Press Statement On Recent Bickering Within NDC

– By Ghanaian Youth For Good Governance

Good Morning, Ladies and gentlemen of the media, we have invited you here today because we want you to help us to express our sentiments on a few pertinent national and internal NDC matters. We are very grateful for your presence.

First of all, we wish to introduce ourselves as a number of young loyal NDC supporters belonging to a group called the Ghanaian Youth for Good Governance (GYGG). The GYGG is a pressure group formed by some like-minded and progressive Ghanaian youth in Ghana and abroad to watch the activities of government closely and ensure that our governments meet the aspirations of Ghanaians. GYGG is committed to seeking the best interest of NDC and ensuring that the party remains in power for a long time to provide good, honest, and progressive leadership to the good people of Ghana.

For NDC to remain in power and continue to provide good leadership to Ghanaians, it must continue to attract the confidence and support of the people of Ghana. It means that we must not only be united, but we must also be seen by Ghanaian people as united. Unfortunately, we do not appear to Ghanaians as a united party at this point. It does not matter that we may believe that we remain united and common in purpose when the rest of Ghanaians think otherwise.

It is pertinent that notwithstanding all the disagreements, internal difficulties, and power struggle in our midst, we must be circumspect in our utterances and maintain our cohesion to provide the necessary support for our government which is being led by His Excellency President John Evans Atta Mills.

It is because of this urgent need for unity that we are worried about certain recent developments in our party which threaten to derail our vision and erode the goodwill we presently enjoy among an overwhelming majority of Ghanaians. We, as loyal youth of the NDC, who hold the future sustenance of the party, and who would be needed by anyone who may want to lead our party in the future, have decided not to stand aloof any longer and watch our leaders destroy our party by petty bickering, intra-party tension and inaction by people who should act proactively to rescue the situation. This is the reason why we have called this press conference today.

As we listened to, and read the statements and reactions of some of our respectable leading personalities, we have been saddened and have pondered for quite some time until we came to the realization that if our elders would not act promptly to curb the recent tendency of our own leading members lambasting our government, sometimes over insignificant issues, we, the youth must rise and caution our leadership of the dangers ahead if we allow the trend to continue.

We recognize that although no human institution is perfect, and our NDC government is certainly not perfect, most of the wrangling within the party could best be addressed through internal party structures without necessarily going to town with them. It is believed that some of the negative public utterances by some of our leading members are as a result of struggle for political power now and for the future. If all those seeking to occupy high offices within the party are doing so for the interest of the party, then we wish to appeal to them and to all the major players and our entire membership to exercise great restraint so that after it all, there shall be a formidable party for them to lead.

We wish, at this juncture, to caution the party leadership that if we fail to tone down our abrasive language and criticism of our own government at the least opportunity, and we fail to forge ahead in unity, the obvious result would be for NPP to come back to power. If this occurs, we, the youth of NDC shall never forgive those of our leaders who are in position to behave maturely to consolidate our gains but have failed. Let’s also know that the people of Ghana will also lose total confidence in us and our credibility will be dented for a very long time. We do not wish this to happen to us. This is why it is important for us to take this initiative and comment on the troubling events within the party.

Having said the above, we wish to make a few observations, which would be helpful for the party because we believe it is good practice to occasionally do some self-assessment to make sure our activities conform to what is expected of us by the people who have voted us into power. We believe that we are better placed to make these remarks because we are not aligned with any groups or personality in the party. We stand independently in thought and with only one major loyalty to the best interest of our great NDC which includes supporting the government of His Excellency John Evans Atta Mills to succeed.

It is our candid view that our Founder, Former President J.J. Rawlings has some serious concerns and the best interest of NDC at heart. We would however humbly appeal to him to continue to explore avenues available to him to reach the President and make his suggestions instead of speaking to the press about those issues that bother him. Unfortunately, anytime he speaks publicly our opponents try to make political capital out of it suggesting that there is division among our ranks. We would be glad if he would henceforth deny our opponents ammunition to cause confusion among our people.

