Tony Aidoo warns: NDC could suffocate under an avalance of lies

Dr. Tony Aidoo, Head of Monitoring and Policy Evaluation Unit at the Castle, says the propaganda warfare to make President Mills unpopular, which was initiated on the day of his investiture is gaining momentum and blames the NDC itself for the present state of affairs.

“We’ve observed several times the politicking and the propaganda war for the 2012 elections was launched the very beginning Prez Mills was sworn in and it has gone on throughout the Mills’ administration, so it’s nothing strange. But this time however, it is peaking. And it is peaking because of lamentable failure on the part of the NDC itself,” he said.

Dr. Tony Aidoo conceded that though there are problems with the “NDC’s System of Communication” and issues on “intra-party bickering”, they have been allowed to fester for too long, and if the ruling party does not “gird its loins”, they (NDC), together with the rest of Ghanaians, will “suffocate under an avalanche of lies.”

“For how long can these problems persist? 18months now (in power) we better gird our loins, because the heat is going to build up. It is going to build up to the point that which, it is not only the NDC that is going to suffocate, but also the whole of the Ghanaian population will be forced to suffocate under an avalanche of lies and misrepresentation of reality to the people …obviously there is not a single step that Prof Mills will take that will not be subject to severe criticisms...,” he stated.

Contributing to a panel discussion on Radio Gold’s “Alhaji and Alhaji” talk-show, Dr. Tony Aidoo took a swipe at the 2008 Presidential candidate for the Convention People’s Party (CPP), Dr. Paa Kwesi Nduom, describing him as a “political man of straw”.

“…this is your classical political man of straw. The man without any ideological commitment, more or less what we call the political…moving from party to party in search of lucrative opportunities,” he said.

The former Deputy Defence Minister in the erstwhile Rawlings administration also accused Dr. Nduom of operating a “highfalutin consultancy company” and not honoring his tax obligations.

“He was actually taking unending income from the Public Services Commission and at the same time, he was not even paying tax,” he claimed.

The CPP on Wednesday, September 22, led by Dr Paa Kwesi Nduom attacked the Atta Mills led government saying it was impossible for the NDC’s Better Ghana Agenda to be achieved within the remaining two years left on the government’s tenure of office.

Dr Paa Kwesi Nduom who is the Party’s Spokesperson on Finance and Economic Planning, said the dream of a Better Ghana will remain an empty slogan because there are no real plans of action in place to make it work.

Speaking at a Press Conference Dr. Nduom said he does not expect anything brilliant from the Mills government because the administration has no blue print with which it intends to fix the nation’s economy.

“We don’t want to play the numbers game of deficits, inflation and all that. Our priorities will be different. We will have a blue print. They talk of a Better Ghana but there is no definition of a Better Ghana or the Road Map that we are going to use to get there. You realize that our President is in China and signing loans of three billion and two billion and all sorts of money. But where is the road map and the blue print? And where is it going to get us? That is the first flaw that has been there and many of us have commented on it. If you don’t have it, then we run into problems and you also invite others to tell you what to do and as they are given you their monies, they also put conditions there that you must meet…So we shall get into the same difficulties and the same problems and this is why I don’t expect to get to the end of four years and find something brilliant that gives us all the light,” he stated.

But the NDC firebrand rubbished Dr. Nduom’s remarks and asked him to rather offer “constructive, responsible criticism” by pointing out the specific failures of the Mills administration instead of launching into the concept of blueprints.

He derisively reminded the former Public Sector Reform Minister under ex-President Kufuor’s era that the administration of a government is not about building a house or “establishing a beer bar” like the one he (Nduom) runs at Elmina.

“His concept of blueprint is nothing more than that of an architect, who sits down and draws a building, gets a quantity surveyor to provide the cost of the materials and gets the contractor to put up a structure. The management of a country is not that of building a house or going to establish a beer bar like those that he runs at Elmina and at that junction there. It involves more than that,” he stated.