The National Democratic Congress (NDC) caucus in Parliament on Wednesday described the New Patriotic Party (NPP) first year in government as sloppy and buoyed by favourable external economic conditions.

The Minority Leader, Mr Alban Bagbin, said the government had failed and rather compounded the problems of ordinary Ghanaians in spite of the stability of world market prices for cocoa, gold and a slump in crude oil price.

The Minority had organised a conference in Parliament on the eve of the second State of the nation address to be delivered by the President. The group addressed various areas of national life including the economy and the reconciliation process.

Mr Bagbin said government's "hasty" decision to adopt the Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative had led to the withdrawal of a number of loans needed for crucial projects in the country.

He said Japan, one of Ghana's most dependable creditors, no longer offered loans and it is telling on the country's development process. "Despite promises by the Minister of Economic Planning and Regional Integration (Dr Paa Kwesi Ndoom) in Parliament that Ghana will receive debt relief by the close of year 2001 to the tune of between 170 million dollars and 250 million dollars, almost a year on there is no certainty when the decision point will be reached."

He said conditionalities attached to HIPC initiative were adversely affecting the quality of life of the ordinary Ghanaian. "Let us look at what is happening to Argentina and see whether we should still rely heavily of the IMF and World Bank."

Mr Bagbin said: "The full recovery cost for utilities such as electricity and water, no subsidies for agriculture inputs and full cost recovery of fees for social services such as education and medical are as some of the conditionalities."

Despite the President's expensive foreign travels, ostensibly to seek investment, foreign direct investment had fallen steeply and "may hover just around the100million-dollar mark from a peak of about 250 million dollars in the late 1990." He said investors in the construction and mining were fleeing the country because of the high cost of transacting business.

On corruption, he said government should not only pursue former ministers and opponents of the regime but look within its self and punish wrongdoing. "The refusal to probe the Sahara oil deal remains an indictment on the government's commitment to zero tolerance, lack of transparency in the award of the castle renovation contract and the 25,000 dollar Black Star gift saga were overlooked by the government."

Mr Bagbin said the National Reconciliation Act would not bring about a genuine and sincere reconciliation. "The so called 'window of opportunity' option, which has been incorporated in the act is discriminatory and unconstitutional in as much as it creates differential access to justice and relief for the citizens of this country, who should be equal before the law."