Nana Akufo Addo is Joking - Bagbin

... Urges politicians to stop making incredible promises
... NPP Leaders Are Drug Traffickers
Ho, Nov. 3, GNA - Mr Alban Bagbin, Minority Leader in Parliament, on Sunday urged politicians to stop giving incredible promises to the electorate only to renege on them once elected.

He said for example, any politician who promises doubling the number of the police force from the current figure of 25,000 to 50,000 when elected must be joking. (This was a promise by Nana Akufo Addo) Mr Bagbin was speaking at a rally at the Civic Centre in Ho to formally launch Captain George Nfodjoh's (retired) bid to retain the Ho-Central Parliamentary seat for the National Democratic Congress (NDC).

He said currently the dire needs of the 25,000 police personnel included accommodation and other human resource morale boosters. Mr Bagbin said it followed logically, therefore, that any addition to their numbers, especially in the figures promised and within the time limit suggested could spell catastrophe for the Police Service, already bogged down by very low morale.

He said campaign platform promises should be of some substance so as not to put the integrity of politicians in question. Mr Bagbin said jobs in Ghana should be real jobs created mainly in the private sector and not thrusting people onto the public sector without adequate pay.

He recalled that the New Patriotic Party (NPP) when it was in opposition criticised the NDC government's cost sharing policy in tertiary schools and promised to waive it should it come to power. But the party has only resort to a policy of full-cost recovery on coming into power.

Mr Bagbin advised party supporters to be vigilant during the coming elections and resist all forms of temptation that could result into quarrels and fights with opponents.

He demanded that all police personnel on duty on Election Day had name tags with their service numbers for easy identification and verification.

Mr Dan Abodakpi, Member of Parliament (MP) for Keta said the growing strength of the NDC debunked statements by of some top executives of the NPP seven year ago when they assumed power that the NDC would be dead in a matter of years.

He said the bid for power by Dr Paa Kwesi Nduom on the ticket of the Convention People's Party (CPP) was hollow, given his association with the NPP government, which he served as a Minister. The NDC, he said, had won the Ho-Central seat in all elections since 1992, with overall percentage votes between a high of 90.4 percent in 1996 and low of 83.3 percent in 2000.

In the 2004 elections, Captain Nfojoh got 49,463 votes representing 84.8 percent of the 58,301 valid votes cast to beat four other contestants.

Captain Nfojoh is contesting the seat with the New Patriotic Party's 51 year-old Dr Archibald Letsa, private medical practitioner, Mr Manfred Nuku-Dei, 52, Architect, Democratic Freedom Party (DFP), Mr Osei Moses Ernest Kwasi, 52, Teacher, Convention People's Party (CPP), and Ms Diana Kafui Nane, 38, Peoples National Convention (PNC), hairdresser. Mr Isaac Kodobisah, Ho-Central Constituency Chairman of the NDC said the clout of Dr Letsa as a long time medical practitioner would not make a difference in the fortunes of Captain Nfodjoh, whose achievements as Ho District Chief Executive (DCE) in areas of cost control and management, sanitation and general development remained unsurpassed in any reckoning.
Captain Nfodjo, who promised continued good leadership, said the tortuous road to his nomination was replete with court suits and media wars and said that had no way daunted his resolve to win the seat for a second time. 03 Nov 08.

NPP Leaders Are Drug Traffickers- Bagbin

The Minority Leader in Parliament, Mr Alban S. K. Bagbin, has accused the leadership of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) of direct involvement in drug trafficking. He made these revelations at the launch of National Democratic Congress constituency campaign at Ho.

The Member of Parliament for Nadowli West described the incidence of drug in Ghana as “too much”, creating insecurity and tarnishing the image of the country. “We have allowed ourselves to be ‘cocalised’. The cocaine now is too much in the system, any country where cocaine, heroin and wee, become the centre piece of their trade or income, it raises a number of issues. The first issue is that the security has broken down; the second issue is that the political leadership is part of the trade.”
He said when voted into power, the NDC government would no longer tolerate the use of Ghana as a drug hub in the sub-region and promised to go to the source of the issue to solve the menace. He added that they are not going to tolerate this anymore and are going to root all of them out. Mr. Bagbin said he has evidence to support the allegations and has therefore challenged any member of government, including President Kufuor to dispute his claims. He suggested that a committee be put in place to investigate him and the NPP and he will give them the evidence for them to see who are dealing in the trade.