Statement By The United Cadres' Front Of Ghana On Socio-Political Developments In Ghana Held At The International Press Centre – Accra

SEPTEMBER 7, 2016
Ladies and gentlemen of the media,
The United Cadres' Front of Ghana (UCF-GHANA) have invited you at this short notice due to certain developments of late ala the general socio-political spectrum. Ironically, this is the beginning of the political tempo which is fast gathering momentum and it all started with the Campaign Launch of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in Cape Coast, on August 14, 2016.

Before now, ladies and gentlemen, the NPP had already seen the signal out there that the prevailing political atmosphere was not favourable to them and they started with some destabilization tactics to frustrate the smooth take-off of the electioneering process.

MAHAMA AND AKUFFO ADDO – WHO IS THE TARGET OF CAMPAIGN SLANDER?

It has become fashionable that the Flag-bearer of the New Patriotic Party has been accusing His Excellency John Dramani Mahama of using him as his campaign target. He says this is because John Mahama has no message for the people except that of talking about Akuffo Addo everywhere he goes. Ironically it is rather Akuffo Addo who has set the tone on every conceivable political platform to announce “the incompetent Mahama Administration” which needed to be booted out. So, Nana Addo wants Mahama to keep quiet over such invectives as Akuffo Addo embarks on his usual campaign of lies and unachievable promises? By the way, how can an incompetent administration restore water, construct hundreds of kilometers of roads, build regional and district hospitals across the country, and expand educational facilities which Akuffo Addo himself and his discerning followers bare testimony to?

The President could have chosen to ignore Akuffo Addo’s tantrums but for the fact that Akuffo Addo has persistently failed to tell the electorate the negatives he wants them to believe about the President. So it is his failure to convince the electorate of what he wants them to believe that has made him to now go about making imaginary and unachievable promises.

AKUFFO ADDO’S CAMPAIGN OF LIES
Ladies and gentlemen of the media, fellow cadres, the search for leadership of Mother-Ghana, should never be an "AT-ALL-COST" affair. Unfortunately, that is what the NPP leader, Nana Akufo Addo has dwelt on and despite the fact that, that mantra has never yielded him votes to preside over this country, another one has been designed and owned by what we can safely call 'MR. PROMISE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE'.

Ladies and gentlemen, a day will not pass without a promise given to the good people of this country at one corner or the other. The lies of promising to create new regions; the unattainable promise of one-district-one factory; one village one dam; one paramountcy one district; one district one million dollars, etc. The promises have become so fashionable that even polygamous advocates are cautioning him not to announce “one man one wife” to deprive them of their right to marrying more than one.

The promises are still being distributed free of charge as if we are in a concert party of the "Tradition Goes On", apologies to Lever Brothers Key Soap promotional advert.

It is the trademark/tradition of the NPP to make unrealistic promises since the party's formation in 1992, when, for example, a major promise was to construct a railway-line from the south to Paga; and fuel prices were to be reduced to meet the pockets of the poor. The hard fact is that those two major promises were never worked on.

It is also instructive to mention that, Nana Akuffo Addo goes round to say that certain initiatives by the Kufuor administration have been collapsed by the Mahama-led NDC. What is worth mentioning here are the National Health Insurance Scheme and the state of the cocoa industry in Ghana. Fortunately, a seeming pro-NPP radio station, that is, Joy FM, has come out with research findings that what Nana Akuffo Addo has been saying about the collapse of the NHIS and the cocoa industry are “mostly false”. For example, the NHIS programme that had out-patient patronage of 9.3 million by the close of 2008 (that is, the exit of the Kufuor administration), and risen to 29 million by the close of 2014 cannot be said to have collapsed.

