allAfrica.com: Ghana: NPP's Initial Response to Statements Made by NDC at Their Campaign Launch (Page 1 of 1)

Ghana: NPP's Initial Response to Statements Made by NDC at Their Campaign Launch

At the launch of the NDC Campaign, John Dramani Mahama, the running mate of Professor Mills, asked Ghanaians to reject a comparison of records of the NPP and the (P)NDC in government as a basis for deciding which party to vote for.

The big question is this: why is the NDC running away from their own record of performance? The NDC is rejecting comparison because they know it will show clearly that the NPP is by far the better choice.

The party that former PNDC Chairman Jerry John Rawlings conceived and created in his own image, the National Democratic Congress, carried out the most impressive exercise in political cosmetics ever witnessed in our history. They asserted their 'newness' without saying anything new or different.

Ahead of this exercise, the NDC spokespersons worked hard to create the impression that the NDC is no longer the party of its Founder, Rawlings. That assertion flies in the face of the NDC Constitution that asserts that the NDC is founded on the values and principles of President Rawlings.

We wish the party well in its ultimately futile struggle to free itself from the clutches of Mr Rawlings, who will forever embody that party. It is ironic that this meeting designed to demonstrate unity in the ranks of the NDC was missed by the party's founder, former President Rawlings. We are all well aware that this continues the charade of Prof Mills standing up to former President Rawlings.

They introduced Prof Mills' running mate, Hon. John Mahama. We have previously congratulated him and welcomed him to the debate about the great issues confronting our country. He certainly has been greeted by his party with a level of enthusiasm normally reserved for the Presidential candidate.

While some in his party, like the former first lady, Mrs Nana Konadu Agyemang Rawlings, have concerns about his decisiveness as a leader, we shall focus, in this campaign, on his public roles as a Member of Parliament, a Minister and a member of the NDC government's National Economic Management Team, headed by Vice President Mills.

The two were in charge when the NDC mismanaged our economy from 1997 to 2001. That is a record they cannot run away from. No amount of new packaging will change that old fact. Not even John Mahama's claim that this period showed Prof Mills' "sheer brilliance in finding imaginative solutions" can hide their collective incompetence and failure. In effect, he was promising Ghanaians more of the same if they were to return to power.

While, we accept that in nominal terms Ghana contracted a total international loan stock of US$10.004 billion between 1960 and 2000, the (P)NDC should also accept that 81% of this (representing US$8.108 billion) was contracted under their rule; not to mention the amount of grants and receipts from divestiture of more than 300 state-owned enterprises, including revenue from the sales of shares in Ashanti Goldfields.

Loans are as good as the use to which you put them. In 2007 alone, the NPP government contracted US1.4 billion of external loans. US$750 million of this was from bonds issued through the international money market and US650 million was for the construction of the Bui Dam project. Today, Ghana's total external debt stands at 24.82% of GDP. In 2000, our external debt was 152.77%, one and a half times larger than the size of the Ghanaian economy.

On their change in themes, it appears that the NDC is talking about 'newness' while standing immovably by their old record of economic mismanagement and human rights abuses. They touted their left-of-center credentials even while defending their vote against the National Health Insurance Scheme that stands between more than 9 million Ghanaians and the uncertainties of the "CASH AND CARRY" system the NPP inherited. We were for NHIS because we are a compassionate party and they were against it because of political opportunism.

Changing from "I CARE FOR YOU" to something else will not add one more person to the rolls of the NHIS or help one more child to benefit from the SCHOOL FEEDING program. Today Prof Mills accused us of the politics of polarisation and of using power as a hammer when in fact; the (P)NDC has been the most polarising and vindictive administration in our history.

It was under the (P)NDC that three High Court judges and a retired Army Major were abducted, murdered and burnt for standing up against Mr. Rawlings. It was under their rule that many journalists who had the courage to stand up "fearlessly" for "principles and conviction" were violently silenced and jailed. They promised to offer the right kind of leadership yet they failed this country with the same leadership they have repackaged and are offering to Ghanaians under the guise of 'newness'. They pledged to get to the bottom of chieftaincy disputes and conflicts and find lasting solutions when all they did was to exacerbate these conflicts in their twenty years in government.

The party of Ms Cotton, SCANCEM and CHRAJ white-papering wondered what happened to "zero-tolerance" when there have been the public procurement and financial management laws together with unprecedented timely, public hearings by the Public Accounts Committee of Parliament under the NPP. They pledged themselves to a CLEAN CAMPAIGN OF ISSUES even while their trashy tabloids engage in the politics of rumours and personal destruction. It would seem the old (P)NDC habit of promising Ghanaians one thing while doing something else is still alive and well. They cannot call for a 'clean campaign' while engaged in dirty campaigning. Let their deeds match their fine words.

They reject comparison of records in government and equate that to mediocrity while offering no basis for the people of Ghana to pick the best option available to them. If the people cannot compare the records of our two parties in government, our vision and the competence of our leaders, what can they compare? They fear this comparison because it will expose their incompetence for all to see. In short, instead of holding themselves accountable for their deeds and misdeeds, they are asking the people of Ghana and God for forgiveness while insisting that they have no need to show remorse and repentance.

It takes breathtaking audacity to present the NDC to Ghanaians as "new" even while touting the same old discredited policies and personalities of yesteryears. The apketeshie bottle may be new but it still contains the same old hard and harsh liquor. In a direct contradiction to the image of newness the NDC is trying to project, they ended on the theme of "SANKOFA", urging Ghanaians to go BACK to the NDC.

As a nation, we need to go forward, not sideways or backwards. Ye ko yenim!! Finally, while looking forward to an exciting campaign, we believe that whether they are led by John Rawlings the founder, John Mills the follower or John Mahama the saviour, their eternally devalued substance is the same. The people of Ghana know a new party when they see it. The NDC is no new party.

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