“If you want trouble, trouble will follow you”

PRESIDENT JOHN Agyekum Kufuor has warned anyone who is planning a coup or any convulsion of any kind to be wary of the aftermath effects.

At a mammoth rally in Accra organised by the New Patriotic Party (NPP) to celebrate its 10th year anniversary, President Kufuor cautioned nation wreckers to desist from actions that would tamper with the stability of the nation. “We don’t want trouble … Ghana belongs to all of us … If you bring trouble, trouble will follow you”, he said.

He said Ghanaians are peace-loving people and therefore would not vote for anyone who would want to use the gun to threaten the peace that everybody enjoys.

In a tacit reference to ex-President Rawlings’ recent outburst at Kumasi, JAK stated that, governance is not about intimidation, gun-totting or fighting, but is about experience.

It is unfortunate, according to him, for someone to stand somewhere and say his government is the worst in history. Sounding a bit combative, he added: “that person does not know what he was talking about.”

The NPP government, he said, will not be side-tracked in its move to develop the country.

President Kufuor noted that one year could not be used to rectify what had been destroyed in 20 years.

In a fluent ‘twi’ punctuated by cheers from the crowd, President Kufuor said, the early years of PNDC/NDC government was characterised by “accidents”, suppression of free speech, beating of innocent civilians and stories of missing people. These, he said, epitomised the 20 years of PNDC/NDC.

“They professed to practise democracy but they don’t know democracy”, President Kufuor said, in an apparent reference to ex-President Rawlings.

He regarded the “tyrannical” rule of PNDC/NDC as a period of examination which Ghanaians had to endure only to be liberated by God in 2000.

The NPP’s one year achievement, he added, has far outweighed that of 20 years of Rawlings.

President Kufuor defended the HIPC initiative, saying the dividends have started to show.

Earlier, the Senior Minister, Mr. J. H. Mensah, had told the multitude of NPP supporters gathered at the rally at the James Town Mantse Palace that the NDC’s destruction would be self-inflicted.

“They have started talking about Botchwey, Mills or Konadu. Our candidate is here, he is J. A. Kufuor,” he said.

Amid cheers, the oldest MP assured the crowd that the “positive change has come to stay.” He said nobody can fool Ghanaians for the second time again. The former Interior Minister, Alhaji Malik Al-Hassan Yakubu, making his first appearance after hibernating for months, said nobody can take Ghanaians for a ride. He gave the assurance that, no matter how the detractors tried, they cannot undo the NPP.

In a rare case of political candour, he admitted that Ghanaians are still struggling in their businesses.

Alhaji Malik noted that by the end of President Kufuor first term of office, he will need very little campaign to return to the Castle.