RE: The NPP Age Of Monecracy And Little Social Responsibility

The recent article by Mr. Dawukpor Djokoto on the above topic cannot be allowed to pass without countering the obvious twists of facts and in some cases blatant falsehood he projected. It has become the strategic ploy of members and supporters of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) to pick on issues and consistently harp on it with the intention of passing if off as the truth. Fortunately the NDC certainly does not hold the monopoly over truth in Ghana. Their stock in trade is to project the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP), its members and government in the worst possible light by using falsehood, half-truths and innuendoes to achieve this objective. The first time yours truly came across Mr. Djokoto was on the Say It Loud (SIL) column on the web pages of Ghanaweb.com. This writer has in previous write-ups indicated his aversion to that column for the lack of editorial control on the ethnocentric bigots and anti-intellectuals, and the lack of objectivity in the postings. The purpose of this piece is to expose the blatant falsity and half-truth Dawukpor employed in his piece to present the government as a failure. This rejoinder should also serve as a notice to the anti-NPP propagandists that their machinations will never go unchallenged and that a great majority of Ghanaians are aware of their plots and schemes to paint the government black at every turn and continuously twist facts and manufacture their own truths. The days when the Peoples’ Daily Graphic, Ghanaian Times and Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC) were solely employed for the propaganda of the Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC) and the NDC are gone forever. There are a number of us who will monitor their writings and utterances and counter every falsehood and cooked facts they churn with the real facts and the truth.

Re: Persistent Fault Lines in Ghanaian Politics

In his opening paragraph Mr. Djokoto divides the political lines along the left and right wings, pitching the NPP on the right and the NDC and Convention People’s Party (CPP) on the left. He labels the NPP as ‘the conservative camp with elitist views on national development’. His real motives for putting up the piece are clearly betrayed in his claims: “That camp has always believed in promoting unrestrained personal wealth accumulation.” If encouraging entrepreneurship and private sector development is what irks Dawukpor and his like minded then it is too bad. Let it be stated that there is no where under the sun that the government is the sole provider of its citizens. Modern governance entails the provision of facilities and opportunities for everyone to take advantage. Further even in the most developed economies like that of the United States, Britain, Canada, Japan and Germany Dawukpor consistently cites as examples of social responsibility, governments can hardly meet all the basic needs of the people. Our NDC friends would like to portray that ‘streetism’ is the creation of the NPP government in Ghana and that in the advanced economies cited earlier there are no homeless or poor in the society. Another false claim in Dawukpor’s article is that members of the NPP “handle themselves as if they have a pre-destined royal and divine right to rule Ghana.” This writer wonders how different members of the ruling parties in the United States, Canada, Britain and Germany hold themselves from their counterparts of the NPP in Ghana. This can only be a demonstration of the intolerance of the NDC towards democratic governance and the ability of Ghanaians to make electoral choices. This is a party peopled by politicians who ruled the country for about 19 uninterrupted years with virtually no opposition until its last four years in power. They got so carried away by the unbridled power they wielded that they do not know how to accept their rejection by a majority of Ghanaians voters. They are now throwing all manner of accusations at the NPP forgetting the government has the expressed will of the people of Ghana to govern the country. The level to which Ghanaians were intimidated, cowed and ruled in the country for 11 years by the PNDC is a historical fact. They did all these without any accountability for their deeds. We know who ordered us to sleep at dusk and only wake up at dawn. We know who ordered the killings of our judges, mothers and fathers, destroyed indigenous businesses and brought in foreigners and their cohorts to rape and plunder the state enterprises the first President of the country established. We know who appointed loyal tribunal chairpersons and people with doubtful legal backgrounds to administer kangaroo justice on the whims of the ruling class. We remember the abuse, threats and intimidation that were churned on our television, radio and in the state owned newspapers daily. In the end they smuggled in the indemnity clauses in the transitional provisions to insulate themselves from accounting for the crimes they committed under the dark cloak of their revolution. They even had the effrontery to sneak in a PNDC Law at the dawn of the Fourth Republican Constitution to shield Agbodo and his friends on the Divestiture Implementation Committee (DIC) knowing very well what they had done. Later revelations about the plunder of the country by the PNDC and its cronies have underscored their ploy to indemnify these people who aided them.

Mr. Djokoto finally gave the NDC game away by stating that the ‘NDC could be said to have inherited CPP.’ Now let all understand why Kwesi Pratt and Alhaji Ramadan are to all intents and purposes in bed with the NDC; Dr. Hilla Limann must be turning in his grave. We now know who is responsible for the near-death of the Nkrumaist political groupings of Ghana. The claims by Dawukpor about the ‘people-centred approach to governance’ of the NDC and its social democratic leanings will be addressed shortly.