We also wish to appeal to those of our leading members who are engaged in press war to be circumspect in their criticism of the government and tone down their discord. We would urge them to throw their unflinching support behind the government of President John Evans Atta Mills while the government shall also make room for all of our leading members to contribute to the successful reign of the government.

We have also listened carefully to the Majority Leader of Parliament, Hon. Alban Bagbin a couple of times when he sounded very critical of the government and the Finance Minister. We would advise that Hon. Bagbin must register his protestations to Cabinet or the President if he is having any difficulty in consulting the Presidency and getting the cooperation of his colleagues at the Ministries and other government institutions.

Recently, there was complaint on the floor of Parliament that the President had failed to provide offices for members of Parliament as he had promised in his first Sessional Address to Parliament. During that address, the President also promised to provide research assistants to each Member of Parliament.

In our view, the provision of research assistants is clearly a more achievable pledge in the short to medium-term than constructing offices for Members of Parliament. It is no secret that the President has discharged that promise within one year of his assumption of power. That, to us, is a clear indication that the President is on course and in due course, would attend to his other promises.

It should not be difficult for anyone to understand that the government could not possibly provide offices for MPs in all the constituencies in one year under the harsh economic circumstances the government has inherited from the past NPP administration.

At worst, if any member of the party thinks the President may have forgotten about this particular promise, the person could simply remind the President through legitimate structures in our party and government without making derogatory statements on the floor of Parliament. We must add quickly that it is heart warming to note that Hon. Agbesi who first made this complaint has later apologized and explained that his views had been distorted by some people.

But we are also aware of similar criticisms from a couple more members of Parliament and many of our members outside of Parliament. We think that these people must act in good faith to ensure that they do not play into the hands of our opponents who are alert looking for opportunities to take advantage of our bickering. We seriously do not think there are any serious issues that merit sharp criticism from our own camp when we must rather focus on our positive traits and discuss our weaknesses indoor.

Ladies and gentlemen of the press, we wish to also comment on the widespread perception that the NDC government is generally slow. Many of our members have also bought into this perception. However, it is difficult to understand the exact context in which various people accuse the government of being slow.

If our members and Ghanaians, indeed, believe that our government came to meet an unprecedented budget deficit, which it is trying strenuously to fix, it shall make a lot of sense to all that it may take a little more time for major promises to be fulfilled. Let us remember the words of our first President, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah that “those who measure us by the height we are must also remember the depth we are coming from.” But this does not mean that the government has not fulfilled many of the significant promises it has made to Ghanaians. We shall shortly outline some of the major achievements and plans of the government to meet the expectations of all Ghanaians.

Ladies and gentlemen, notwithstanding the above, we would still like to draw the President’s attention to this wide-spread perception that the government is generally slow. We would appeal to the President not to ignore the perception. He must be responsive to the lamentations of the people of Ghana. We are saying this because we are also victims of our NPP friends who tease us constantly that our party won the last election merely on false propaganda and once in power we are unable to prove any of the allegations we made against them.

They tell us that all the allegations of massive corruption and financial malfeasance, which we made against them, are lies, and all that we have heard about the sale of government land and property in certain prime areas in Accra to NPP members and their financiers are also false. We do not feel comfortable in this situation and we wish to advice the government that if these allegations are true then government must take steps to publish some of the malfeasance in the national newspapers for all to see and also bring the perpetrators of these crimes to book as quickly as possible.

As we put our house in proper order, we wish to assure all Ghanaians that the new NDC government remains committed to fulfilling all of its promises to Ghanaians and would continue to provide honest, peaceful, and progressive leadership for all Ghanaians. While the government shall take steps to respond appropriately to the concerns of the good people of Ghana, there are already many initiatives to be excited about.

The new NDC government has not abolished the School Feeding Program as Ghanaians were frightened in the run-up to the last election. In fact, the government has rather improved the general welfare of deprived school pupils by providing them with free school uniforms. The new NDC government has also not abolished the National Health Insurance Scheme as was rumoured in the run-up to the last elections. Instead the government is determined to implement its promise of taking only one premium for the scheme.

We wish to also bring to the attention of Ghanaians, certain remarkable and exciting developmental projects outlined in the 2010 Budget Statement which was read recently in Parliament.

