General News of Saturday, 25 February 2012

Source: The Informer

NDC Replies Akufo Addo

Asks That He Speaks To The Malodorous Allegations Levelled Against Him

News Desk Report

The ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) has, in a strong-worded statement, hit back at the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) flagbearer, Williams Addo-Dankwa Akufo-Addo, for his wrongful accusation of the party as the brain behind the public assessment of his character.

In a press statement signed by the party’s National Propaganda Secretary, Mr. Richard Quashigah, the NDC totally disagrees with the NPP leader of his claims that the party has made him a subject of attack, aimed at tarnishing, what Nana Addo terms, his hard-earned reputation.

According to Mr. Quashigah, the accusation by Nana Akufo-Addo is largely unfounded, since a critique of his character is not just by the NDC but by people within his own backyard and the International Community, discrediting him as viable for the presidency of Ghana.
“As a political party, what is of great concern to us is his refusal to affirm or deny the allegations of his use of hard drugs, which today, is a conviction not just by Ghanaians, but the International Community, especially, the United States of America” , the statement reads.
The NDC National Propaganda Secretary says, the use of hard drugs, which is an internationally banned substance is not only a crime in Ghana, but also the world at large.
“Nana Akufo-Addo has often times struggled to denounce with dispatch, notion that he is a violent man though having failed to apologize for his infamous “All Die Be Die” comment, which by all standards, exposes him vividly as a violent character. Indeed, this only lends credence to the statement made by a prominent member of his own party, and a senior Ghanaian journalist, that he, cannot sleep with Nana Addo as President of Ghana”, Quashigah noted .
“Rather than arrogantly putting up an “I don’t carism” attitude about he being tagged as a user of hard drugs, a dangerous womanizer and an ethnocentric character, it would do him a lot of good if he clears the air over these vices he is believed to be indulging in”, the propaganda secretary stated.
“Ghanaians are still wondering and asking the question why Nana Addo as Attorney General was reluctant and finally failed to prosecute the three (3) women who were arrested in 2002 at the Kotoka International Airport for possessing narcotic substance. It is possible Nana Addo does not know and appreciate the negative effects of marijuana and other narcotic substances on the society, hence his attitude”, the state indicated.
“The use of marijuana and other narcotic substances breed criminality, insecurity and violence, destruction of the human system, collapse of state institutions and general lack of discipline in society, with parents being the most traumatized”, the release further stressed.
According to Richard Quashigah, the behavior of people like Nana Addo has plunged nations like Columbia, Afghanistan, Mexico among others, into catastrophic situation and Ghana can only learn lessons from those nations.
This is why it is imperative that Nana Addo comes out clear on these allegations of being a drug user for the good people of Ghana to be guaranteed that their children could be safe under his watch, if he ever becomes president; he demands.
On his comment that President Mills has no record to campaign on, Quashigah said, the position of the NPP leader in the party’s candid view indicates that he has decided to put on double-masks making it impossible for him to see what is happening around him.
Aside the arrest of Asem Darke , alias ‘the Limping man’, which has eluded the NPP government with the connivance of elements within Kufuor administration, the statement further pointed out that the NPP flagbearer, during his so-called ‘Listening Tour Campaign’ could not inter alia see or notice the infrastructural development in every corner of the country, distribution of Free Laptop Computers to students, distribution of fire tenders to the Ghana National Fire Service, acquisition of Naval Ships for the oil industry, the enhanced pay structure for workers under the Single Spine, as well as Minimum Wage increases and massive investment in agriculture.
“We wish to challenge Nana Addo to point to a single tangible achievement he has chalked both as Member of Parliament and Cabinet Minister. It is our believe that if Nana Addo had consulted men and women of wisdom in the NPP, they would have advised him to desist from raising issues concerning personal records, and rather concentrate for now, on the selection of his running-mate as well as crafting of his 2012 campaign message. We believe that his unwarranted pronouncements sum up what perhaps appears to be political myopia and lack of depth in analyzing national issues”, the NDC added.
Is Akufo Addo not becoming a contradiction of himself? In one breath, he lauds the eight year rule of the NPP and in another breath, describes the Ghanaian economy as a ‘Guggisberg economy’ (primitive economy) not too long after the NPP lost power to the NDC for which he (Nana Addo) claims would require ten (10) years to transform in to a first class economy, the statement queried.
Can this man be serious? Can Ghanaians trust a man who speaks from both sides of his mouth as one who does not know what he is about? Certainly not! the statement concludes.
It would be recall that Akufo-Addo at his maiden rally held at the Mantse Agbona last Saturday, sought to tout his so-called public record and create the impression that the NDC was behind the critical assessment of his character and this is what has necessitated the swift rebuttal from the NDC.