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Release
NPP, November 5, 2012
‘NOTHING HAS CHANGED AND NOTHING WILL CHANGE
UNLESS YOU MAKE THE CHANGE ON DEC 7’
NPP NEWS CONFERENCE, ADDRESSED BY CHAIRMAN OF THE PARTY
Tuesday, August 14, 2012, NPP HQ, ASYLUM DOWN ACCRA
Ladies and gentlemen of the media, thank you, once again, for
showing such strong support at such short notice. The New
Patriotic Party is very grateful to have the opportunity to
congratulate our country for a smooth transition and the
strong sense of unity we showed in bidding our departed
President farewell – a farewell befitting of the office he
held.
The events of the past few days have reminded us of the clear
and unwavering determination of all Ghanaians to live in a
country where democracy thrives under the rule of law.
Democracy is obviously the best form of lasting government for
us. It is about making our politics about the competition of
different ideas in a democratic system, and learning to
carefully evaluate who can and how to move the country
forward.
The New Patriotic Party wishes to congratulate the new
President John Dramani Mahama and the new Vice President Paa
Kwesi Amissah-Arthur. The smooth transition has reassured our
people about the strength of our system. We also wish them the
best of luck in their efforts to be endorsed next month as the
official NDC candidates, and look forward to a spirited
exchange of ideas in the coming months.
This exchange should be particularly interesting since
President Mahama recently claimed that he was effectively
running the show behind President Mills, and thus was fully
prepared to step in to the shoes of the presidency.
In his own words, delivered at Cape Coast when he delivered
the news of the death of the late President to the family of
the deceased, he said:
“I believe I am the luckiest Vice President in the world to
have had a President like him. He gave me the space to operate
and gave me every responsibility. He made me Chairman of the
Police Council, Chairman of [the] Armed Forces Council,
Chairman of the Economic Management Team, everything [sic]…
and he said, ‘John I trust you can do it.’ He reposed absolute
trust in me. Anytime there was tribulation and I felt
troubled, I went to him. He calmed me done and said ‘John I
trust you, I like the work you are doing, carry on’.”
But in making this claim – no doubt to reassure our people of
his credentials in a time of potential crisis – he also made
himself accountable for the failures of that presidency. If
Mills did indeed tell him, ‘John I trust you, I like the work
you are doing, carry on,’ then we should all be worried that
President Mahama intends to stay the course of middling
failure that is devastating to the prosperity of so many
Ghanaians.
ECONOMIC MISMANAGEMENT
President Mahama extols that he led the team that President
Mills put in place to manage our economy. But for more than 3½
years, the Economic Management Team he led with now-Vice
President Kwesi Amissah Arthur in charge of Monetary Policy as
the Governor of the Bank of Ghana directly failed to deliver
improvement to the economic lives of our citizens. What they
delivered was economic hardships to the people.
President Mahama and Vice President Amissah-Arthur are the
actors responsible for the economic hardships that Ghanaians
are suffering now. They failed to manage the economy and they
failed to deliver on the trust that President Mills placed in
them.
They failed the people of Ghana, and they failed their
President. How can they be trusted to offer anything new?
For the majority of us, nothing has changed. December will be
a referendum on their failure to deliver economic
transformation, access to free and quality education, and
strong anti-corruption measures – all aspects of the
leadership that Nana Akufo-Addo and the NPP are offering to
voters.
MISMANAGING THE CEDI
The Vice President claims the Ghanaian economy is strong under
the NDC. That is another big lie. Since 2009, the NDC has
continued to tell us that we have never had it so good. But
this is propaganda and lies. Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, our own Vice
Presidential Candidate, said, “you can engage in all the
propaganda you want but if the macroeconomic fundamentals are
weak, the exchange rate will expose you.” And he is right: the
weak nature of Ghana’s economy has been exposed by the rate of
depreciation for our currency.
The cedi has lost 81% of its value against the dollar under
Mahama and Amissah-Arthur, and it is still falling. This year,
with the year fr from over, while crude oil prices have been
stable and our revenues from export commodities are strong,
the cedi has fallen another 21%. The continuous rapid
depreciation of the cedi since Mahama’s inauguration shows
that confidence in the economy remains low. The NPP
encountered food crisis and record price hikes in crude oil
imports in 2008 and yet managed economic growth of 8.4%..
Ghana needs a change. Ghana needs the NPP, or the money in
your pocket is going to be worth far less tomorrow than today.
DISAPPOINTING DECISIONS FROM THE NEW PRESIDENT
Everyone deserves a chance to rise to the challenge of the
driver’s seat. But John Mahama has shown us that with greater
responsibility, he will disappoint us more. As president, he
has made decisions that alienated the stakeholders that have
helped build Ghana; his first decision was his failed attempt
to turn the Jubilee House into a presidential cemetery,
sparking unnecessary conflict over the choice of burial place
for the late President; he launched his campaign while the
country still mourned for President Mills and proceeded to
insult the youth of Ghana by asking them to vote for him
because he was born one year after 1957. What the youth of
this country want is not a 54-year-old who wants to pretend to
be one of them but a leader who can solve their problems and
meet their aspirations. They want education, skills, jobs and
accommodation. Not propaganda gimmicks about age.
