NDC Turn Heat On GTV Again

NDC will protest inadequate media news airtime for its activities - Alabi

Tema, March 15, GNA - The National Democratic Congress (NDC) on Saturday threatened to march to the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC) to protest against the unequalled and brief allocation of airtime to NDC news items.

Mr Joshua Alabi, Greater Accra Regional Chairman of the party, said the GBC television network belongs to the state and should not be allowed to give one party undue advantage over others in terms of airtime for news.

Mr Alabi, who was launching the party's identification card in the Tema East constituency, cited the recent "state-of-the-nation" address by NDC presidential hopeful, Prof J.EA Mills, saying it was only featured briefly on air as against a subsequent reaction by Information Minister Nana Akomea.

Mr Alabi asked NDC's critics not to misconstrue the party's silence to mean it was collapsing. "Rather we are preparing very hard in the background to win the December elections and take over from the New Patriotic Party (NPP)".

The NDC is more powerful than before, he said and called on party activists not to relent in their efforts but work harder to bring win more members into their fold.

He also urged them to encourage the masses to register and vote massively during the elections.

Referring to the amendment bill seeking to allow Ghanaians abroad to vote, Mr Alabi said in as much as the NDC wishes Ghanaians living outside the country to exercise their franchise, it would also not sit down for the NPP to take undue advantage of the situation.

He said the party would resist attempts to rush the bill through parliamentary procedures. "We see this as mischievous because we cannot guarantee the honesty of Ambassadors becoming returning officers."

Mr Alabi also reacted to criticisms that the NDC plunged the nation into debt, saying when it was in power the party utilised funds judiciously on infrastructure to the benefit of the entire nation. He alleged the NPP administration is full of corruption and that it has already put the country in a 70 trillion-cedis debt.

Talking on an alleged corruption at the Tema Municipal Assembly (TMA), Mr Alabi said, "the elephant is a destructive animal, it does not fit to live in town, and so is the leadership there, who has demonstrated being destructive through depleting of the coffers."

Nii Armah Ashietey, a mayor of Tema in the NDC administration, said all projects being carried out by the current TMA administration were initiated during his tenure of office.

He mentioned road construction works at Tema Manhean, the Ashaiman underpass and a library at the children's park as some of the projects. Nii Ashitey said his administration left behind three trillion cedis in the TMA's coffers and that within a short period, the current administration has misappropriated it under the pretext of using it for projects such as the fumigation of the Kpone land filled site and a computerisation system.

Two copies of the party's identity cards were auctioned for one million cedis each.

Meanwhile about 30 young people from the constituency announced their defection from the NPP to the NDC. They cited the failure of the incumbent MP, Mr Ishmael Ashitey to generate employment for them as he had promised.