Accra (Greater Accra) 12 July '99

The National Interim Chairman of the Convention Party (CP), Mr Kojo Botsio, on Saturday lashed out at the government for the "state in which the country is today, 33 years after the overthrow of the Convention People's Party", and said the CP would ease the suffering of the people when voted into power.

He said the CP would pursue human-centred policies, and the people will no more suffer.

Mr Botsio was opening the first congress of the party at the University of Ghana, Legon.

He said the internal national debt of four trillion cedis and external debt of six billion dollars are not good for the country, adding that unemployment, poverty and poor agriculture policy are indications of the poor state of the economy, despite the country's natural resources.

Mr Botsio said irrigation projects started by Dr Kwame Nkrumah and General I.K. Acheampong have been virtually abandoned, and water resources are in danger as a result of a combination of factors.

These include the negligence of government, deforestation and pollution of water bodies by business houses, most of which are of foreign origin.

Mr Botsio said the new local government structures in place are the brain-child Dr Nkrumah, but its implementation is directly opposite what he conceived.

The partisan nature of district assemblies is not good for the new local government structure and advocated that political parties should be allowed to sponsor candidates in district level elections.

This is because the power vested in the president to appoint one-third of the assemblies and the District Chief Executive makes the assemblies partisan.

Mr Botsio called for measures to make local government institutions and structures capable of serving the interest of the masses rather than the narrow political ends of the regimes.

Currently, tertiary education, he said, is becoming a preserve for only the wards of the "money bags" and high officials.

He condemned proposals by the authorities of the University of Ghana to increase registration and facility user fees, saying they are unacceptable.

Mr Botsio called on African leaders to implement measures that will insulate their development efforts from the effects of unpredictable weather patterns and hiccups of the world financial system.

The opening ceremony was attended by all five MPs of the CP and officials of the opposition parties.

GRi?/