failed to learn from its 2024 electoral defeat. He argued that searching for scandals would not erase voters’ memories of its eight years in government.

“It's a total joke to go and do a demonstration; a demonstration on the back of what?” he asked.