'we've regretted voting for Mills'
Investigation conducted by The Statesman in Sekondi-Takoradi have revealed that a greater percentage of the residents who were deceived into voting for the NDC in the just-ended general elections have already regretted doing so.
Many people who spoke to the paper said they were extremely disappointed in the initial performance of the NDC administration led by J.E.A Mills and wished they had not given their mandate to what they described as 'that incompetent and confused government'.
Most of them even wondered why they gave their votes to the NDC in the first place, saying they had now realized their mistakes.
This reporter learnt the people"s regret stemmed from the apparent snail pace at which the running of the nation seems to be moving under the NDC.
According to a 45-year old mechanic at Kokompe, Kobena Awotwe, the Ghanaian economy has virtually come to an abrupt standstill ever since the NDC took over the reins of government from the Kufuor administration.
He said the situation is even worse at the various public offices and Ministries where all the personnel seem to be waiting for directives from 'above' before acting and wondered how long it would take for the government machinery to start moving.
A rice seller at the Takoradi market circle, Afua Badu, who said she voted for the NDC with the hope that prices of goods, particularly rice, would be reduced when the party comes to power, said she was disillusioned.
She lamented that contrary to her expectations, prices of rice and other foodstuffs keep rising by the day and asked what the Mills-led administration is doing to salvage the situation.
The Statesman learnt the rising cost of food stuffs and other items is a great source of worry to many traders as well as members of the public.
The NDC faithful were also not happy about recent unguarded utterances by the ex-president and founder of the party, J.J. Rawlings as well as his attempts to dictate to President Mills, saying these are not helping matters.
In their view the Mills-led government seems to be confused about the way forward and is trying to gamble with the Ghanaian economy.
All these notwithstanding, The Statesman gathered that the totality of the residents and for that matter all Ghanaians are still waiting for the NDC government to fulfil its electoral promises within the shortest possible time, particularly those on the reduction of prices of petroleum products and the lifetime payment of premium for the National Health Insurance Scheme.
In a related development, information reaching The Statesman has it that the then opposition NDC which took over affairs of the country in a controversial election is desperately searching for qualified and efficient persons for appointments in government, especially at the grassroots level.
Reports indicate that some of the party faithful in the Western Region who were approached by leadership to apply for the post of District Chief Executives interestingly turned down the 'juicy' offer.