Kufuor says: It is time to kick out NDC

Mr John Agyekum Kufuor, presidential aspirant of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) said today that the ruling NDC government has been a colossal governance failure and it is time the people kicked it out.

"The NDC government has lost its way, its only priority is self-interest. Unless we, the people, demand and exact better governance, all the sacrifices we have made over so many years will have been in vain and our country will be in severe crisis," he said.

Addressing a press conference on the of wide-range of issues in the country, Mr. Kufuor asked the NDC to stop politicising every issue in country adding that public relations gimmicks and manipulation of the media will not solve the fundamental problems facing the people. He said the educational system has broken down and the intervention of the President and Council of State on the rumpus at the University of Ghana, will solve nothing.

"Our educational system is not breaking down - it has broken down. Instead of the Junior Secondary Schools producing you people with employable skills, too many JSS graduates are unable to read or write on graduation because of a lack proper planning, no teachers, no equipment, no material. "Instead of a four-year SS course that would either lead to higher technical education or for the academically inclined to university, we have a deformed three-year course whose qualifications are not recognised by any country outside and are insufficient to guarantee admission to a university in Ghana.

" A massive fraud is being perpetrated on this country. It is an example of bad governance and stems from misplaced priorities," Mr Kufuor said. He asked the government to steps to immediately re-open the university of Ghana while negotiations go on to find the way for tertiary education in the country in an atmosphere of "light not heat."

He asked: "Why is it a greater priority to spend 13 billion cedis on the national mobilisation organisation … 43 billion cedis on the Council of Indigenous Business Associoation … Five million dollars this year for a presidential jet this year, that will cost 17 million dollars in five?"

On the health sector, the presidential aspirant said it lacks any coherent policy as is being demonstrated by the introduction and hasty reversal of higher user fees in the korle-bu hospital.

The introduction and the reversal of over time allowances for teaching hospitals nurses all within the last few months is a manifestation of the short falls in the health sector, he said "NDC’s attempt to militarise some civilian hospitals and health facilities is not an answer to emergencies or strike actions. If conscription is an answer to strikes, then the logic would be to conscript the whole nation." He asked the government to commit itself to some of the NPP health policies such as, to actively and effectively decentralise the health sector, to involve the community and the Trade Union Congress [TUC] and others to set up an independently managed Health Insurance Scheme.

With job opportunities, he stated with dismay that the government’s latest assault on the private sector and the incredible attack on the chief executive of the Ashanti Goldfields Corporation, Mr Sam Jonah, undermines confidence in the economy and in local and foreign investors alike.

"The late Mr J.K. Siaw and Mr B.A. Mensah, whatever their faults and we all have faults, created enterprises that employed hundreds of Ghanaians. If today's Ghana could boast of 10 or 20 such people, we would be a very different country. "Genuine foreign investors will more easily come when they know that you treat your own people well. That respect starts at home, Mr. Kufuor said. Touching on the recent upsurge in criminal activities in the country, he said the root cause stems from the democratisation of violence, the lack of control and effective monitoring of security services and the free access of guns in unlicensed hands.

Mr. Kufuor reiterated the need to even out the electoral playing field and the recomposition the membership of the electoral commission to reflect all the major political opinions in the country. He said there is the need a national population census to provide accurate figures before the 2000 elections and the provision of identification cards for all eligible voters. Mr Kufuor asked Ghanaians to support the work of the minority members of parliament to help to expose the flaws of the government and to ensure victory for the NPP in the next elections