NDC at crossroads Nana Addo returns West with vengeance as Oseadeeyo

The FORMER Finance and Economic Planning Minister and Member of Parliament (MP) for Akyim Oda, Hon. Yaw Osafo Maafo, has stated that the December polls would not only be an easy task for the New Patriotic Party (NPP) to maintain power, but would certainly be the end of the road for the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC).

This is because, voting for the NDC to return to power, would amount to nothing less than a curse to the socio economic development of the country.

According to him, power for the NDC was a curse, because it would further throw the country backwards.

He said that the party could not do anything new for the country's economy, because it did not help to properly manage the economy of the country, after it had been given all the opportunity by Ghanaians, with 19 years to work to change the lives of the ordinary Ghanaian.

Instead, he accused the NDC, as a party that rather presided over the collapse of the economy, which later had to be properly managed by the NPP, when they assumed power in 2001. Explaining what led to the country going HIPC, Hon. Osafo Maafo confessed, noting that the economy inherited by the NPP was difficult to handle in 2001, except to tell the true story and paint the right picture to the international community, for them to appreciate and share the concerns and plight of Ghanaians. “That is why we had to opt for the HIPC initiative,” he explained.

He was addressing hundreds of NPP supporters at a rally at Huni-Valley, in the Prestea Huni-Valley constituency in the Western Region on Monday evening.

According to Hon. Osafo Maafo, after the NPP had suffered to reshape the economy of the country, which is now track, the same NDC was canvassing for votes from Ghanaians to come back and destroy the economy, which is ready for take off.

Consequently, he said the NDC coming back to power would be a curse to the development of the country, instead of being a blessing that would continue to rain on Ghana under the NPP.

He revealed that all the development projects of the NPP, had been acknowledged by the NDC in their 2008 manifesto, an indication, he explained, that had proved why the NDC should not be given any chance to rule the country again.

According to him, the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), Capitation Grant, School Feeding Programme, Metro Mass Transit, and all other development projects of the sitting government, had been acknowledged by the NDC in the same policy document they would want to use to govern the country.

He wondered why Ghanaians would want to change the government, when the NDC that is desperately campaigning to get their nod, had already appreciated the work of the government in their policy document.

Giving a detailed explanation as to why he thought the NDC should not be entrusted again with the destiny and economy of the country, he said the mess caused by the party, when they were in government, could only be managed by the sitting government, when they assumed office in 2001, with the decision of taking the country to HIPC in 2003.

But, out of the prudent and fantastic economic measures adopted by the government, he boasted, the country came out of the HIPC within three years.

He explained that the NPP was compelled to take this painful, but compelling and mandatory decision to free the country from the economic bondage that the country had suffered in the hands of the NDC.

Surprisingly, the same NDC he ridiculed that the NPP lacked the competency to manage the economy, was the same party crying that they were capable of handling the economy if given the nod by Ghanaians.

Instead of mooting new ideas on how the party could manage the economy, he said all the things said in the manifesto of the NDC, had been implemented by the NPP.

He said that all the policies of the NPP had been included by the NDC in the document, with an explanation that they were to improve, modify, amend and continue with all the programmes and policies of the government. Due to this, Mr. Osafo Maafo advised Ghanaians to give the NPP the mandate to continue the good work. For the NDC, he said, Ghanaians must develop the courage to continue to reject the party.

Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo, flagbearer of the party, on his part, reiterated his simple, but loaded message, that the PNDC/NDC 19 year rule did not only endanger the economy of the country, but had caused most of the challenges being faced by Ghanaians.

According to him, if the NPP had had this opportunity, the economy of Ghana would have totally been transformed.

At Opon Valley in the Amenfi West constituency, the former Press Secretary to the President, Mr. Kwabenah Agyei Agyepong, also chastised and accused the NDC of being the cause of the numerous challenges facing the country, because of presiding over the collapse of all state institutions that were creating jobs for the youth and the unemployed in the country. Mr. Agyepong mentioned State Construction, State Farms, State Hotels, Food Distribution, including factories such as the Abosso glass factory, Bonsa Tyre, and many more, all collapsed under the NDC.

After the collapse of the following institutions, the same party and administration, which presided over the damage, he said, was coming back to Ghanaians with the deceitful message that they were going to create jobs for the jobless, if they come to power.

“How can they create jobs when they had used 19 years to destroy millions of jobs?” he questioned.

However in the attempt of the sitting government to make amends within the last seven years, when the NPP took power, in the creation of jobs, he said many jobs had been created, especially with the introduction of the National Youyth Employment Programme (NYEP) and the expansion of the private sector.

Other party stalwarts, who addressed the rallies, included Western Regional Minister, Anthony Evans Amoah, his deputy, Kwasi Blay and Papa Owusu Ankomah, MP for Sekondi, Alan Kwadwo Kyeremanten, former Minister of Trade and Industry and all the western regional executives of the party.

The campaign team began the second phase of the tour of the region, in Atieko in the Mpohor Wassa East constituency, and would end it in Takoradi on Wednesday.