Kufuor's Failure Has Lifted JJ

Members of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) say the surrender in the fight against corruption by President Kufuor, as manifested recently on VOA, is a clear manifestation of the NPP government's preparedness to rummage through the nation's coffers very well, at the expense of Ghanaians before taking exit in 2008.

According to them, because "the NPP's Positive Change Chapter II was definitely going to force President Kufuor and some of his ministers to hand over office to NDC in 2008, the government is desperate to amass illegal wealth."

Speaking in an interview with The Chronicle in Tamale on Saturday, the NDC Northern Regional Administrative Secretary, Alhaji Imoro Alhassan Issifu Omar, challenged President Kufuor to explain to Ghanaians why, after years of declaring war against corruption, he turned round to declare that he would not accept any media report of alleged corruption against his government, thus such cases, being criminal, should be reported to the police or any appropriate agency.

The NDC Administrative Secretary emphasized that this surrender depictedhis level of competency to rule as the President of the Republic of Ghana.

"President Kufuor is not the type of leader who can fight wrongdoing in the country.

He has no ethical justification to sanction corrupt officials or ministers because he himself is corruption expert, and even in his own camp, there are allegations of corruption which he has not been able to address," Alhaji Imoro said.

Citing the recent "Hotel Kufuor" saga, Hon Richard Anane and Muctar Bamba, the former MP for Wenchi to buttress his assertion on corruption in the NPP regime, the NDC man stated that his party was expecting President Kufuor to set example for Ghanaians to prove that he meant to fight corruption and other leg pullers of development.

"When we consider these and many others, then we in the NDC begin to have problem with the president, particularly in his fight against corruption, because when you look at things critically, we see clearly that he (President Kufuor) has opened the flood gate for his ministers to amass illegal wealth," he contended.

The outspoken NDC Northern Regional Administrative Secretary who condemned and attributed the alleged corrupt practices in the NPP administration to the "Property owning Democracy" being practiced by this government, stressed that Ghana as a developing country was not mature enough to practice the system.

"Ghana should rather encourage democratic principles that would ensure indiscriminate development," he said.

According to Alhaji Imoro, though many Ghanaians spoke against the revolutionary system of governance practiced by the PNDC government way back the 1980s, the ineffectiveness of the Kufuor-led NPP government has raised high the image of the P (NDC) leader, Flt. Lt. Jerry John Rawlings and the NDC party.

Accusing the government further of inexperience, the NDC guru stated that the NPP government had totally deceived and misled the people of this country, since none of its promises had been fulfilled properly, neither had Ghanaians benefited from him after five years in office.

"After staging series of street demonstrations including "Kume Preko" against NDC when in opposition, we in the NDC did not expect the NPP government to slap Ghanaians with this current unbearable increase in petroleum products and other commodities," Alhaji Imoro lamented, adding that, the chances of Ghanaians enjoying good economic policies and other packages from the immediate past NDC government, had been blocked by the NPP.

Commenting on the ongoing "Wahala Demonstration" by the Committee for Joint Action (CJA), Alhaji Imoro noted that the executives of CJA were championing a good cause, which would refresh the minds of most Ghanaians who were deceived by the sugar-coated promises of the NPP to attract their votes in the 2000 electioneering campaign.

He vehemently refuted the assertion of some NPP members that, "the Wahala Demonstration" was nothing but an attempt by some hungry-looking people to topple the government.

The NDC man revealed, "there is only one antidote to stop the Wahala March, that is; the government must consider the plight of Ghanaians and reduce the prices of petroleum products and also make the economic policies a bit flexible for the people."

When questioned on who exactly would lead the NDC party for the 2008 presidential election, Alhaji Imoro who apparently did not want to commit himself, was however quick to state, "there are thousands of competent people to lead the party, and the NDC will look for the 2008 Presidential candidate in 2006. This year is for the party to elect national executives, therefore I cannot mention any name for now."

He appealed also to all the party members to continue to be royal and loyal to the NDC to enable them wrest power from the NPP in 2008.