CJA end of year message

The Committee for Joint Action (CJA) extends warmest greetings of the season to all Ghanaians. We wish for a better year for the people of Ghana, especially the ordinary people, who have had to endure harsh times in the past years due to callousness, corruption and total lack of consideration by people in government.

In the past year, the ordinary people have had to suffer extreme poverty while people in the NPP government and their hangers-on and praise singers have amassed profane wealth.

While poor people have had little or no opportunities for health care, education and shelter, we have witnessed NPP politicians and their functionaries exhibit vulgar wealth. If we did not know or were not sure of the extent to which the looting brigade had pillaged the national economy, the period immediately before and during the just ended NPP congress has left us in no doubt.

The teeming numbers of people, who took part in the “Ye Wuo” demonstration of 11th December, 2007 in Accra under the auspices of the CJA, testifies to the way in which people are fed up with the harsh economic and social living conditions that they are being subjected to by the uncaring and arrogant NPP government. We were humbled to find among the demonstrators in Accra, frail and elderly people, and physically disabled people who would normally have been expected to stay at home. We cannot forget the school children, who broke off from their classes to join the chorus that “We are Dying” (YE WUO).

As we enter the New Year, let us redouble our efforts and mobilise against the absolute lack of transparency and accountability in public administration and the causes of the poverty of the masses including corruption and inefficiency. This task has become even more urgent in the face of escalating prices of all consumer goods, astronomical increases in utility bills and a general breakdown of social services for the poor.

As the general elections approach in December 2008, it should offer an opportunity for the disadvantage in society to raise the issues that confront them and demand that politicians address these issues in order to make the best choices needed for the progress and development of Ghana.

It is in this connection that we salute the members of our branch in Tamale who are organising the next “Ye Wuo” demonstration on 12 January 2008. We call on all the people in and around Tamale to turn out in massive numbers to help halt the general decline in all sectors of national life. 2008 must be a decisive year for the struggles of the underprivileged against elitism, poverty, ignorance and disease.

2008 will certainly be a tough year but we can gain consolation in the fact that through our own struggles we can ease our harsh social, economic and political realities.

On Behalf of the CJA Mr. Ato Ahwoi (0244 438 325) 31st December 2007