This is not the way to set the course for a new Presidency.
CORRUPTION
Nor does President Mahama give us any hope in the fight
against corruption. President Mahama was actively involved in
some of the most scandalous contracts and loan agreements over
the last few years.
Mahama ignored the advice of civil society, political parties
and the public to sign the US$10 billion STX housing deal –
viewed by Ghanaians as the most corrupt contract ever. As we
speak, the Korean partners are demanding $17 million in court
for no work delivered to Ghana. How was that $17m spent? Who
benefited from it?
Mahama signed the deal to acquire the Embraer 190 presidential
jet from Brazil and agreed to $19 million in extras, add-ons,
and luxury details, including $17 million to build a hangar to
park the plane.
Mahama championed the SADA project to develop Northern Ghana –
but instead developed the habit to promise and fail. He
neglected to deliver the GH¢200 million start-up funds or the
annual GH¢100 million needed. Perhaps the money was needed for
the entertainment system on his future jet.
Mahama’s use of public funds should give us all pause. He is
squandering funds that should benefit all Ghanaians, which
means those funds are not translating to increased opportunity
for the people – only for a few people close to the President.
We cannot trust him with the public purse. Ghanaians cannot
feel safe with John Mahama as the keeper of the public purse.
JUDGEMENT DEBTS
The NDC administration has paid GH¢642 million in so-called
judgment debts to investors, with records showing that a lot
of these payments were allegedly procured by fraudulent means
and also through arbitrary settlements.
Unless Mahama is willing to take action against former
Attorney General Betty Mould Iddrisu, Deputy Attorney General
Ebow Barton-Odro, Finance Minister Kwabena Duffuor and other
NDC functionaries implicated in this theft – such as take
action to return to the state coffers the GH¢51.8 million
fraudulently paid to Mr Alfred Agbesi Woyome – his words
cannot be trusted. He must take action to sack the two
ministers and bring the three people to face the law.
POLITICS OF INSULTS
The NPP welcomes President Mahama’s call for a clean campaign
and his appeal to party supporters to avoid insults. He has
promised that the NDC government will do everything possible
to ensure the elections are conducted with dignity and decency
and we sincerely hope that he keeps to his word. We also
welcome his decision to fire any member of his administration
who engages in the politics of insults – a practice that has
polarized our system in the last few years. But, that call for
a clean campaign has already been breached. First, by the
President himself who described as “useless” the deabate he
himself generated by his rash decision to want to bury the
late President at the new presidential palace. Just yesterday,
the CEO of the Ghana Free Zones Board, Kojo Twum Boafo,
launched an unprovoked attack at Nana Akomea, when our
Communications Director joined the calls for more light to be
thrown on the circumstances that led to the President’s death
to end all the speculations. The President assued his Church
leaders that he would sack his appointees who trade insults.
We hope that President Mahama’s promise amounts to more than
just words. But we had similar promises from the late
President which were also not kept. This campaign should be an
opportunity to discuss the issues and political parties must
present their vision to the voters about how they intend to
manage the country and how to assess their track record,
performance and competence – a luxury never accorded under
President Mills.
WHAT ARE THE ISSUES?
This election is about the future. This election is about the
performance of this third NDC government. This election is
about the incompetent, corrupt and uninspiring leadership they
have provided. They have made decisions that have made our
economy weaker, and the money you earn from it of less value.
They have negotiated contracts that waste our precious
resources to provide payments to their friends – and this has
increased your cost of living and taken away your opportunity.
We do not expect anything new from President Mahama in the
last few months of the NDC. He represents no real hope for the
youth of this country. He has no new ideas for the struggling
businessmen and women of this country. He has a record of
irresponsible management of public resources.
Across Ghana, we remember the anxiety we felt when the NDC
mishandled the economy in 2000, and we don’t want to live that
way again.
Ghana cannot afford four more years of failure. Ghana needs
leadership that cares about the people and has the will and
the capacity to increase our prosperity.
The New Patriotic Party, under the leadership of our
Presidential Candidate, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, offers
the people of Ghana something remarkably different. Ours will
be a government of real action. One that focuses on
transforming a raw material producing economy into a
value-added economy that increases the prosperity of the
people – instead of telling people to be grateful for what
they already have. Of course we have come a long way – but any
president of Ghana should know how much more we deserve, how
much more we are capable of. An Akufo-Addo administration will
make sure that every child has access to Free Senior High
School education and drive forwardour industrialization
agenda.
It is time for effective leadership to move Ghana forward.
NOTHING HAS CHANGED AND NOTHING WILL CHANGE UNLESS YOU, THE
GHANAIAN ELECTORATE, MAKE THE CHANGE ON DEC 7, 2012.
We hope President Mahama and Vice President Amissah-Arthur
help ensure Ghana has free and fair elections and conducted in
a peaceful environment. The NDC inherited a peaceful Ghana and
we urge them to handover a peaceful Ghana after the December
polls.
Thank you and God bless Ghana.
Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey,
NPP National Chairman
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