Refrain From Unsubstantiated Allegations -Senior Minister

The Senior Minister, Mr Joseph Henry Mensah, has called on Ghanaians to refrain from spreading wild rumours and unsubstantiated allegations that have the potential of undermining the confidence and the international respect the government has won for the country.

He noted with concern that some opponents of the NPP have of late been using lies and misinformation such as alleged high incidence of corruption among some government officials as their weapon to discredit the government.

According to Mr Mensah, some of the false stories which have no source are planted on the Internet and published by some private newspapers to tarnish the hard-worn reputation of the government.

Mr Mensah who is also the MP for Sunyani East, was addressing a well-attended public forum in Sunyani at the weekend to explain government policies and programmes to the people. He said anybody who has concrete evidence about the corrupt practices of any government official should go to court to prove his case instead of peddling baseless and unfounded rumours and lies.

The Senior Minister emphasised that a reputable international organisation, Rating Agents, has rated Ghana's economy as B+ due to the prudent measures the government had adopted to revamp the national economy. He stressed that the Kufuor administration would not spare any government officials who misconduct themselves in any way including corruption, which is being used by the NDC as its trademark.

Mr Mensah said the government would not only encourage private sector development as a measure of creating jobs for the masses in order to reduce poverty, but would also develop the rural areas to reduce the rural-urban drift of the population.

He advised NPP members, supporters, activists and sympathisers to intensify their political education in order to retain the government in power, stressing that “without power we cannot implement our development agenda."

Answering questions from the audience, the Senior Minister emphasised that the NPP would practise democracy to the letter and would never use harassment or any form of intimidation to cow its political opponents as was the case in the previous administration.

Mr Kwadwo Adjei-Darko, the Minster of Local Government and Rural Development, announced that Parliament had passed the Local Government Service Bill and was waiting for presidential assent.

He expressed grave concern about the poor sanitation that prevails in the length and breadth of the country and implored all Ghanaians to improve sanitation to avoid the outbreak of an epidemic, which could derail the government's development programmes.

He directed all district assemblies not to use their resources to build public places of convenience but rather encourage the private sector to go into such ventures to save money to develop the other sectors of the economy.