Opinions of Monday, 19 May 2008
Columnist: Ablakwa, Samuel Okudzeto
The NPP was elected to run a government and not to run their mouths
I have observed with much disdain the character and posture of the NPP regime. The NPP appears to think that with much shouting, spin and constant bombarding of the peoples ears, then they are governing, and it is only then that we the people feel or know we have a government.
The NPP must be told that if we the people wanted them to come and run their mouths and not to run our government, we would all have preferred to make a contribution to purchase for the NPP the biggest and loudest Public Address System and find the highest roof top to place it from where the NPP could run its mouth better.
This week, NPP functionaries held yet another press conference in reaction to the NDC campaign launch where they reiterated their sickening fixation for comparison. The NPP told Ghanaians that to them, comparison is key and that they do not ascribe to John Mahama’s rather sensible thesis of mere comparison being a “recipe for mediocrity.” If the top NPP hierarchy will live in a fool’s paradise and think that what matters to the Ghanaian who cannot afford food today, who cannot afford transportation today, who cannot have access to quality health care today, whose national pride is being eroded daily because of the upsurge of the illicit drug trade even within the Ghana Police Service then it is up to the NPP leadership to continue to insult the people and take Ghanaians for granted. What is even sadder, as the NPP went on with its comparison; it couldn’t even show honesty and truthfulness. The NPP fingered out Frank Benneh a career diplomat and not an NDC politician who was brought down in 1996 and prosecuted by the NDC - indeed his prosecution went on until the NPP came to power and under Nana Akuffo Addo as Attorney General, the prosecution of Frank Benneh was stopped. The NPP refused to talk about the most high profile drug convict in Ghana’s history- Hon. Eric Amoateng who was an NPP Member of Parliament and is now convicted and serving his jail sentence in the United States. The NPP again deliberately failed to tell Ghanaians what happened to the NPP Dzorwulu Executives namely; Abena Oforiwaa (Chairperson), Comfort Akua Amankwah (Organizer) and Ama Nyarkoa (Treasurer) who were busted on 12th February, 2002 in broad day light at the Kotoka International Airport for attempting to export cocaine at a time the NPP Presidential candidate was Attorney General. As we speak, these women have never been brought to justice in this much touted era of rule of law or is it selective rule of law?
The NPP couldn’t be bold to tell us who Raymond Amankwah (a.k.a. Chandra Keita) is. Whose brother-in-law is he, and who was Attorney General when Raymond Amankwah’s confiscated assets were returned to him in 2001? Again, in its desperation, verbal diarrhea and obsession for meaningless comparison, the NPP blatantly lied when its National Chairman Peter Mac Manu stated at the ‘shouting match’ that: “Indeed the average monthly pay for a teacher has quadrupled from an equivalent of $500 to nearly $2,400.” No teacher anywhere in this country takes an average monthly salary of $2,400. Probably, the NPP Chairman has all along been talking about another country and not the Ghana we all belong to.
Then comes in the widely perceived arrogant General Secretary Nana Ohene Ntow who shamelessly states that the NPP is proud of its UP past and cherishes its history. Nana Ohene Ntow thinks Ghanaians have forgotten the terrorist and murderous character of the UP. Indeed I recommend this book – ‘JFK: Ordeal in Africa’ by Richard D. Mahoney. This book factually enumerates the over 300 people the UP elements killed, the extent to which the CIA of America sponsored Dr. J.B. Danquah and took care of his family when he was in prison and the terrorist operations of Prof. Busia from his terrorist sanctuary- Togo. This book reveals how the much eulogized Danquah and Busia were plane faced terrorists whose stature I am sure Osama Bin Laden is still aspiring to. Never in the history of Ghana, were innocent civilians whether at a Stadium or welcoming President Nkrumah at Kulungugu bombed in the scale and harrowing manner with which UP elements operated. To the haute bourgeoisie in the UP, power belonged to them and it must belong to them at all cost even if it means killing hundreds and maiming thousands.
It is this terrorist, aggressive, lying and vindictive nature its successors fifty years down the line have inherited and continue to exhibit. It is not surprising that about a week ago, another UP product- the wicked but irritating Asamoah Boateng who single handedly deprived Hodary Okine’s family their breadwinner and has rendered the otherwise dedicated poor immigration officer of over 25 years service to Ghana jobless and pensionless all just because Hodary insisted on being professional and incorruptible held a Press Conference outdooring himself as Information and National Orientation Minister and declaring that he will tell the NPP story robustly and firmly. Again, the NPP thinking at work – to them, governance is about how loud you can shout and how well you can run your mouth and not how well you run the government. Let the NPP continue to run its mouth and think that the few media cabal which it has used our taxes to fill their pot bellies and provide large Mercedes and huge 4x4 vehicles for are those who matter. On December 7, 2008 which thankfully isn’t too far, Ghanaians will show that they didn’t vote for the NPP to speak for them but to work for them, because expression is God given and inalienable, and this the people will establish decisively so that all political parties will learn that its good governance and development the people need, and that these tenets are tangible and verifiable which the people can feel themselves and wouldn’t require filibustering and high-spending misuse of taxes on ‘shouting matches’ and frivolous ‘then and now’ bill boards.
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