Re: A Contrast of Economic and Social Ideologies in Practice

It is contended that with the exception of the initial heady days of the PNDC putsch the economic policies of the country from President Hilla Limann to President Kufuor have remained centrist and liberal. The Fourth Republican Constitution, most laws on the statute books of the country and the current prevailing global economic conditions and systems set a chart of liberal political and economic outlook for the country. There has hardly been any change with the World Bank (WB) and International Monetary Fund (IMF) virtually dictating the economic direction of the country from that time until now. With the exception of the period between 1982 and 1985 that the PNDC unsuccessfully tried to employ Marxist socialism ideologies they followed the prescriptions of the Breton Wood institutions with hardly any deviation. Indeed, during the PNDC era Ghana was touted as the success story of the programmes of the WB and IMF. This was a period when Ghanaians were consistently encouraged to tighten their belts and Rawlings ‘Chain’ (a symptom of malnourishment) was a common feature of most Ghanaians. This writer sincerely believes this is not what Dawukpor and his friends want Ghanaians to remember as the ‘people-centred’ policies of the (P)NDC. The adage goes that you cannot know where you are going unless you know where you are coming from. The current economic problems should not be assessed based on its current impact alone but also from its historical perspective. A school of thought this writer belongs to opines that the vociferous claimants of economic hardship presently are the minority few who fed directly on the largesse of the NDC government. With the coming into power of a new government their sources of income (legally or otherwise) have dried up so they must employ every trick in the book to get back their darling NDC into power at any cost.

Without a doubt the PNDC and NDC governments carried out policies with national outlook like every other government. This writer concedes that the governments embarked on donor funded water and electricity programmes. The Self-Help Electrification Projects were moreover carried out with significant component of the finance coming from citizens and philanthropists related to the beneficiary communities. It must also be noted that the PNDC and NDC rule is the longest by any other group/leader but hardly can they lay claim to having reduced poverty to any appreciable level. Dawukpor imputes that whereas the NDC government attempted cushioning the hardships of the poor the period of the NPP is marked by “monuments and presidential palaces, just projects with utilitarian value to our folks.” This is an obvious reference to the proposed building of a presidential palace to serve as the offices and residence of the president. For a start, this project is not meant for the personal benefit of President Kufuor. Moreover the completion date is set well after he leaves office. The next president to be elected after the 2008 election is likely to be the first to have its usage. This indictment underscores not only the populist character of members and sympathisers of the NDC but also their ability to be economical with the truth. Let us go down memory lane into the political history of this country for some examples. The first political monument built in independent Ghana was the Independence Arch built by President Nkrumah. President Rawlings built the Kwame Nkrumah Mausoleum in memory of our first president. Frankly yours truly does not know of any other political monument built in recent years yet a supporter of NDC is accusing the ruling party of an act they have not committed. In any event this writer does not have any qualms with the building of monuments and especially a fitting presidential palace. Monuments are important landmarks which illustrate the political, social and architectural history of a country. They become symbols of nationalism and embodiments of the hopes and aspirations of a people. Since the advanced level (General Certificate of Education) studying of Ayi Kwei Armah’s “Fragments”, yours truly has come to abhor and even consider as evil the use of the former slave castle in Osu as the seat of government for the first independent black African country south of the Sahara. Even in post independence times the alleged atrocities and symbol of fear attached to the building makes it unfit to house the first office of the state. President Nkrumah was the first to acknowledge this hence he built the state house as the seat of government and the Peduasi Lodge as the Presidential Retreat. Mr. Djokoto does not see anything wrong with President Nkrumah’s or President Rawlings’ undertakings but once President Kufuor proposes to carry out similar schemes it must be wrong. Then again we should not be surprised since Dawukpor himself admits that the NDC is a ‘populist’ grouping. Populism is in fact a political philosophy that employs the rhetorical style that holds that the common person’s interests are oppressed by the elite in the society. Populists contend that the instruments of the state must be taken away from the so-called self-serving elite and used for the supposed benefit and advancement of the people as a whole. Is it any wonder Dawukpor is accusing the NPP of elitism? We should all know it is their modus operandi but the people of Ghana are alive to their chicanery and trickery and will not fall for them again, ever! The majority of our people know that the rhetoric they employ are empty and without substance.

