NDC arms supporters

... As December elections approach AS AN initial step towards wooing the majority of Ghanaians to give it another mandate to rule the nation, the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), is currently arming its numerous supporters across the country with what can best be described as “electoral campaign bullets,” the firing of which may be devastating to the other contending parties. The Chronicle can report on authority that the party has made available to its supporters different campaign dossiers containing pieces of information which, when not well responded to by the other parties, particularly the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP), may catapult the umbrella party to the top.

The dossiers, copies of which have been cited by yours truly, appear to suggest that the party was only keeping quiet over the issue of having pushed the nation into a ¢41 trillion debt at the time it left office, only to give the citizens of this nation the true picture of the state of the economy.

One of the documents made available to activists of the party for photocopying and redistribution is captioned, “ State of Government Finances as at January 2001.” This was the date when the wielders of political power in the NDC regime, handed over their symbols of authority to NPP think-tanks to continue the political administration of the nation.

The document catalogues the quantum of money that the NDC government left in the nation's coffers at the time it left office. The figures, said to have been obtained from the Central Bank, show that at the time the current government took over the administration of the country, external reserves stood at $300 million.

It continues that credit balance on government account at the Bank of Ghana was ¢1.3 trillion, with an un-disbursed loan balance of $230 million, while amount deposited at Ghana Commercial Bank for the opening of letters of credit for oil imports stood at ¢900 billion.

Also captured at the same page of the document is the headline, “ NPP leaders who served in the PNDC.” This section of the dossier, which is said to preach to supporters and non-supporters of the party alike, to appreciate the involvement of top NPP men and women, including President Kufuor himself, in whatever happened during the administration of the PNDC, clearly catalogues names of current government officials who served as ministers (then secretaries) in different sectors in the PNDC government.

First on the list is J. A. Kufuor, (supposedly President Kufuor), PNDC Secretary for Local Government.

Closely following the President on the list is Major Courage Quarshigah, current minister for Food and Agriculture who is captured as Chief Operations Officer, PNDC Secretariat, Gondar Barracks.

Capt.(rtd) Nkrabea Effah Darteh, current Deputy Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, follows as someone who was released by the 31st December Revolution and appointed Vice Chairman, National Investigations committee of the PNDC.

Next on the list is Miss Christine Churcher, Minister of State in charge of Primary, and Secondary and Girl-child Education, as the then PNDC secretary for Cape Coast.

Also named as the AFRC's Liaison Officer (Prime Minister) is General Joshua Hamidu, Former National security co-coordinator and presently, Ghana's High Commissioner to Nigeria.

The list ends with Okakyir Kwabena Edusah, Deputy majority chief whip and NPP's Member of Parliament for Nkawkaw. Hon. Edusah is said to have been a PNDC operative and was, at the time, affectionally known to his comrades as “Nkawkaw Rawlings.”

Yet another copy of the dossier that was sighted by the lens of The Chronicle is captioned, “Lest We Forget”, with the introduction as follows: “ NPP, then in opposition, vigorously campaigned against the high electricity charges inflicted on the people of Ghana through what they termed as “NDC bad administration.”

The good people of Ghana must have the courage to compare NDC rule and NPP rule; which one is more sensitive to the plight of the ordinary people of Ghana?”

Directly following this introductory paragraph is a computation of domestic user charges of electricity. The tabulated computation shows units of current consumed and its corresponding domestic user charges as at December 2000 (end of NDC rule) and those for December 2003 (NPP rule) with the differences indicated accordingly.

The units as stated in the document are: 50, 100, 200, 300, 400 and 500.The corresponding charges (all in cedis) as at December 2000 have been given as 4,110; 10,220; 23,940; 39,160; 61,380 and 83,600 while that for December 2003, are respectively, 29,260; 58,520; 117;040, 175,560; 277,580 and 379,600.

Accordingly the difference in charges between December 2000 and the same month 2003 are 25,150; 48,300; 93,100; 136,400; 216,200 and 296,000 respectively.

The dossier ends with the words, “please note, no one, neither politicians, print nor electronic media can decide for you. Make ten copies to your friends.”

These closing words are ostensibly meant for the recipients of the documents.