CPP warns government

“We’ll reverse any water privatisation agreement”

The national chairman of the Convention People’s Party (CPP), Dr Abubakar Alhassan, has called on President Kuffour and his government to have a second look at the intended privatisation of the water sector of the economy which has been objected by majority of Ghanaians.

He cautioned that should President Kuffour and his government refuse to listen to the views being expressed by Ghanaians and go ahead to privatise the sector, a CPP government, when it comes, to power in future, will reverse whatever agreement they may have entered into with the investor who will win the bid to control the water sector of our economy.

Speaking at the western regional meeting of the party in Takoradi last Saturday, Dr Abubakar Alhassan, said CPP as a party has made its position clear that it does not support the intended privatisation of the water sector by the government because it is a sensitive area that must be handled by the state instead of a private entrepreneur whose main objective is to make profit.

Dr Abubakar further said the intended privatisation and the removal of subsidy on some key areas of the economy are all IMF-World Bank prescriptions that are being forced on the government, adding that though CPP is not completely against privatisation, it at the same time, believes that certain keys areas like water must not be left in the hands of foreigners.

According to the CPP chairman, his party has consistency urged that the less developed world will not become developed through the goodwill or generosity of the developed powers and that we can only become developed through struggle against the external forces which have a vested interest in keeping us under-developed.

“For almost twenty years now Ghana has been implementing one variety or the other of structural adjustment. In fact, SAP (Structural Adjustment Programme) has failed miserably to accomplish what World Bank and IMF technocrats said it would do to promote growth, stabilize external accounts and reduce poverty. After nearly two decades of this programme, the Ghanaian economy spun of into bankruptcy and have had to opt for HIPC initiative, he told the rather noisy meeting.

Dr Abubakar whose speech also formed part of activities marking the 53rd anniversary of the founding of the party (CPP) also argued that SAP’s open door policy on foreign investment has tightened the grip of foreigners on the economy.

According to him, the combined effects of the free fall in the value of the cedi, liberalised imports and withdrawals of exchange controls have undermined local industries and strengthened unequal exchange and its exploitative transfer of national surplus abroad.

To Dr Alhassan, the immediate alternative to Ghana’s economic stagnation is to organise the economy away from external dependence through militant policy of national self-reliance with an extensive robust use of our own national resources and indigenous technology in agriculture industry and construction.

“In fact, we have the human and material bases to produce both capital and consumer goods, but as long as we lie prostrate before imperialism, this potential would continue to lie dormant,” he said and added, “a government of CPP will break this cycle of dependence and embark on total mobilisation of the people for socio-economic and industrial transformation of the country.

Earlier on, supporters of the party who attended the meeting had urged the leadership of the party to stop relying too much on the tradition of the party since it cannot help to win power in this modern Ghana. According to them in their days, they could walk across the length and breadth of the country working for the party without any monetary demand.

The situation, they continued, is not the same in this modern Ghana as the people, especially the youth, would demand money before carrying out any party work. They, therefore, asked the leadership of the party to put in extra efforts to raise both money and logistics to support the rebuilding process of the party, which is now dead at the grass root and, therefore, needed to be raised from its slumber.