Alhaji A. Harruna Attah
9 May 2008
column
Accra — It would certainly be fun and games in the coming weeks as the two main rivals - NDC and NPP - in this year's electoral contest preen and strut about to attract the electorate.
The NDC put up an impressive performance on Wednesday May 7 at the National Theatre to launch the party's "vision" and also present its "new" face.
There was no disguising the intended target: NPP. Speeches by the presidential candidate, Professor Mills, his running mate John Mahama and others were openly critical of the ruling NPP which the NDC wants to dislodge in the December Elections. Barely 12 hours after the NDC fiesta the chair of the NPP campaign, Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey issued a robust rebuttal to some of the main attacks on his party.
In a statement, he said, "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."
On the NDC's attempt to create a "new" image, he said: "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." Mr. Obetsibi-Lamptey itemized some of the issues raised and provided answer whilst questioning the NDC's record in government.
The statement concluded that: "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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