TONY AIDOO BLASTS ADDO KUFUOR

Dr. Tony Aidoo, NDC Deputy Minister of Defence, has blasted the former NPP Minister of Defence and brother of President Kufuor, Dr. Philip Kwame Addo Kufuor, describing as unfounded and ridiculous accusations that former President Jerry John Rawlings and his Government were visionless when they were in power.

The reaction follows an accusation by the former Defence Minister that the Rawlings administration woefully failed to develop the country or expand bequeathed military edifices such as Burma Hall and the Defence Ministry buildings. Dr. Addo Kufuor also alleged that Africa continues to lack development because of what he called visionless leaders like former President Rawlings.

Speaking to the Voice of America's reporter Peter Clottey, Dr. Tony Aidoo said the accusations underscore the NPP's arrogance. “I am not surprised that like his brother the President, they use the word “visionless” without understanding what it means. The same word, “visionless” was used by his brother in connection with Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah, Ghana's first President. But if it was visionless on the part of the NDC, Government, how come we conceived and actually started the project for the Kofi Annan International Peace Keeping Centre? Was that visionless? I don't think so”, Dr. Tony Aidoo pointed out.

He explained that the former President and his administration should be congratulated instead of being vilified about their foresightedness.

“The January 2000 Budget actually allocated a sum of no less than ¢4 Billion (US$4 Million) for the beginning of the Kofi Annan International Peace Keeping Centre Project and it was Mr. Kofi Annan who cut the sod along with President Rawlings”, he said.

Dr. Tony Aidoo reiterated the former President's administrations provisions to make the Peace Keeping Centre a reality.

“They (the NPP) received funding from Germany. We were going to build the thing out of our own resources. In 2000, the Budget for the Ministry of Defence included the sum of money for the construction of the Project. So a visionless Government would not even have thought of the Centre, much less allocate resources for it, so then he is misusing the word “visionless”, Dr. Tony Aidoo noted.

He said the accusation against the former administration is not only unfounded but also mischievous.

“A Government that is visionless, as he claims on the part of the NDC, would not have conceived of the mode of retirement of old serving personnel that would have kept them within the Ministry of Defence. We were not going to send them home. We were going to integrate them into the civilian section of the Ministry. Up until now, they (the NPP Government) have not been able to retire these people because they threw our plans overboard. Incredibly enough, they say they are the vision people”, he reasoned.

According to Dr. Tony Aidoo, morale in the military is at an all-time low under President Kufuor's Government.

“When we were in government, you never read of desertion from the Ghana Armed Forces. Today, the Vice President himself, Alhaji Aliu Mahama, has publicly announced Government's dissatisfaction with the state of affairs in which the military personnel are deserting”, Dr. Tony Aidoo pointed out.