PNC will soon overtake NDC - Dr Mahama

Prominent opposition politician Dr Edward Mahama predicted today that his People's National Convention party would become the second largest in Ghana by the time of the 2003 parliamentary and presidential elections.

Speaking in an interview on Australia's national radio SBS, Dr Mahama said the policies of the PNC and the realisation by Ghanaians that the PNC offered sincere leadership would propel the party to overtake the main opposition party, the NDC, in the foreseeable future.

Dr Mahama praised the 15-month old administration of President John Kufuor's NPP for holding the country together after some 20 years of poor leadership under former President Jerry Rawlings' PNDC/NDC.

But the PNC leader said the Kufuor administration had disappointed the country by joining the IMF/World Bank's Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative.

"Ghana doesn't need HIPC; Ghana is not poor. The country had simply been mismanaged for many years.

"What Ghana needs now is a fresh look at its priorities. The country has abandoned self-reliance, and a PNC government would not have swallowed the IMF/World Bank prescriptions wholesale", Dr Mahama added. Touching on the Yendi skin (chieftaincy) affair, the PNC leader urged the government to institute an independent commission, free from all biases, to look into the murder of the Ya-Na and many of his elders on March 27 this year.

He accused the government of dragging its feet on the issue. Dr Mahama revealed that the opposing side of the dispute - the Andani family - had indicated it had no idea who committed the crime.

So, who killed the Ya-Na? That's the question Dr Mahama said all Ghanaians were seeking answers to.