Ladies and gentlemen, the Running Mate of Nana Akuffo Addo, Dr. Alhaji Mahamudu Bawumia, is also on the rampage of campaign of lies and public deceit. A personality who wants to be the Vice President of no mean a country like Ghana, has chosen the path of throwing dust into the eyes of Ghanaians, particularly among the unsuspecting youth in our educational institutions. The gravest of all his lies is about blowing the minds of Ghanaians with his claim of 76,000 Togolese and other foreigners on our electoral register; which he claimed was only 10% of his so-called revealing research; and that he was to come out with the full report to shame the Electoral Commission. Till date, and after several calls and press conferences by stakeholders; and especially during the demand for cleaning the voter register, Dr. Bawumia has failed to call for a press conference to retract his false accusation that had the capacity to destabilize the peace of this country. We wonder how such a discredited person can have the moral courage to go round the country spilling rot and rubbish in the name of politics.

THE CHURCH LEADERSHIP, RELIGION AND POLITICS

Ladies and gentlemen of the media, comrades, it has become fashionable for leading members of the church to dabble in politics. They are by every means entitled to speak their minds on national issues. But the question is, are they dispositioned to be partisan in their pronouncements, especially as they use the pulpit to rain insults and unwarranted accusations on their perceived opponents?

The wild allegations of a so-called attempted bribery by the immediate past Moderator of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana, the Rt. Rev. Prof. Emmanuel Martey's allegation of some politicians attempting to bribe him with $100,000, a four-wheel drive car and a mansion with a swimming pool, to which he declined but fell short of mentioning names, cannot be left to pass without serious interrogation. Prof. Martey, who did not mention when this attempt took place neither was he bold to mention the bribe-givers leaves much to be desired. Strangely, he has not been able to challenge the former Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the Presbyterian Church, Dr. Emmanuel Osei Akyeampong, who has come to reveal that the Right Reverend, actually took the bribe in his presence, specifically on 28^th July, 2013; and was even prepared to offer him 50,000 USD to which he declined.

But why should fear hold the Right Reverend, this time around, to name those who attempted to bribe him? This is a man who has been that fearless and vocal to call the political leadership of this land "SENSLESS"; "NYANSA FUO YEEI - MUWO HE?"

Ladies and gentlemen of the Media, another incident which is worth mentioning is when a Methodist Church Reverend Minister at a funeral ceremony, lambasted the Speaker of Parliament for throwing away the case of the Opposition who wanted to initiate moves to impeach the President. Reverend Abeiku Blankson sparred nobody with his effusions; but strangely lacked the moral courage to quote the constitutional provisions to back his claims as he would have done with quotations from the Bible. By that, he has woefully exposed himself and displayed ignorance as regards the rules and regulations governing parliamentary proceedings and practices. This is of course the bane of our democracy whereby anybody wakes up to speak, even on authority, for the sake of the position and reverence the public holds for them.

We have heard of Bishop Stephen Ayensu Bosomtwe of the Methodist Church and Most Reverend Osei Bonsu of the Catholic Church, coming out publicly to attack the Mahama Administration on public platforms. When pinned to the wall, they retort by saying that they are talking in their personal capacity; but not as reverends in the name of their respective churches. The question is, can any man-of-God continue to speak in public against one political divide but fails to act the same way with the camp that he flirts with? The seriousness of it is that such anti-NDC pronouncements are made most often times, at funerals where we expect solemnity to prevail.

RESURFACING OF WINNER-TAKES-ALL AGENDA
Ladies and gentlemen of the Media, another issue worthy of mention in this Press Conference is the emergence of the defense for winner-takes-all agenda that was set immediately after the 2012 elections. Knowing very that the NDC has demonstrated well enough that the 2016 elections are in their favour, political pundits have taken a swipe of NDC being in power for another four more years. That is a burden they cannot bear; that would mean “going hungry” for another four years; hence, advocates agitating for an all-inclusive governance to tap all available human resources for our collective development. But we see it as strange and surprising that it is when the NDC is in power that such wild ideas are proffered. We shudder to ask where were these advocates, especially the IEA and its allies, who are crusading for this when the NPP was in power for eight years and exclusively ruling this country without the participation of other political parties? NOT even the celebration of the country’s 50^th Independence Anniversary was inclusive – the advocates were around but never-ever raised a single finger of objection against the side-lining.

