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Opinions of Wednesday, 17 December 2008

Columnist: Boateng, Kwaku

Why NPP must go

Ghana, our beloved country, the shinning Black Star of Africa is losing its place, position and golden name. The best chance Ghana had to transform its economy and improve the living conditions of its citizens since independence came during the regime of Mr. J.A Kufour. His NPP government claimed Ghana’s GDP has quadrupled and the economy had increased by 300 percent.

This NPP regime bragged that Ghana joining the Highly Impoverished Poor Countries (HIPC) program was the best shot for our nation. The result, huge sums of money was raised through debt forgiveness, debt cancellation and the mercy of donor nations to bail out Ghana from HIPC. Under this regime the word ‘UNPRECEDENTED’ has become a media rhyme because every government Minister, spokesperson and NPP party activists “sniff” this word on a daily basis. For instance, we are told among other things that:

The decision to go HIPC was unprecedented in Ghana’s history. So where are the benefits to our people?

The School Feeding Programme is unprecedented in Ghana’s history. They ended up feeding our children with fake and expired food.

The National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) is unprecedented in Ghana’s history. Is it really national and was the money collected meant for Dr. Arthur Kennedy’s private pockets?

The Metro Mass Transport is unprecedented in Ghana’s history. Is it being properly managed and where are the buses today?

The country’s GDP had quadrupled to 16 billion dollars and economic growth of 300% has been recorded and this is unprecedented in Ghana’s history. Where is the growth and how are Ghanaians feeling this growth in the daily lives?

The country is being governed on the principle of Rule of Law and Good Governance, and this is unprecedented in Ghana’s history. Is this real or just another fake and archaic Kangaroo rhetoric?

Every thinking man would have thought that if really the economy grew by that quantum, Ghanaians should have seen a corresponding increase it in social infrastructure and services provision such housing, schools, jobs, etc but no, we only see Kangaroo men owning properties across the length and breadth of Accra in an unprecedented property owning democracy with impunity.

The Seat Fellow Ghanaians, please permit me to provoke your thought for a moment. Why do we waste our time standing and waiting for long our hours just to cast a ballot to choose a President? Do we choose a President to spend time with the people he/she governs or we choose a President so he can spend greater part of the year practicing his hobby, traveling 24/7 around the globe at the expense of the suffering Ghanaian tax payer.

President J.A. Kufour has honoured every dog’s invitation in this world, but he has no time to visit some parts of this country when there is a disaster. Indeed, Ghanaians will have expected that they voted for Mr. J.A. Kufour to be President of Ghana and not to be a tour operator but we are mistaken. Ghanaians expects their President to show concern by visiting places of national disaster such as the recent fire outbreak at KWASHIEMAN but no. President Kufour prefers traveling to Togo to eat “Zuya” with the son of his blood brother, Gyasingbe Eyadema. Is this the kind of President we want for the next four years?

Nana Akuffo Addo has already started attending beach parties, organizing fundraisers in New York and visiting Guinea claiming he was seeking counsel with West African leaders. But we are all witness to the brutal murder of 44 Ghanaians in the Gambia when Nana Akufo Addo was the Foreign Minister. Did he even bother to visit the Gambia? No! But John Dramani Mahama visited the Gambia. If Nana Akufo Akufo could not fight for Ghanaians when he was a Foreign Minister, how sure are we that he can fight for us when he becomes President?

Promises Fellow Ghanaians, in the year 2002 at Cape Coast during one of his People’s Assembly series, Mr. J.A Kufour was asked about housing. This was what Mr. J.A. Kufour said boldly and confidently: “My government has started massive housing projects all over the country”. I recall very vividly the President called upon another of their own, Mr. Kwamena Bartels to “embellish” what he the President attempted to explain. Kwamena Bartels obediently embellished what his master requested him to do by saying they were moving from “horizontal” housing to “vertical” housing. Again, the Minister’s assurance was ‘unprecedented’ giving that the housing project was ‘unprecedented’ in Ghana’s history.

Fellow Ghanaians, having provoked your thought, may I ask if our government can point to any completed ‘unprecedented’ vertical housing for Ghanaians? Was the housing for all a priority or the Presidential Palace?

My people, I will not like to bore you by enumerating the volumes of failed and unfulfilled promises by this government because the list is unending. Besides, I believe you are discerning enough and know more than I do.

