Obed Defends Kufuor

Dr. Obed Yao Asamoah, patron of the Democratic Freedom Party (DFP) has deplored the use of indecent language on the airwaves by some serial callers to castigate and vilify political leaders.

“Paid serial-callers hurl insults on the sitting president as though he was a common criminal,” said the former law lecturer.

He observed that most people have departed from the Ghanaian culture of respect for leaders to that of insulting them, adding, “Our very conduct and behaviour must reflect certain reverence for our values.”

Dr. Obed Asamoah made the remarks last Saturday during the inauguration of DFP's interim executive for the Akwapim South constituency in the Eastern Region.

The one-time former chairman of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) said there was the need for political tolerance and respect for the Presidency, adding that vilification, threats and political vindictiveness were not part of his party's traits.

The legal luminary added that recent developments at the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) hearing showed that lapses had existed for years in public accounts, with no apparent political will to solve the problem.

He said the situation called for the urgent need to train more statisticians to provide vital national data to guide government's policies and development programmes.

Dr. Asamoah decried government's approach to poverty eradication in the country, and added that there was the need to provide subsidies to farmers as a way of alleviating their sufferings.

He said the United States of America provided subsidies for its farmers to the tune of about $10 billion each year, and asked, “What is actually preventing us from doing the same for our dear farmers?”

Dr. Asamoah contended that there was the need for a complete change in the political landscape come 2008, and that the DFP would not hesitate to fill that vacuum.

“We need a complete change, an introduction of new ideas in the governance of this country, and the DFP is prepared to fill that gap,” he said.

The National Chairman of the party, Alhaji Abdul Rahman Issakah said the DFP stood on the threshold of releasing a fierce thrust onto the political arena.

He said the DFP, since its inception, had made inroads into unchartered political territories and was on the verge of claiming the status of a Third Force in the country.

In apparent reference to NDC members, Alhaji Issakah asked, “Why don't they not disassociate themselves from the threat on Dr Asamoah's life and indeed distance themselves from the death threats coming from a member of their party?”

The National Chairman stressed that the DFP would introduce a paradigm shift in the way politics was conducted in the country, and that his party would focus on issues and policies whilst avoiding insults, threats and petty violence.

Alhaji Issakah dismissed the notion that the party might align itself to other political parties in the event that the DFP placed third in the 2008 polls.

“We have emphasized time and again that as a party, we have not taken any decision on alliance with any other party,” he said.

A leading member of DFP, Frances Essiam, said Ghanaians had suffered under various regimes and deserved better treatment.
She called for unity among the party faithful to enhance DFP's chances in the 2008 general elections.

In all, 14 executive members were sworn into office by the Eastern Regional Secretary, Mr Osafo Kantaka.

From Abubakar Salifu, Nsawam