The Member of Parliament (MP) for Lower Manya constituency, Michael Nyanu, has stated that if the President, J.A. Kufuor, is to stand before Pope John Paul, he would have a lot of confessions to do.

He argued that JAK?s confession recently at the press encounter at the Castle that his criticism of the former government?s number of ministerial appointees drained the economy was not enough since the President has a lot of confessions to make.

Nyanu stated these at a meeting to formally welcome ex-Vice President John Atta Mills to begin a three-day tour of the Eastern Region at Agomanya on 23 October. According to the MP, the NPP used the number of ministers in the past government to campaign against the NDC, but today the NPP has done even worse by exceeding that number, even to the extent of appointing what they call Special Assistants (SAs) for every minister apart from their deputies and directors in their ministries. He questioned whether that is also not draining the economy.

The politician recalled that the NPP made many frivolous promises to Ghanaians, one of which was to create more jobs for the ordinary man on the street, which it has not done for the past two years.

?They say there is positive change in the system, maybe yes, because they have created jobs for only their families to enjoy so there is positive change for them,? he lamented.

He lambasted the President for embarking on too many foreign trips as he questioned, ?what type of investment is he bringing into the country that calls for such trips outside the country??

Prof Mills on his part, clarified his point on his statement, ?I will consult Rawlings 24 hours?? which has become a propaganda weapon against him, saying that he will consult because God did not create a single mind for a man to rule a country.

And that if President Kufuor had consulted his elders before appointing his ministers, he would have been guided not to repeat the mistakes of the NDC by appointing even more ministers than the NDC did, to contradict himself only to come back and apologise.

He cautioned the supporters against internal fighting, deceit and making derogatory remarks about the party in public since such acts could collapse the party.

The Eastern regional chairman of the NDC, Fred Ohene Kena, stated that looking at the number of ministers who served in the former government who have no criminal charges levelled against them in the law courts, it makes the NPP statement that they were corrupt unjustifiable but are only lies being peddled by the NPP.

Ohene Kena charged all the supporters to give their mandate to or elect a flagbearer who can work hand in hand with the founder of the NDC Jerry Rawlings since the party cannot do away with him. There was an open campaign launched by the three regional chairmen, which goes to vindicate Chronicle?s earlier reports that the party is in full support of Atta Mills.

At the open forum, most of the supporters called on the party executives to provide them with the needed logistics to start work from now, since the 2004 elections are not too far away.