• Government will support a private company called Ganges Jute and West Africa COCOBOD in a Public-Private Partnership arrangement to establish a jute factory in Kumasi during next year, 2010. • • Government shall provide direct support for local production of rice, fish, and chicken. Many people would be encouraged to enter into poultry farming and would be supported by government. • • Government pledges to provide agricultural machinery and equipment to support local farmers and raise jobs. • • Government has pledged to revive and support a cocoa processing factory being built by CALF but was abandoned for the last 8 years of NPP’s reign. • • Government intends to construct Gas Turbines to bring energy tariffs under control. • • Government shall embark on large-scale public-private commercial farming next year. This shall create a lot of jobs and increase food production in Ghana in the short to medium-term. • • There shall be rehabilitation of irrigation schemes in the country. • Establishment of National Plantation Development Program (NPDP) – to increase the forest cover, promote employment, and contribute in fighting against rural poverty. •

• 100 District Assemblies are expected to actively plant trees in off-reserve areas. •

• Each assembly would employ 300 workers for the project. It is expected that more than 51,000 jobs shall be created out of this project by 2011. • Government shall also make more direct social interventions such as: • In the next 3 years, government shall construct permanent school buildings all over the country to ensure that no classes are run under trees.

• Government shall create equal opportunities for the disabled and the vulnerable in our society.

• Teachers shall be rewarded appropriately and encouraged to upgrade their knowledge and skills.

• Government shall Procure of new ambulances and establishment of new ambulance stations. * More on government’s targets in the 2010 budget is attached. Ladies and Gentlemen of the Media, at this stage, we wish to encourage our membership to remain loyal and steadfast as we traverse a difficult economic terrain to create a better Ghana for all. We want to assure all Ghanaians that NDC shall not fail them because those of us here are also Ghanaians and we shall continuously draw the government’s attention to how we feel and what we think must be done to meet the expectations of all of us. We have noticed the political twist that was assigned to the President’s recent directive to his appointees that they must make room to party members and foot soldiers that have grievances. Simply, that directive was in response to a complaint from our members that Ministers and other government appointees who were their friends in the past had ceased to see them and pick their calls. The President thought that was wrong and his directive was appropriate. If others, who may be non-NDC members, also make similar complaints to the President, we are sure he would address it similarly. In the same vein, a political twist was given to government’s statement that it has appointed more party members into positions than any government in the past. Ladies and gentlemen, appointing political party members into a government formed by that party has never been an issue in this country. It is the prerogative of a President to choose whoever he wants to work with. Presidents normally choose their team from the parties they belong to and nobody questions that. Appointing government officials from other parties is normally only a gesture. His Excellency President Mills has appointed several non-NDC members into various ministerial positions and to the boards of State organizations. The explanation that more party members have been appointed into government than previous regimes have done is to only remind the members of our party that the President has not actually ignored our hardworking members as is being speculated by some people. We wish to advise our faithful colleagues not to fall for the devious propaganda. We believe that the President shall continue to listen to our concerns and will accord us the appropriate recognition in due course. Ladies and gentlemen, yesterday was also exactly one year since the first balloting in the last general elections. On this occasion, we wish to applaud our hardworking members and foot soldiers who have defied all odds and have worked so hard to ensure that the victory the good people of Ghana have given us was jealously and aggressively guarded and ensured. The President and all our members appreciate your efforts and we hope that the better Ghana agenda shall come to fruition in a short time for all Ghanaians to appreciate your efforts. We would at this point encourage government to investigate why the last elections had to go to a third round when many press houses had earlier called the elections for Professor Mills. We heard during the collation of results that figures from certain constituencies were changed in the EC strong room after the parties and many press houses and independent observers had received a first set of figures. We wish to throw a challenge to the leadership of our party to explain to our membership what had happened in the EC strong room. We hope that our message shall be taken seriously by all leaders. We continue to pledge our loyalty to the government, NDC, and the good people of Ghana. We shall continue to work tirelessly to ensure that our NDC government provides the best opportunity for all Ghanaians to develop. Thank you for coming.

………………… Abdul Razak (Spokesperson)