THE FORD EXHIBITION SAGA AND PARLIAMENTARY RECALL

The issue of re-igniting the Ford Exhibition car purported to have been given to the President as a gift had died down but for the Opposition NPP’s mischief of holding on to any straw to save themselves from the defeat starring in their face for the 2016 elections. In fact, the report of Mr. Manasseh Azuure Awine indicated that it was A GIFT but not A BRIBE. How can the Opposition NPP still relay to the public that it was a bribe; to the extent of recalling Parliament to initiate moves to impeach the President? The quietness of the Opposition after the Honourable Speaker had shot down their request suggests that they had diabolical ideas other than what they threw to the public.

ARRAY OF STRIKE ACTIONS
It is common knowledge that the array of strike actions by various sections of the economy are geared towards making the country ungovernable; and thus, turn the electorate against the NDC. In fact, the United Cadres Front of Ghana, can say authoritatively that certain information and documents available to members clearly testify that the opposition New Patriotic Party is in tune, and of course in bed with some leaders of the labour front to champion a series of industrial actions and demonstrations aimed at making the NDC unpopular. To say that they will not obey constitutional procedures that stipulate the way to negotiate tells a lot about how diabolical and ill-intentioned such untoward acts are meant to achieve. Unfortunately, the leadership of such unions do so at the blind side of membership which they have to consult for approval. We therefore caution the general public, especially those who have jobs to do, not to follow such nation-wreckers only for political expediency.

CORRUPTION, RAWLINGS AND ABACHA’S MONEY

In recent times, the tag of corruption has been labelled against eminent citizens of the land, particularly, His Excellency Jerry John Rawlings about some gift received from Abacha of Nigeria some years back. In fact, when the Opposition NPP later knew that they could not use the Former President for their political campaign against the NDC, which strongly came out after the Cape Coast Campaign Launch of the party, the opposition media have re-ignited the so-called bribe allegation against the Founder of the NDC. It is also a fact that leading members of the NDC are tagged with corruption including His Excellency John Dramani Mahama. The irony and therefore the truth is that, if the NPP had even an iota of truth about any NDC official getting involved in any corrupt practice, they would not have waited for a second but rush to court. In situations where NDC functionaries have been exposed as being corrupt, the party and government have been bold enough to send the offenders to court to prove otherwise. We challenge the NPP and its agents to boldly come out to mention any acts of corruption on the part of any member of government or NDC. That is the only proof that they can be seen to be serious.

CONCLUSION
Ladies and gentlemen of the Media, we want to unequivocally state that, by their actions of destabilizing every move that would lead to sound electoral processes and procedures towards peaceful elections this year, the NPP have lost, particularly the presidential election.

Their desperation stems from the fact that losing the presidential election would not afford them the ministerial and other positions of state; thus the attempt to derail the process. This is strongly supported by a statement of one of their members after the 2012 defeat that, “What are we going to survive on for the next four years”? This presupposes that they feed on politics without which they go hungry.

It is therefore, incumbent on members of the NDC that the battle ahead is not going to be an easy one. This is because our main opponents will go at any length and hook on every conceivable straw; not necessarily to win but to engage in anti-state activities to derail the electioneering processes.

That is their nature. And as Former President Rawlings said at Cape Coast, we cannot fight them on their own terms of anti-state behaviour. We better avoid confrontation and provocation which are their major weapons. By holding onto the principles that made and still make us – NDC, we will move way into the future and nobody can defeat us.

Ladies and gentlemen of the Media, we thank you for your presence, attention and wish that you carry the message for the sake of Mother Ghana.

ALUTA CONTINUA
Press Conference addressed and signed by:
Felix Komla Efanam Nyaku (0242727105)
Secretary, National Interim Management Committee of UCF-Ghana.