Top Ten NDC Highlights After Year One -NPP-USA

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PRESS RELEASE FROM NPP-USA ON THE OCCASION OF THE FIRST ANNIVERSARY OF THE NDC ADMINISTRATION

Top Ten NDC Highlights After Year One

So alarmingly shaky was the beginning of the out-of-control NDC government of John Evans Atta Mills that we members of NPP could not wait to register our concerns over the direction our nation was headed. Although those concerns formed the basis of our earlier criticism of the new government, critics had a point in arguing that we give the new administration enough time to settle in and begin the work of managing the affairs of our nation. After concluding one-quarter of its tenure, however, the out-of-control NDC government must be subjected to a fair evaluation of how it has managed the affairs of our dear nation. If the use of ‘highlights’ suggests sarcasm, please forgive us because many of the following events have come to be synonymous to the ideals of the NDC party:

Number Ten – Toilet Seizures. After promising and failing to deliver jobs for their boys, the deceiving NDC government looked the other way as its foot soldiers violently and systematically seized public toilet facilities all over the country so that they can control the revenues accruing from charging users. So determined were these NDC Hoodlums that in the Western region, they actually killed a toilet facility operator who resisted their attempt to take over his facilities. So far these are the ‘jobs’ that the deceiving NDC government has been able to make possible for its followers.

Number Nine – Landmark Corruption Cases. For a people who do not miss an opportunity to label their opponents ‘corrupt,’ members of the deceiving NDC have had a busy year explaining away their corrupt practices some of which have been proven in a court of law. Although the Mabey & Johnson Bribery case involving officials in both NDC administrations of Rawlings and Mills hit the NDC hard, other cases such as ‘tractorgate’ in which government officials shared amongst themselves tractors meant for farmers, Muntakagate in which minister Mubarak turned the Youth and Sports ministry’s account into his own for personal spending spree, and many more shameful cases of corruption rocked the NDC to the extent that made the yet unproven accusations on the previous administration look like child’s play. What is more ridiculous is that after sitting ministers were proven to have accepted bribes in their earlier stint in another deceiving NDC administration, President Mills expressed “confidence” in them.

Number Eight – “Team B” Officials. From ministerial level officials who cannot put a decent sentence together to loose canons serving as, get this, Communication Directors at the presidency, the NPP could not agree more with Rawlings for once when he calls officials of the Mills administration “Team B.” Topping the list of Team B officials is a president who tolerates ministers, whom he has the power to hire and fire, hiding murder suspects under their bed, and publicly encouraging their party supporters to visit violence on supporters of the opposing party. As badly as they have performed, however, we cannot condone Rawlings calling them “greedy bastards.” It is alright to encourage the youth to be politically active and to reward them when they are, but when a deputy minister is jostling his duties at the ministry and attending classes to obtain his Bachelor’s degree, clearly this NDC administration does not deem matters of the nation important enough to appoint qualified people to run the affairs of the nation. By the way, do not take our word for it; ask former president Rawlings and his new ally Ekow Spio-Garbrah whose own words we are happy to use.

Number Seven – Fuel Shortages and Price Hikes. During eight years of the NPP administration, not once did Ghanaians have to experience fuel shortages to the extent of queuing for it. Conversely, in one year of the deceiving NDC administration, Ghanaians have been subjected to the ordeal on three occasions. As if that was not bad enough, after bitterly criticizing the previous administration for a few instances when global market-dictated price hikes were necessitated, the deceiving NDC administration has increased fuel prices three times in one year during the most stable periods in the history of crude oil prices. From 2001 to 2008, annualized average price per barrel for crude oil rose from $28.03 to $91.35 (www.inflationdata.com). In response, the NPP administration increased fuel prices less than 12 times. In contrast, with the same annualized price per barrel dropping from its 2008 peak of $91.35 to $43.56 (less than half), the NDC administration has increased fuel prices on three occasions in one year. How does this performance compare to the promises made by Mills during the campaign?

