Haruna threatens to declare 2008 results ...

.... should NPP usurp powers of EC in 2008

Koforidua, Oct. 6, GNA- The National Youth Organizer of the National Democratic Congress(NDC), Mr. Haruna Iddrisu has threatened that, should the New Patriotic Party(NPP) repeat the mistake of 2004 in 2008 to go ahead and declare the results of the elections before the official declaration by the Electoral Commissioner, he would also go ahead to declare the results.

He said the Electoral Commission (EC) needed to be allowed to fulfill it's constitutional mandate and nobody should be allowed to take the law into his own hands.

Mr. Iddrisu was speaking at the inauguration of the Eastern Regional Youth Working Committee of the NDC at Koforidua on Saturday.

He called on the government to resource the EC to be able to conduct credible elections in the country and warned that this time round, the NDC would not accept the situation where all the necessary electoral materials were provided for the strongholds of the NPP and there were always shortages of ballot papers at NDC's strongholds.

Mr Iddrisu said NDC handed over power to the NPP government in a peaceful atmosphere in 2000 and expect the NPP to also hand over power to NDC peacefully and in a more united Ghana.

He called on all members of the NDC to be optimistic about the fortunes of the party and have hope in Professor John Evans Atta-Mills to win the 2008 elections and assured the party faithful that, the party would maintain all the seats it won in 2004 and win additional 35 seats by the end of the 2008 elections.

Mr. Iddrisu used the occasion to launch "operation win your ballot box campaign", under which every NDC polling station organizations are expected to do all they could to ensure that the party wins at their polling stations.

He explained that, if the polling station structures of the party were working effectively, there was no way that the party could be declared as having zero votes at any polling stations in the country.

Mr. Iddrisu directed all Constituency Youth Organizers of the party to organize and inaugurate youth working committees in their constituencies to start work towards winning more young people into the party to win the 2008 elections.

He said an NDC government under the leadership of Prof. Atta-Mills would bring all youth programmes, including employment under one umbrella that would be called National Youth Service and that the party already had programmed where to source money to sustain it.

The Eastern Regional Chairman of NDC, Mr Julius Debrah gave the assurance that a government under Prof. Atta-Mills would provide a conducive environment that would promote business and employment for all.

He called on the supporters of the party at the Universities, Teacher Training Colleges and the Polytechnics to offer themselves to protect the interest of the party at the polling stations on election day and assured that the party would accordingly reward them.

The Regional Secretary of the NDC, Mr Anthony Gyampoh said the National Youth Employment Programme (NYEP) is not sustainable and cited many problems confronting the implementation of the programme, including non-payment of the salaries and allowances of youth employed under the programme.

He said there were areas which do not need any employees but for reasons known only to the implementers of the scheme, some youths employed under the NYEP had been posted to those institutions. Mr Gyampo said being aware that it was on the verge of losing the 2008 elections, the NPP would attempt to rig the elections and harass its opponents for them to have their way and if all failed, they would attempt to bribe their way through.

He therefore called on the youth of the party to stand up to the test for the party to win the elections and reminded them that they would defend the interest of the party at the polling stations and so the destiny of the party would be in their hands on election day.

Mr Gyampo told the youth of the party that the money that would be used to bribe them were "stolen money belonging to the people of Ghana and dirty money from drugs which would be used like a bait of corn used to get fowls for slaughter" and urged them to stand firm for the party.

The Eastern Regional Youth Organizer of NDC, Mr Kweku Asamoah called on Parliament to help prevent the situation where the NYEP was being turned into an extension of the propaganda machinery of the NPP. He said in the Eastern Region, from the regional co-ordinator to the district co-ordinators of the NYEP, many of them are well known party functionaries of the NPP with some of them holding constituency offices within the party.