NPP peddling falsehood - Zita

The Government has described the claim by the New Patriotic Party (NPP) that the National Democratic Congress (NDC) has deleted some of its original promises from its 2008 Campaign manifesto as a "deliberate falsehood".

It said the NDC launched its manifesto publicly at the Trade Fair Centre in Accra and copies were distributed to most people present while embassies and high commissions as well as civil society organisations were also given copies.

A statement signed by the Minister of Information, Mrs Zita Okaikoi, said with such an array of organisations receiving copies any move to delete portions of the manifesto later ''would have been suicidal to the credibility of the NDC".

Last Wednesday, the NPP held a press conference and said the NDC had come out with another manifesto in which it had deleted some of its promises, especially those that pledged to improve the conditions of teachers.

The government statement said: “We hope, however, that the document the NPP is quoting from is not from our policy drafts which were stored in a computer that was burgled just before the elections; we hope the police would consider this development as an important one that could help us unravel the perpetrators of that theft".

It said the NPP in its claim that there was high cost of living due to high inflation and the depreciation of the cedi, must come to terms that it left behind a shattered economy which it failed to tell Ghanaians before and after the elections.

It said the statement by the NPP also confirmed the Finance Minister, Dr Kwabena Duffuor's, assertion that "the NPP was reckless in its expenditure in 2008".

The statement stated that it was clear the problems that the NPP was talking about could not have come about within the 100 days of the Mills Administration, adding that "government would have thought that the NPP would have rather accepted its mismanagement of the Ghanaian economy which saw the cedi depreciate by 13 per cent in 2008, inflation galloping to 18.1 per cent by December 2008 and a budget deficit of over 15 per cent of GDP.

The statement assured Ghanaians that the government was doing everything possible to ensure that the problems created by the NPP administration were fixed and that the Mills administration would not be distracted in its move towards clearing the mess.

It said the move by the government to fix the economy had begun to yield fruit because according to the Ghana Statistical Service, there was a slow down in the rate of inflation.

"Also, preliminary information on the budget execution also indicates an overall narrow budget deficit of 0.9 per cent of GDP in the first quarter of the year, compared to the 1.7 per cent recorded for the first quarter of 2008," it stated. .

It said the government was aware of the problems that the country was going through due to the global economic crisis and that was the reason why it had instituted measures to ameliorate the impact on the Ghanaians.

These measures, the statement said include 50 per cent subsidy for fertilisers, introduction of free exercise books, free school uniforms and an increase in the capitation grant by 50 per cent.

It gave the assurance of the government's readiness to welcome constructive criticism and suggestions, but advised the NPP to come to terms with the fact that the people's mandate and trust was with the Mills Administration. It also urged the NPP to come to terms with the reality on the ground and stop behaving as if they were the repository of all wisdom.

The statement also expressed concern about reported cases of attacks on journalists by NPP functionaries and "entreat the police to see these attacks as criminal acts which infringe on the fundamental human rights of journalists and their rights to practice in freedom".

It stated that government would not countenance any show of impunity and disregard for civil liberties no matter who perpetuate such acts.