Governance and Rule of Law Rule of Law is what makes a descent society. If there is no Law and Order a country becomes ungovernable. The Police and Judiciary hold primacy in ensuring that the rule of law is upheld.

Fellow Ghanaians, this Kangaroo government that prides itself of having increased the police force to “unprecedented” proportions in Ghana’s history. Meanwhile, here is the police force that have been described variously as being unprofessional, trigger happy and under whose custody valuable ‘items’ like cocaine get lost. Is it better to have a small police force, well-equipped with the needed logistics and properly paid to do their job with unquestionable professional competence or a large force of unprofessional personnel hired by such arrogant men as Mr. Stephen Asamoah Boateng? We need a police force we can trust and we can reform what we have now by voting for CHANGE on December 28 to change this Kangaroo NPP government.

Fellow countrymen and women, the Golden Age of Cocaine is another legacy this Kuffour administration bequeathed us. Every child all over Ghana now know that besides medical prescriptions there is something else called drugs. A whole NPP Member of Parliament for Nkoranza, dishonourable Eric Amoateng who as MP should be teaching our children Honourable behaviour was busted with huge quantities HEROINE in the US. President J.A. Kufour failed to lead this nation in the fight against drugs. A vote for Nana Akufo Addo means four more years of this incompetent leadership.

Mr. J.A. Kufour failed to lead the way in establishing an independent judiciary. By carefully packing the bench to overturn rulings of the Supreme Court is a gross executive interference in our judicial system. We need CHANGE to restore the image of the judiciary crippled by massive corruption. We cannot just Move Forward this way.

Judges are transferred at short notice so government can influence a case of interest to them. A classic example is the case involving the ex-Ghana Airways workers. Within a short period several judges were transferred just to frustrate the workers. Many ex-Ghana Airways workers have died as a result of frustration in an unprecedented unending court case. May their souls rest in perfect peace. NPP government pulled one of its Kangaroo dances about three weeks ago when it announce the payment of rest of the severance pay due ex- Ghana Airways staff. But I can say on authority that the money is yet to reflect in their various accounts of these Ghana Airways workers whose only crime was to work for Ghana.

Now they must go When government demonstrates lack of integrity, transparency and confidence in dealing with its people by sourcing loan from a Hairdresser’s Salon to run the economy, THEN THEY MUST GO

When government demonstrates to its people that the economy will collapse unless its strategic enterprise, Ghana Telecom (GT) is sold to raise money to run the economy, it means they don’t have the men they claim they have to run and manage the economy, THEN THEY MUST GO

When government demonstrates gross insensitivity to the plight of its suffering masses where preference is given to their own personal self aggrandizement rather meeting the basic physiological needs of its populace, THEN THEY MUST GO

When government cannot set priorities for national development and expenditure, THEN THEY MUST GO

When government Ministers display arrogance, pomposity and engage in demeaning and disgraceful acts which indicts not only the integrity of the leadership but the Ghanaian population as a whole (Reference to Dr. Richard Anane), THEN THEY MUST GO.

When citizens deduce that government has taken their sobriety and their respect for the seat of government for granted, THEN THEY MUST GO

When government demonstrates to its people that it has lost control over the Police force, putting the life, safety and security of its people under jeopardy, THEN THEY MUST GO

When government demonstrates to its people that they cannot control armed ‘machomen’ who are going around terrorizing the citizenry, hijack and snatching ballot boxes at gun point, THEN THEY MUST GO

Ghanaians were not fooled to vote for Mr. J.A. Kufour and the NPP in the 2000 and 2004 election. What we did was to give Kuffour and the NPP the chance to prove how Positive Change 1 and 2 can reflect upon our lives. The trust is over. Friends, we shall live with regrettable consequences if we make a mistake by giving the NPP four years.

Ghanaians, let us all speak with one voice and vote out the NPP come December 28. They have failed. If indeed they believe in Ghana, the economy well managed and our living conditions have improved tremendously, why are spending millions of Dollars and new Ghana Cedi campaigning all over the country? The truth is they have under-perform and looted the nation.

The NPP should be thought a good lesson that no government can take the Ghanaian people for granted. Once again, in one voice and with our thumb power let’s vote out this Kangaroo NPP government. THEY MUST GO. God bless Ghana.

Source: Kwaku Boateng Jeam93@yahoo.co.uk