General News of Tuesday, 25 November 2003

Source: David Allan Paintsil (Chronicle)

Gen Mosquito returns fire

The Minority Spokesman on Agriculture, Mr. Johnson Assiedu Nketia says that members of National Democratic Congress (NDC) are not economic saboteurs but believers in multi-party democracy in which every party has the chance to pitch its strength against others rather than those who think one could only survive when other parties are dead.

Speaking to The Chronicle in Accra in reaction to Mr. Kojo Adjei Darko, Local Government and Rural Development minister’s allegation that the NDC was developing a scheme to set ablaze forest areas in order to thwart the government’s effort, the Member of Parliament for Wenchi West made it clear that the NDC has no intension of embarking on arson as a means to win vote.

Mr. Nketia pointed out that the NDC believes in satisfying people as means of wining vote rather than to punish them.

“For any reasonable person to think that one can set fire and direct it to burn properties of New Patriotic Party (NPP) sympathizers without affecting supporters of NDC is incredible and belongs to gutter politics.”

Nketia said NDC would not embark on the kind of opposition that took place in 2000 when they were in power, where the NPP went around to tell investors not to invest in Ghana and similarly urged the development partners to hold back funds to the government.

According to Nketia, Ghanaians are capable enough to judge every government on its performance and that no amount of politicking would convince them to vote for any party which goes on spinning spree.

Asked why the NDC had chosen to send their grievances to the international community, the MP who was part of that team maintained that they were not campaigning against the country but the evils of the government so that it can change its negative attitude towards justice.

Mr. Nketia cited the killing of Ya-Na Yakubu Andani and 30 others and said this and other injustices like the smear campaign against the NDC across the borders of the country are some of the reasons why they are preaching to the international community to know what is happening in Ghana.

“Our action is to let third parties hear so that they talk to our government to embrace democratic principles and safeguard our infant democracy”, he explained.

Nketia added that Jesus Christ came to preach against sin but he did not hate sinners.

“The idea is to talk about sin and sinners will change and leave the scene and this is what we are doing so that the government will abandon the evil ways of handling justice