Number Six – The Re-emergence of ‘Rawlings Chain.’ During the previous PNDC/NDC administrations headed by Jerry John Rawlings, we were blessed with some natural ornaments. People wore neck chains or a semblance of it created by extreme poverty-induced hunger that caused a protrusion of their neck bones. Dieting businesses did not stand a chance because, through no choice of their own, a large portion of the population was placed on a forced diet. Acute weight loss was prevalent. That level of starvation is re-emerging. Times are so hard that many Ghanaians acknowledge being denied the traditional chicken meal for Christmas due to their inability to afford it. Incidentally, Ghanaians do not recall feeling so hungry during the preceding eight years that the NPP was in power.

Number Five – Fires Burning. May be they are all coincidences, but what a busy year it has been for the Ghana Fire Services Department. In one year, we have seen the entire Foreign Ministry building gutted down by fire with valuable archives destroyed forever. The office building shared by the National Commission for Civic Education and the Electoral Commission was partly destroyed by fire. On two occasions, the Kumasi Central Market suffered fire outbreaks curiously after traders protested its reconstruction. Fires at these and other government structures that have stood the test of time call into question whether these are accidental fires or arson sponsored by the out-of-control NDC government.

Number Four – BNI Goes Berserk. It would not be an out-of-control NDC government if the Bureau of National Investigations did not abuse the powers accorded it. Whether they were forcibly snatching cars and throwing their occupants out on the streets on suspicion that they were government vehicles, or parading the Kotoka International Airport and harassing traveling former officials, the BNI was so out of control that even the Attorney General failed on several occasions to defend their actions and cases brought against it in court. Not even their brutal beating death of Alhaji Maikanka and the death of former minister Stephen Asamoah Boateng’s mother, upon learning of news of her son’s airport harassment, was enough to stop the wayward agency from unleashing its brutality on Ghanaians whom it was established to protect.

Number Three – World Champions Black Satellites. During the celebrations that immediately followed the Under 20 World Cup victory by our national junior team, for once, and rightly so, the political colors were blurred. We were all proud Ghanaians celebrating a well-deserved victory. While the building and preparation obviously began under the previous NPP administration, there should be no taking away the reality that the actual victory occurred during the NDC administration. However, vintage out-of-control NDC; they would quickly follow that enthusiasm with a failure to account for the $10 million preparation money given to each World Cup qualifying nation by FIFA towards the South African rendezvous later this year. It is our hope that the out-of-control NDC would not destroy yet another success story that the NPP government developed by decimating Ghanaian soccer.

Number Two – The Obama Visit. Although they blew an insane amount of money on the visit, let’s face it, the NDC government did an overall good job of hosting the First African American president of the United States on his very first visit to a sub-Saharan country. But alas, former president Jerry John Rawlings would embarrass the whole nation. It was embarrassing that a former president would whip out his mobile phone in public during the welcoming festivities to snap a picture of a visiting dignitary even if he is the president of the United States. Later at the Castle, Rawlings would childishly scramble for a position next to Obama during a Photo shoot. “Kufuor, let’s change positions; do not upstage me,” he said.

Number One – The NDC Body Count. After its first full year in office, the out-of-control NDC government has recorded a body count of 32 at last count. It would not be an NDC government if politically motivated murders either by security officials or by party thugs did not dominate the news. After the rash of politically motivated murders that characterized the previous PNDC/NDC administration of Jerry John Rawlings, Ghanaians took for granted the relative peace and tranquility of the eight-year NPP rule, and thought we had graduated as a nation from the dark days of political violence. If the first year is anything to go by, this NDC administration under the leadership of President John Evans Atta Mills would be even more violent than the Rawlings administrations.

This is 2010, the second decade of a new millennium. Even the Sierra Leones, the Rwandas, the Liberias, The Zaires have all graduated from senseless political violence. Are we as a nation going to be followers, or are we going to remain leaders on the African continent? The NPP handed over a peaceful country after it inherited a political murder-laden country from the out-of-control NDC. Ghanaians would not forgive the NDC if it returned our dear country to the dark days of political murders and intimidations. We are better than that as a people. Long Live Ghana!