NPP Is Intolerant –Pratt

MR KWESI Pratt Jnr., Managing Editor of The Insight newspaper, has described the New Patriotic Party (NPP) as an intolerant party.

He stated that the issue of political intolerance, which Ghanaians do not want, and for which they voted the NDC out of power, is rather rampant in the NPP Administration.

The Insight editor observed this at a Socialist Forum organised in Accra, under the theme, “Political Intolerance: A Danger For The 2004 Elections”. Mr Pratt indicated that the people of Ghana voted the P(NDC) regime out of power for want of change, but to their surprise, NPP is rather deceiving them.

He related Ghanaians, since 1983, went through a kind of economic hardship after the P(NDC) promised them heaven on earth, when coming to power. According to Pratt, the people of Ghana have realised that there is nothing to choose between the economic programme of NPP and NDC economic programme.

He noted that there is still high unemployment, lack of access to social services, increasing poverty in the rural communities, liberalisation of both internal and external trade, the withdrawal of agricultural subsidies, which the people of Ghana had wanted to be part of history.

Mr Pratt alleged that a group of people in Ghana, today, want to hear every bit of discussions to be about how President Kufuor should continue in office for a second, term, and that anything else does not please them. He called on Ghanaians to look at the realities on the ground, in this election year, whether the NPP Administration has really honoured the many promises it made, before they cast their vote.

The Foreign Editor of the Daily Graphic, Alhaji A.B.A. Fuseini, who spoke before Kwesi Pratt, related that the issue of political intolerance ran through all political regimes in the history of Ghana.

Touching on the NPP regime, he explained that there is high rate of political intolerance in the Kufuor Administration. He condemned the act whereby critics of the NPP Administration are smeared or targeted with political lies to shut them down.

He cited the instance of the $125,000 bribery allegation against Mr Pratt, which was meant to shut him down, because of his criticism of the government.

He pointed out that before the issue of political intolerance can be curbed, all political parties must make it a point not to shield any party member who is found perpetrating any act of violence. Mr Fuseini advised that all Ghanaians must condemn violence perpetrated by any political party.