After High Court ruling on forensic reportSACK MUMUNI NOW!…NPP demands of Prez

THE NEW Patriotic Party (NPP) has asked President John Evans Atta Mills to live up to his pledge of running a clean government by sacking Hon. Mohammed Mumuni, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, from his government.

Addressing a news conference in Accra yesterday, Nana Ohene-Ntow, the General Secretary of the NPP contended that once some adverse findings were hanging on the Foreign Minister's neck, it would be proper for President Mills to demonstrate his capacity of fighting corruption by relieving Hon. Mumuni of his post.

The NPP cannot understand why President Mills is adamant in taking action against the nation's number one Diplomat, despite the barrage of criticisms coming from the general public.

Citing the example of Dr. Richard Anane, the former Minister of Transport, Nana Ohene-Ntow said former President John Agyekum Kufuor impressed on him to resign from his Ministerial position in order to pursue his case.

“The President promised to preside over a government of integrity. That needs not be a promise. He has the opportunity to demonstrate that right now.

There are outstanding Auditor General's findings of impropriety against some of his most trusted Ministers: Alhaji Mohammed Mumuni, Sherry Ayitey and others. Unfortunately, the President seems determined to keep these characters in his government, in spite of public outcry.”

The NPP's chief scribe, who was supported by Alhaji A. Musah, the second Vice National Chairman of the NPP, Mr. Frank Agyekum, former Deputy Information Minister, Mr. Kweku Kwarteng, the newly appointed Communication Director of the party and Mr. Perry Okudzeto, Deputy Communication Director, urged President Mills to take the bull by the horn and relief the Minister of his position.

“We call on him, as a matter of urgency, to step these officers down and restore some dignity to his government. The case against Hon. Mumuni does not suggest that he is clean. The findings are adverse. We consider it entirely proper for the President to withdraw him.”

Touching on the economy, Nana Ohene-Ntow said President Mills' attempt to paint the NPP black over the subject does not give good signals to the business community.

“May we caution that this passion to paint a negative picture of Ghana's economy for the purpose of achieving some non-existent short-sighted political advantage is unfortunate, and would undermine confidence in the economy and hurt us in the long run.”

The NPP does not agree with the President's theme of rescuing the nation and contended that “We of the NPP would be the first to commend the pursuit of ongoing initiatives of the government to their logical conclusion.”

“However for President Mills to give the impression that he is now coming to "rescue" Ghana from some calamity, borders on insincerity, especially given the legacy of economic deterioration and poor governance record that the NDC left behind,” he said.

Touching on the debt of Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) and that of Volta River Authority (VRA), the NPP had this to say, “The US$2 billion combined debt of TOR and VRA given by the President was misleading.

Take TOR for example, on the 24th September, 2008, in a letter referenced Treasury/JKA/EAIJR316/2008 from TOR to the Minister for Finance, the net exposure (net debt) was stated as GH¢167.53 million. This came from a total current liability of GH¢989.78 million and a total current assets of GH¢822.25 million.”

The party's General Secretary continued that “We may recall that until the 1st of November, 2008, fuel prices were not revised downwards in spite of substantial drop in crude oil prices. The explanation by the National Petroleum Authority (NPA) was that there was the need to defray some of the losses incurred in the preceding months.”

According to him, such amount of GH¢167.53 million was the losses in question, adding that if anything at all, the figure should have come down. “To put the net exposure of TOR at over GH¢ l billion was, therefore, disingenuous. We suspect that the President deliberately took the current liabilities of TOR and ignored their current assets. This is nothing but dishonesty,” he said.

On Sports, the NPP claimed that the NDC led government has abandoned the NPP government's policy of providing at least one ultra-modern stadium for every region. Nana Ohene-Ntow stated that President Mills only promised to manage the four stadia the NPP government built.”

To him, the six regions, beside Greater Accra, Ashanti, Western and Northern Regions also deserve modern stadia, adding that “We believe that majority of Ghanaians would agree that the NPP government's policy of one modern stadium for each region is a laudable one.”