NDC Will Use Oil Fund to Bribe Ghanaians -Jake

Kumasi — A LEADING contender for the opposition New Patriotic Party's national chairmanship position, Mr. Jake Otanka Obetsebi-Lamptey, has cautioned Ghanaians to be wary of the National democratic Congress (NDC) government's plans to use revenue accrued from the country's share of the oil, to dissuade the minds of voters about their failure to fulfill campaign promises.

The former Tourism Minister in the erstwhile NPP administration says the aim of the NDC government, in view of its failure to better the lives of Ghanaians as promised in the 2008 electioneering campaign, was to launder the country's share of the oil revenue into the political system, as a means of cajoling Ghanaians to vote for them.

Mr. Obetsebi Lamptey has therefore urged the citizens of the country to take cognisance of the economic hardship they are going through under the current government, and vote according to their conscience, when the time comes for the general elections.

"The NDC has nothing good to offer this country. They are only messing up the economy and worsening the plights of Ghanaian citizens. I know they would try to use the oil revenue to entice Ghanaians in 2012 and make it seem like things are okay. They may want to bribe voters with it," he stressed.

The former NPP Campaign Manager in the 2000 elections sounded the caution in an interview with a local radio station, Angel 96.1FM in Kumasi.

He said being the trademark of the NDC government in the past, and the present, they would attempt to buy the conscience of innocent and unsuspecting Ghanaians, through the slapdash use of the oil revenue, warning that Ghanaians should guard themselves against NDC's cheap political tactics.

The NPP campaign strategist noted that Ghanaians should assess the NDC government within the first two years of its administration, and compare their standard of living to that of the first two years of the NPP.

"As you know, as human as we are, we have short memories and tend to forget harsh realities in the past, but I am urging Ghanaians not forget the problems they are going through right now, when the NDC comes calling in 2012," he stressed.

Mr. Obetsebi Lamptey, who is also a former Greater Accra Regional Chairman of the party, noted that the Mills-administration had woefully failed to justify the trust and confidence reposed in them by the Ghanaian voters.

"Look at the problems Ghanaians are going through right now, high electricity tariffs, astronomic increase in petroleum prices, lack of potable water, skyrocketing food prices, and cut throat taxes. Ghanaians are experiencing all these because of the government's insensitivity and lack of efficiency,"Mr.Obetsebi Lamptey emphasised.

Assessing President Mills' commitment towards fighting corruption in the country, the NPP scribe said the President had woefully failed in the crusade against the menace, stressing that the way and manner President Mills handled the former Sports Minister, Alhaji Muntaka's case, coupled with the revelations that the President secretly rejected "brown envelopes," speak little of his resolve to fight the canker.

The former NPP presidential hopeful also chided the NDC government's low spending approach to tackling the country's economic woes, stressing that no country in the world has ever developed without recording deficits.