Kufuor predicts doom for NDC

A HIGHLY CHARGED President John Agyekum Kufuor has said that the position of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) party on the ballot form of this year's presidential election behind the NPP signifies the end of the era of the main opposition party.

Flanked by his wife, Madam Theresa Kufuor and other party gurus at the NPP's national campaign launch last Saturday at Mantse Agbona in Accra, the President said of the NDC: “The elephant is sitting on the umbrella and that is the doom of the umbrella”.

According to President Kufuor the NPP would win this year's elections without any doubt, considering the positive impact the ruling party has brought to the general lives of Ghanaians and our economy in particular.

Cheered on by enthusiastic placard bearing party supporters as well as the melodious Western Diamonds Band, he noted that sacrifices made by Ghanaians since the NPP came into power has propelled the country as the showpiece of the entire West Africa sub region.

He said his government has so far laid a solid foundation for the private sector to become the engine of growth for the economy and contrary to what the opposition parties are trumpeting about the performance of the NPP, anybody who cares to check with facts on the ground would realise the NPP has worked.

Amidst shouts of various party accolades from supporters drawn from the various regions, Kufuor said his cabinet has approved a new Ventures Capital bill which when passed by Parliament would generate many businesses and also add a new meaning to his party's Golden Age of Business vision.

The President also dropped a hint that he would not set a foot in Yendi in the Dagbon traditional area to campaign for this year's elections.

He has therefore left the fate of his party in the hands of the people of Yendi to decide, saying that the NDC could go ahead to use the Dagbon crisis to play politics.

“Until Nana, the Ya Na is given a dignified burial, there will be no campaign for me in Yendi in this year's elections”, asking what the NPP has benefited from the tragic death of the Ya Na for it to be accused of masterminding his (Ya Na) death.

He said former President Rawlings has always been looking for trouble, a reason why he believes his party must take the advantage of the Dagbon crisis to climb back to political power, expressing the belief that Ghanaians would surely “show them” in the elections.

Speaking of the elections he reiterated his government's commitment to violent free and very fair elections but swiftly gave a strong caution that nobody would be allowed to disrupt the process.

The Vice President, Alhaji Aliu Mahama, asked Ghanaians to always look for the truth, stressing that “truth is the guarantor of freedom and democracy”.

He said the NPP government has chalked an enviable record grounded on their positive change agenda which can never be surpassed by the NDC, and that if we want Ghana to move ahead then President Kufuor must be given four more years.

Supporting this view, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Nana Akuffo-Addo maintained that every nation the world over is moving forward.

According to him, Ghana cannot be an exception and that to him “we have come to the end of the NDC era and the era of Jerry Rawlings”.

But for Attorney General and Minister of Justice Paapa Owusu Ankomah, public perception of corruption in the NPP government is totally misplaced. According to him “we have pass the era where people were executed after kangaroo trials”.

He said Cabinet's approval of the Whistle Blower's Bill and the Public Procurement Bill are part of sustainable actions to minimise corruption in the country.

Mr Hackman Owusu Agyemang, Minister of The Interior predicted woes to anybody who would attempt to disrupt the security of the country. He noted that various reforms currently being undertaken in the Police Service especially are clear indications that the NPP won't disappoint Ghanaians when it comes to the security of this state.

Other people who spoke were Mr Kwamena Bartels, Minister for Private Sector Development, Mr Osafo Marfo, Mrs Gladys Asmah, Mr Boniface Abubakar Saddique, Alhaji Fuseini Maiga, Mr Ken Agyapong, former NPP National Chairman Odoi Sykes, as well as current Chairman Harona Esseku, who introduced his party's flag bearer, J A Kufuor.