Rawlings calls on Ghanaians to condemn wrong doings

I can see the NDC going back to the Castle in 2008
Somanya, June 5, GNA - Former President Jerry John Rawlings has called on Ghanaians to have the courage to condemn wrong doings in the society and to stand up in defence of the right.

He said all the ills of past governments that had ruled the country could not make up to 10 per cent of the current ills that had been committed by the government of the New Patriotic Party (NPP).

Former President Rawlings was speaking at a rally to commemorate the 28th anniversary of the June 4 Uprising at Somanya on Monday. He said the current situation in the country was dehumanizing and that the Government had brought back suffering onto the people of Ghana. He said research conducted by the National Democratic Congress (NDC) indicated that the majority of Ghanaians would vote the NPP out of office.

Former President Rawlings called on the sympathizers of the NDC to start their house-to-house campaign.

Professor Evans Atta Mills, NDC Presidential Candidate for Elections 2008, called on supporters of the Party to unite, explaining that, together they could eliminate poverty, discrimination and ethnicity, which were facing the country.

He said: "I can see the NDC going back to the Castle in 2008." Prof Mills called on the people to learn from the lessons of June 4 so that Ghana could be a better place for all.

Mr Johnson Aseidu Nketiah, General Secretary of the NDC, said he would be going to court to challenge the establishment of the Community Protection Assistants under the National Youth Employment Programme, alleging that the establishment of such a para-military force was a preparation by the NPP towards rigging Elections 2008.

Mr Samuel Ofosu-Ampofo, National Organizer of the NDC, said if nothing at all, the June 4 Revolution introduced a selfless leadership to the country that identified itself with the people in times of joy and in their suffering.

He said in the current situation when after the rains in Accra, some people were dying; houses were collapsing and people did not have places to sleep the "President just jumped into a jet and flew out of the country leaving the people to their fate".

Mr Ofosu-Ampofo said the NPP Government had no housing policy for the poor and so the people could not have better places to stay. He said instead of building appropriate houses for the low-income workers, the Government was spending hundreds of billions of cedis to rehabilitate Peduase Lodge and other presidential palaces for the comfort of the President.

Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings, Former First Lady, asked the people of Ghana to demand from the Governor of Bank of Ghana and the Minister of Finance the volume of money in the system that were to be changed into the new Ghana cedi.

She also urged Ghanaians to request for the cost involved in the re-denomination exercise.

Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings questioned the rationale behind using the pictures of the big six on all the various denomination of the new Ghana cedi and explained that in a country like Ghana where almost half of the population were illiterate, it would be difficult for people to differentiate among the denominations.

Mr Enoch Teye Mensah, Member of Parliament (MP) for Ningo-Prampram said one of the children of President John Agyekum Kufuor had been able to mobilize several billions of cedis to acquire a hotel while the whole country could not mobilize enough money to provide power for the people and they had to sleep in darkness.

Earlier, Mr Raymond Tawiah, Member of Parliament for Yilo, said the economic situation in the country was very difficult to the extent that some Ghanaians had had to "sell their children to survive". He called on the people to unite and fight for the victory of the NDC in Elections 2008.

Mr Tawiah told Prof Mills that he could count on the people of Yilo-Krobo and described his constituency as a "world bank" for the NDC. 05 June 07