Ghanaians Don’t Feel Ghana @ 50 Celebrations

The Volta Regional Chairman of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Mr Modestus Ahiable, has taken a swipe at the ongoing Ghana @ 50 celebrations, saying preparations towards the historic occasion did not reflect the celebration of a national event.

According to him, what was currently going on looked more like a political party event than a national one.

He said the exclusion of other stakeholders in the preparations, leading up to the anniversary, deprived it of a national character, thus compelling some prominent entities to dissociate themselves from the entire celebrations.

Mr Ahiable said this when he addressed delegates from all the 22 constituencies of the party in Ho at the weekend.

According to him, the meeting which was at the instance of the party hierarchy was held to explain matters relating to the incarceration of Dan Abodakpi.

This he said, was important due to the misinformation that was making the rounds that Abodakpi had been jailed for embezzling government funds.

The meeting, he added, was also to react to what he described as “the raw talks of the Volta Regional Minister, Kofi Dzamesi, and the nasty things” he said about the Volta Region and also to throw some light on the Ghana @ 50 celebrations.

Mr Ahiable observed that the Ghana @ 50 celebrations should have made Dr. Kwame Nkrumah proud in his grave, but as things stood, he was of the conviction that Dr Nkrumah might rather be squirming in his grave over the shabby preparations towards the historic occasion.

He expressed the view that at this stage of the preparations, people should have begun to feel that something was going on, but most Ghanaians were still wondering as to what was going on.

“The entire celebration is in disarray,” he contended.

One of the reasons for the unsatisfactory nature of the celebrations, he said, was the decision of the government to exclude other parties from the planning of the celebrations, even when large monies had been voted towards the celebrations.

Mr Ahiable, therefore, called on those at the helm of affairs to heed advice and account for every pesewa or else, they would vomit all the monies spent unjustifiably.

He said the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government had a vicious and systematic agenda to imprison NDC leaders and destroy the party.

“They know their days are numbered and so they have become very jittery. We must remain resolute in our quest to overthrow this insensitive government in the 2008 elections,” he said.

He described the incarceration of Dan Abodakpi as politically motivated and said attempts at destroying the NDC would fail.

Story by Victor Kwawukume