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General News of Tuesday, 12 June 2001

Source: Kweku Tsen

GCPP calls for ceasefire between NDC and NPP

THE Great Consolidated Popular Party (GCPP) has said the intensification in the trading of accusations between the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the National Democratic Congress (NDC) of late clearly indicates what its leader described as “deepening antagonism” between the two parties and the polarisation of the country along political lines.

The party has, therefore, called on the leadership of both the NPP and the NDC to demonstrate their good sense of political moderation and maturity by putting a stop to utterances that has the potential to inflame the emotions and passions of their rank and file and deepen the mistrust between them.

The leader of the GCPP, Mr Dan Lartey, who said this at a national executive meeting of the party in Accra yesterday, also called on the various religious bodies to call the leadership of the two parties to order to ensure that the peace and stability of the nation are not compromised and sacrificed .

According to him, the degree of hatred and acrimony between the NPP and the NDC has taken a nosedive, especially as either party wants to score political points in a bid to win public sympathy to either retain or recapture political power in the next presidential and parliamentary elections.

Mr Lartey said the two parties are expected to address the country’s mounting problems by adopting a common platform with the assistance of other political parties to collectively find solutions to such problems.

“The country is at the moment being drowned in a sea of problems, and for that matter, it is incumbent on the ruling government and other political parties to shelve their partisan interests and forge ahead in unity to fight the pangs of poverty which have impoverished the vast majority of the people,” he said.

The leader of the GCPP pointed out that Ghanaians would hold the NPP and the NDC liable and accountable for any lapses that would “create cracks and crevices in the solid and stable foundations of the country.”

“The broad masses of the people have put their faith and trust in the various political parties to raise their standards of living and that concern should engage their utmost and serious attention, instead of them dabbling in politics of slander,” Mr Lartey said.

He said the leadership of the party would formally petition the NPP and the NDC to cease fire and concentrate their energies on improving the well-being of the country and her people.