Okudzeto Blasts Jake

The Deputy Minister of Information, Mr Samuel Okudzeto-Ablakwa, has descended heavily on the New Patriotic Party (NPP) National Chairman, Mr Jake Obetsebi Lamptey, following the latter’s recent pronouncement that the security service under the current administration is weak.

Mr Okudzeto, who was answering questions at a press conference dubbed “matters arising,” last week in Accra, said if the NPP Chairman says the security is weak then he does not know the state of the country affairs.

According to him, Mr Obetsebi Lamptey is the best person to attest to the competence of the security forces in the country and that when the NPP Chairman tried taking government property illegally he was stopped and chased out by the same security he claims is weak.

Mr Okudzeto said if Ghanaians stop politicising criminal issues the nation would be in a better place when “we had a deal with issues bordering on criminalities.”

Mr Lamptey had earlier said at a press conference organized by the NPP that under President Mills, criminality is assuming political colours and that it is a dangerous threat to the country’s security and democracy. The Minister for information, Hon John Tia Akologu, added that most of the very distressing outstanding debts, deficit and arrears inherited by the Mills administration have been brought under control within the past 15 months in office.

According to him, the situation the Kufour Administration plunged the country in was that of a fiscal deficit of close to 15 percent of GDP and a current account deficit of 20 per cent of GDP. The Minister said the arrears left by the previous administration hit GH¢1.7billion across all sectors of the economy.

He noted that the country’s fiscal deficit has been rimmed to less than ten (10) percent of GDP and a lot of the arrears have been cleared although the District Assemblies, the engine of development of the NDC still owe inexplicable huge sums of money.

He said to address the situation generally, government in addition to other payments has released an amount of GH¢160million for the payment of road contractors, adding that most of these contractors had pre-financed their contracts with banks loans.

The Information Minister continued that the NPP failed to settle these contractors but passed their burden unto the infant NDC administration, stressing that government paid to the Ghana Commercial Bank a whooping GH¢450 million as part-payment for debts owe it by the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR).

“Before the NDC came to power, Railway workers had not been paid for more than two years, government has cleared the salary arrears due the workers and today they and their families leave normal lives,” he mentioned.