The Government has called on Ghanaians to ignore what it described as provocative statements made by former President J. J. Rawlings in Kumasi and Ho. [READ]

In a statement issued in Accra yesterday and signed by Mr Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey, Minister of Information and Presidential Affairs in reaction to the utterances of the former President at the inauguration of the Ashanti Regional Working Committee of the women’s’ wing of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in Kumasi on Friday, the government said that such a statement will not halt the legal process of accountability.

Addressing the gathering in Kumasi, President Rawlings asked Ghanaians to take steps to halt the rot in the Kufuor Administration .

He called for what he described as positive defiance to halt the wrong in the society saying that “Ghanaians should not accept wrong things from authority.” The government statement reminded the former president that his statement will not derail the stability and stop new investments into the country.

It said “the government will continue with increasing success, to seek and bring private sector job-creating investment into Ghana.”

The statement made it clear that “the government will remain focused on repairing the damage caused the nation by years of corrupt rule and with God’s help create the climate for wealth creation once more”. According to the former President, following the dismal performance of the NPP so far, even its supporters have become disappointed.

The government on its part asked all Ghanaians to remain steadfast explaining that “the destruction of our country’s economy was not caused overnight and will take time to repair the damage, heal the wounds and create a prosperous nation for us all .”

The government asked former President Rawlings to think about what he was able to achieve after 20 years in power and made reference to the destruction of the cedi, the dismantling of the private sector, uncontrolled inflation, soaring prices and interest rates, the collapse of discipline and a mountain of debt for Ghanaians to pay.

The statement said “we have started the process. For the first time in many years, the new yam has come to meet the old, the new maize to meet the old, food prices did not rise in the lean season and today they are somewhat lower than they were a year up.”

It said “our feeder road programme has commenced; designed to get more money to our hardworking farmers by taking food to the market before it spoils and also to help our urban poor by getting more food to the market at lower prices.”

On corruption the statement said “while we will not claim that we have eradicated or eliminated corruption, we have managed to bring down all government contract prices substantially. Printing costs less, road building costs less, rehabilitation costs less. All of these are savings of the taxpayers money; savings from lower levels of corruption.”

It said the government has also started moving towards ending the ‘Cash and Carry’ system as 42 districts now have health insurance in place and all 110 districts will have the scheme by 2004.

According to the statement, “in building the infrastructure, the government has been able to source funding and work, including bidding awards of contracts and preparation has started on these major roads; Accra to Cape Coast ,Accra to Kumasi, Accra to Aflao, Bamboi to Bole and Hohoe to Nkwanta.” It said, government has also started repairing and rebuilding schools.

The statement said “the HIPC savings are being released to sector ministries from week commencing August 12, 2002 as announced by the Hon. Minister of Finance. We are on course to start alleviating poverty in Ghana.”

“We are all aware of how badly damaged Ghana is .It will take time and hard work and sacrifice from all of us to repair the damage and get Ghana moving again. There is no easy way out. We all know this and call on Ghanaians not to be fooled again by irresponsible ranting and raving.”

The statement said Ghanaians are united in one thing and that is to make democracy work and “to judge the performance of a government after four years . To make government accountable to the will of the people.”

It added that “President J.A. Kufuor and his government are fully pledged to face the electorate in 2004 on the record of what they would have been able to accomplish within the period of the mandate they have been given.”