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General News of Wednesday, 31 December 2003

Source: THE ATTA MILLS CAMPAIGN TEAM

Prof. Atta-Mills New Year Message

Fellow Ghanaians, I bring you the Season's Greetings. It is my hope that the Almighty will lift up your spirits and inspire you to new heights in the coming year.

Without doubt, for most of us, this has been a very difficult year. Paying our children's school fees, food, water, electricity, transportation, the basic essentials of life, has proved to be a major problem. We can hardly afford any celebration to end the year; our purchasing power has been completely eroded.

By God's grace, good rains have enabled a good harvest for food crop farmers as well as cocoa farmers. The country has also been fortunate that prices of cocoa and gold on the international market have been very good over the last few years whilst oil prices have remained relatively stable. We are are grateful to our relations abroad who have continued to support us with remitt! ances to reduce the hardship of the average Ghanaian family.

Yet the benefits of these blessings have not been reflected in most of our daily lives and there seems to be no hope of relief from our hardships with the existing incompetence and corruption. Despite the favourable economic environment most Ghanaians find themselves very desperate about their living conditions. The Government on the other hand claims everything is just perfect!

Beloved Countrymen and women, we have to face the truth about our situation in order to be able to do something about it.

There is little hope for this country if we do not make truth the guiding principle for leadership.

There is little hope if one standard is used to judge members of one party while another is used for members of other parties.

There is little hope if the basic tenets of the Constitution are flouted despite loud proclamations of the rule of law and! human rights.

There is little hope if clear wrong-doing on the part of a member of Government or an appointee is actively covered up even under the guise of National Security.

There is little hope if corruption in Government is whitewashed and those involved are only called and advised to resist temptation!

There is little hope if vindictiveness and vengeance rule this country.

There is little hope if, under cover of darkness, arms are virtually smuggled into our dear country by some operatives without the knowledge or involvement of our Armed Forces, without any accountability whatsoever.

But, Fellow Ghanaians, there IS hope!

And that hope stems from you the people. Let no one take your hope away. Let no one take your courage away from you.

By this time next year, you will have had an opportunity to cast your vote and end this era of incompetence. You have the power to speak through yo! ur thumb against the Hardship, Incompetence, Parochialism and Corruption (HIPC) that has beset our country over the last three years.

With our thumbs, we will open the door to a new and better Ghana, which I, John Atta Mills, am committed to usher in. I will work with you to build a Ghana in which truth reigns, in which lies and "spin" do not dominate; a Ghana which is peaceful and stable and in which vindictiveness has no place; a Ghana in which opportunities do not exist only for favourites or a few close relations.

We want a Ghana in which economic policies are compassionate and take into account the living conditions of the ordinary man, woman and child. We are determined to provide a leadership that will ensure economic growth and stability, whilst also providing a social safety net to cushion the under privileged of society.

We all long for Something New, Something Better in our lives. My experiences both in government and now, out of government have given me a clearer perspectives for the country, a clear and more focused vision for the future.

Let's prepare to use our thumbs by this time next year to deliver us from HIPC hell below into which we have been plunged, into a higher realm of hope.

Fellow countrymen, women and children, let me wish all of us a very Happy New Year; in which we join hands as united nation to build hope for a brighter future.

Let's do Something New in our lives!
Let do Something Better in our lives!
Long live Ghana.
God Bless you.