PRESS RELEASE IN RESPONSE TO THE PRESS CONFERENCE OF THE NPP TODAY ON THE STATE OF THE ECONOMY OF GHANA. 19/06/2014

We members of Governance Watch (GW) find the attitude of the biggest opposition party in Ghana, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) very strange.

We believe that governance takes a collective effort of the citizenry and for that matter, we expect nothing less than a concerted effort from all opposition parties (with the NPP being the largest of them) towards nation building.

However, what we see in this country from the opposition New Patriotic Party is rather the opposite, and a well calculated attempt towards scoring cheap political points to the detriment of the Ghanaians.

The NPP should bow its head in total shame for refusing to contribute in any way towards nation building but rather sit on the fence with arms and legs crossed, mouths and eyes widely opened only to see flaws they would jump on with noise strong enough to break our roofs.

Not too long ago, the NPP refused to join the National Economic Forum sanctioned by government at Senchi. They cited rather, very strange reasons for their willingness to stay away from the forum. They did all they could to water down the efforts of government even when the forum was still ongoing. Issues of cost of hosting participants was much of a concern to the NPP than the purpose for the gathering. One would have thought that a sense of nationalism and patriotism would guide the actions of a party that is fighting to be given the opportunity to govern this country but that was not the case.

Amazingly, though they stayed away from the forum, they had their eyes, minds and interests, were fixed on the forum. The NPP for a second time since the forum ended, issued another rather bizarre statement, seeking to cast doubt on the significance of the Senchi Forum. A well thought out plan for an opposition party that meant well for his country would be to wait and ascertain the report from the forum before jumping to make comments that have no bearing on the issues at stake.

We find it very strange rather that, while government is struggling hard to bring this country together in one accord to progress together, the opposition had adopted strategy to dash all attempts of government towards bringing us together under one umbrella.

We are very much aware of the admissions of this government on the economic challenges it is facing. The government has at no point pontificated to Ghanaians that it brought heaven to Ghana. Common sense would guide the New Patriotic Party to do a little comparison of the percentage of government revenue that went into the wage bill when it was in power and what the percentages are today. We remember vividly how the NPP had to sell Ghana Telecom in order to be able to pay salaries of workers. At the time, the NPP was paying Ghanaian workers salaries that are way below what public sector workers are receiving today as salaries. What national asset do they want this government to sell to pay salaries today?

The wickedness of the the NPP administration headed by John Agyekum Kuffour was brought to bare when he declared the Single Spine Salary Structure (SSSS) effected on the eve of his exiting the seat of government. This singular act tied the hands of the NDC government such that, its boycott would have spelt doom for party and government.

The NDC government did not turn its back on the new wage policy it inherited. The policy was well implemented and its effect is what we see today. We are aware that over 70% of government revenue goes into the payment of wages and salaries of some 700,000 public sector workers including the 117 or so members of parliament from the New Patriotic Party. What would an NPP government in power today do about

this that we are not being told of?
Today, as we speak, the government of Ghana has lost over $3 billion in export earnings. This is as a result of the constant decline in the export prices of our foreign exchange earning products such as Cocoa, Gold and Diamond. Is this the making of government? Does the government determine what the world pays for its

export products? This had been the practice even before the NPP assumed power in the year 2001. What

has changed today?
We were all in this country when the Kuffour administration was faced with similar economic challenges in Ghana but what was their remedy? Re-denomination of the Cedi, leaving us with the new Ghana Cedi which

suffered massive depreciation moments after its introduction? Do they want this government to embark on another re-denomination exercise as they did?

We repeat that we find the attitude of the NPP strange because, what one would expect after all these bashing of government would be to read suggested solutions on what should be done to solve our problems but rather, what they are known best for was what they exhibited- unwarranted criticism without proffering any alternatives. Is this a political party to be taken serious?

Until the NPP learn to conduct itself as a responsible opposition and stay away from issuing such hollow statements which are only meant to lambast without any sense of direction, we should treat them as a bunch of opportunistic politicians whose motives are only guided by their parochial interests.

Thank you

Signed:

Stephen Kwabena Attuh - ASK
Adomako Fred Williams
Nii Adotey Yemo
George Ekegey Ekeha