The least said about Mr. Djokoto’s reference to government’s promotion of private universities the better. However, again these institutions did not start under the present government. Valley View University, the oldest among them is several decades old. Many others commenced and received accreditation during the time of the NDC. The National Accreditation Board of the Ministry of Education was set up long before the NPP came to power but Mr. Djokoto can blame the NPP for the setting up of private universities. This is just another example of giving a dog a bad name and hanging it. The time is not ripe to consider who took away educational bursaries, feeding grants and accommodation from the sons and daughters of the Agya Mensahs in our universities. Dawukpor would not be happy if yours truly were to indicate here the government which introduced the fee-paying system and the inadequate SSNIT loan scheme in our universities. Mr. Djokoto, be informed that you and your NDC friends cannot rewrite history to paint NDC white and present the NPP as the dark angel. You can choose to acknowledge the need for the National Theatre, and also the Accra International Conference Centre, and the roads built by the PNDC and NDC governments. However you cannot pretend the NPP government has not built roads which include dual and multi-carriage ones throughout the country. Presently new stadiums are being built in Tamale and Sekondi for the first time, and the Accra and Kumasi stadiums are also being rebuilt. We shall soon consider real (not imagined) life affecting and changing projects of the NPP government, but let us leave these infrastructural building programmes for now.

Dawukpor continues to accuse the NPP government under President Kufuor with “an aberration and the jettison of all economic policies with a social and utilitarian benefit to the masses of Ghanaians.” He continues that: “As if to make up for lost time, an extreme form of liberal economic regime has been instituted in Ghana, where the only incentives entrepreneurs have from the government is a license to seek as much monetary profit as possible within the shortest possible time. Under this economic regime, it pays better for rational businessmen to import goods from abroad, warehouse and sell them quickly and go back for more.” Frankly, yours truly find the ability of NDC supporters to gloss over their party’s programmes very amazing. Again let us go down melody lane, a product like ‘Maxam’ a cheap quality toothpaste was introduced into Ghana from Asia nearly 20 years ago. Similarly other cheap products including toothpastes, soap, cloths, batteries, torches, matches and many others were introduced into the country under the PNDC/NDC governments. Common peanuts were imported under the darling governments of Dawukpor in the form of ‘Nkatee Burger’ with Maame Dokono of ‘Obra’ fame as its face. It is the understanding of this writer that under the NPP government ‘Nkatee Burger’ is now locally produced. It must be noted that it was during the period of Chairman/President Rawlings that ‘street marketing’ in our cities gained prominence in the country. It is noteworthy that President Nkrumah set up industries that manufactured most of these products but the policy failures of the PNDC/NDC led to their collapse. We will consider the beneficiaries of the sale of the industries set up by President Nkrumah anon. We have a government which has managed the economy so well to bring inflation down from a high of 48 percent under the NDC government to the present near single-digit figures and again bring down corporate tax from about 32 percent to 25 percent yet we have Dawukpor Djokoto accusing them ‘of making domestic production unattractive’. It is hoped that Dawukpor, though mistaken, sincerely believes in his assertions but is not just being mischievous in his writing.

Re: The Consequences of Right-wing Unregulated Economic Liberalization

The persistent attempts by the NDC to portray the present government as promoting and being the embodiment of ‘personal wealth accumulation and extreme individualism’ flies in the face of facts on the ground. Dawukpor may consistently pound on that ‘the UP/PP/NPP as a camp of elitists who favour with little thought to social and economic policies that have the potential to raise the whole nation’s standard of living’. It may not be surprising that the people who are now worse off under the present government are the armies of Association of Committees for the Defence of the Revolution (ACDR), the non working NDC members who were on the pay roll the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO), Non-Formal Education Division (NFED) of the Ministry of Education, and the host of others who found themselves pushed into bodies such as the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE), the Electoral Commission (EC), and the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ). Most of these sympathisers of the NDC were simply unqualified and incapable of carrying out the work they were employed for but because of cronyism, they found themselves promoted to their point of incompetence. Before Djokoto and his friends attempt any defence they should not forget that these people live in the community with us as friends and acquaintances. The proverbial last straw is the continuous exercise of deletion of ‘ghost names’ from the government pay roll. This obviously has affected the ‘real nation wreckers’. So if they are crying some of us are only amused because we know the source of their angst. Then he waxes lyrical about a so called ‘ambience’ in cities like New York and London clearly forgetting about the crime levels, poverty and social depravity prevalent in suburbs such as the Bronx and Peckham. It is the likes of Djokoto who always seek to present a life of plush and greenery on the other side deliberately leaving out the real stories of difficulty and danger prevailing in some of these foreign countries.

