NDC wants forensic audit of HIPC Funds

The Member of Parliament for Tamale South, Mr. Haruna Iddrisu on Saturday called on President John Agyekum Kufuor to launch a forensic audit of the disbursement of the HIPC Funds, Common Fund and that of National Health Insurance Scheme from 2005 to 2007.

He pointed out that if an independent audit is conducted on the said funds the findings would be worse than what is being revealed from the on-going Public Accounts Committee of Parliament, adding that some people were given loans under the HPIC fund and have since not repaid.

Mr. Iddrisu made the call at a forum organized by the Tertiary Education Institutions Network of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) (TEIN) University of Cape Coast (UCC) branch at Cape Coast under the theme: "NDC laying a solid foundation for national development after 2008".

The forum was geared towards marketing the party's strategies for national development towards next year's general elections.

He said in view of this, the minority would be tough in approving this year's national budget, especially in the allocation of funds to the District Assembly Common Fund and the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) to avoid the misappropriation of public funds.

Mr Iddrisu said the NDC was not against the government's plans for massive capital investment in the country but that loans sourced should be properly done through parliament to avoid any ambiguities and questioning.

He asked the government to ensure that Ministers of State who are found wanting in the revelation of the Public Accounts Committee should take responsibility for the revelations and take charge of whatever happens.

Touching on the 2008 election, he expressed confidence the NDC would win 2008 and that everything would be done to achieve this goal, stressing that the NDC would demand a massive electoral reforms from the district to the national level.

He said NDC would remain committed to the stability, peace and tranquility prevailing in the country and asked that the Electoral Commission should be allowed to exercise its constitutional mandate to ensure free and fair credible elections in 2008.

He said the NDC would not have an excuse to cry foul in the 2008 election and that the members should play their roles effectively to be vigilant during the voting and that they should campaign on policies and programmes that would help the party to win.

Haruna said Professor John Atta Mills was the right candidate for the party and they should market him as a person with accomplishment, character, justice and compassion.

According to him, Prof Mills has distinguished himself as a man of integrity and that there had not been any instance that anyone had had the cause to question his integrity, adding that he would implement policies that are human-centred.

He said under Prof. Mill's administration, the NHIS Law would be reviewed and that the age limit for the aged would be reduced to 60 years to be commensurate with the retirement age of workers instead of the current 70, stressing the life expectancy of an average Ghanaian was 54 years.

He said children of 18 years would be made to benefit from the scheme whether their parents registered or not so as to ensure health care for all and not a selected few.

Mr Mohammed Mubarak Muntaka, MP for Asawase in Kumasi, also expressed concern about the implementation of the NHIS, stressing that there were some lapses and that with the current situation where every district has its own identity card, it was creating problems for the public, since people cannot assess healthcare when they are away from the districts in which they registered.

He said the destiny of NDC winning the 2008 election was in the hands of the youth and asked them to fight for what is for them and urged the members of TEIN to act as polling agents, stressing that the party lost the 2004 elections because it did not have qualified polling agents.

Mr Muntaka also urged party members to stop backbiting and shifting blames and demanding monies from executives and contribute their quota to enable the party to win the 2008 election.

Mr Barton Oduro, the Cape Coast constituency parliamentary candidate said people describe the UCC as the waterloo of the NDC and that they should disabuse their minds by voting for him in 2008.

He said there were some "safe constituencies" for the party and asked that TEIN members who were from such constituencies should consider transferring their vote to Cape Coast and commended the TEIN members for also embarking on door to door campaign on campus.

Mr. Michael Adonbire Asabire, President of TEIN, said the members would continue to defend the cause of the party and that there was goodwill for the party on campus, adding that most people were fed up with the NPP administration and are yearning for a real positive change to embrace the NDC.

"Even though the NDC has a brighter chance of recapturing power in 2008, we have to do away with complacency and mediocrity and work extra hard till the battle is finally won in the 2008 general election," he added.