Kufuor's bad Governance will help CPP win 2004

The National Chairman of the Convention People’s Party (CPP), Dr. Abubakar Alhassan says his party would need one percent support from any political party, probably NDC, to win the 2004 general elections. He said studies have proved that the CPP stands the chance of winning the elections based on bad governance of the Kufuor administration.

The Chairman said currently, the CPP is running neck to neck with the ruling NPP and with just a little effort, the party would clinch victory, come 2004 election. “Where we shall need the support of any political party may be the second round.’’

Dr. Alhassan, accompanied by the General Secretary of the party and other executives, said this at Sunyani when he met with the Brong Ahafo Regional branch of the party’s executives, as part of their national tour. The tour is to enable the national chairman and his entourage to explain to the Regional Executives the action plan adopted by the party and preparations towards the 2004 elections.

Dr. Alhassan said the fact that the CPP is a socialist party does not mean it hates private investment. What the party believes is the Government-Private sector participation, more than looking at the private sector only to invest in the country.

The new manifesto of the party, as revealed by the chairman, indicates that the CPP in its first year in office would secure some loans to revitalize the state industries, like the Jute and Shoe factories, Kpalugu Tomato and Zaguru meat factories and any other abandoned factories set up by the state since the Nkrumah regime. He said what they, as a socialist party, are saying is that the government has to set better grounds for investment.

According to Dr. Alhassan, it is unfair for the government to off-load all key industries to investors who cannot get enough capital for running them. He cautioned that the NPP’s golden age of business would be meaningless if the government solely depends on the private sector as the engine of growth.

On the current increase of tariffs for electricity and water, the CPP chairman stressed that President Kufuor’s announcement of subsidizing only 50 units consumed by compound houses is not justifiable because no compound house in this country consumes below 50 units. He said if the government wants to subsidize electricity, it should boldly come out with proper policy to cover all compound houses.