Re: Social and Economic Penury Under NPP: How Not To Build A Social Democracy

An interesting phenomenon about the NDC is its penchant for regurgitating ideologies and lofty ideas without giving any practical meaning to them. From their revolutionary era until the present the group has jumped from one jargon to the other. Recently social democracy and social justice have emerged as their new catch phrases. Suddenly we find these phrases appearing in their propaganda materials and speeches. Going back to the period 1993 to 2000, a little research conducted by yours truly could not unearth these phrases anywhere in their political lexicon. Indeed the closest period seems to be just prior to the 2004 elections that it started appearing in the statements of some leading members of the party. Of course, social justice was popularised in the political lexicon of Ghana by the then Chairman Rawlings but the concept is traceable to President Nkrumah and the original Convention Peoples’ Party manifesto. Some of us outside the NDC consistently wonder as to the real meaning of ‘Democracy’ found in the name of the party. This is a party which came into power on the back of an illegal, brutish and murderous putsch. Its proclaimed founder, President Rawlings, is on record as being against the very concept of democracy. For some of us, the real meanings of the concepts (social democracy and social justice) are lost on the NDC and its members; they only employ them as political catch-phrases.

Now let us match the programmes and policies of the NDC with those of the NPP and assess who had any real workable policies to tackle poverty reduction. The Economic Recovery Programmes (ERPs) and Structural Adjustment Programmes (SAPs) did nothing to improve the living conditions of our lives but only served to open our economy to the influx of shoddy foreign goods. The divestiture programme was meant for the benefits of members, cronies and sympathisers of the NDC. President Rawlings may continually shed crocodile tears for the poor and down-trodden in the society but he is the one who closed down all the jobs created by President Nkrumah. To add insult to injury on the eve of the 2000 elections the Cocoa Services Division of the Ghana Cocobod was dissolved and the contract for its services awarded to Cashpro, a private company. Who were the owners of Cashpro – the Ahwoi brothers. Dr. Nkrumah’s Nsawam Cannery was sold to Caridem. The sponsors of Caridem include Nana Agyeman Rawlings, the wife of President Rawlings and her 31st December Women Movement apparatchiks.

There are countless examples that can be adduced but time and space would not permit. Let us consider the obnoxious cash and carry system of the NDC and compare to the NPP’s National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS). Let us consider the collapse of the Omni-Bus Service Authority and the City Transport Services under the PNDC/NDC and the recently introduced Metro Mass Transport service by the NPP. Let us consider the NDC’s ERP/SAP and compare to the benefits of the NPP’s Highly Indebted Poor Country (HIPC) scheme, the recently launched $50 million micro-finance scheme and Ghana Poverty Reduction Strategy (GPRS). Let us consider the failure of the NDC government to fulfil the constitutional requirement of providing free universal basic education to every child in the country and the NPP’s capitation grant which provides not just for the fees of basic school children in public schools but also assist with their feeding. It is interesting to note that the NDC which is supposed to have the best will of the poor and marginalised opposed the NHIS and wanted private schools to be included in the capitation grant. The so-called elitist party of NPP stood its grounds knowing these programmes forms an integral part of reducing poverty and alleviating the masses from harsh economic realities.

Time and space would not allow the discussion of the significance of petroleum pricing in the country. But suffice to state that it is the duty of every responsible government to carry out programmes and projects that would help in the provision of opportunities to all without discrimination, improve the lives of the citizenry and protect the rights of all under the international conventions of human rights and personal freedoms under the concept of rule of law. We can all attest to the level of difficulty and hardship Ghanaians went through under the PNDC and NDC when crude oil sold at $30 and below. We know how the economy went on the brink of total collapse because of the accrued debt of the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) to some major banks. Governance of a nation entails bold, pragmatic and realistic decision making devoid of undue populism which have never made any real difference except to create a new class of nouveau riche.

Never again shall we allow ourselves to be hoodwinked by some self-seeking individuals who create conditions of anarchy, fear and intimidation to assume the reigns of power only to enrich themselves and their cronies only to turn round and preach what they do not practice to us. This is the best time Ghana has enjoyed all the freedoms and rights enjoyed in all civil societies. We do not need any left wing ideologists who do not even understand and cannot explain the concepts they regurgitate to come and tell us about some mythical problems existing in our country.

God bless Ghana.