Regional News of Monday, 14 June 2004

Source: GNA

NDC inaugurates Market Branch in Takoradi

Takoradi, June 14, GNA - Professor John Evans Atta-Mills, Flag Bearer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) at the weekend, said the New Patriotic Party (NPP) did not deserve a second term in office because of its poor management of the economy.

Professor Mills, who was inaugurating NDC Market Branch in Takoradi, said the economy was in a bad state and the situation was even worse than at the time of the NDC.

He said Ghanaians enjoyed high standard of living when the NDC was in power and expressed surprise that life had become unbearable for Ghanaians as a result of the bad policies of the NPP.

Professor Mills said the debt the NPP inherited was not caused by the NDC but could be traced to previous governments, including the Government of the First Republic.

Mr Alban Bagbin, the Minority Leader and Member of Parliament for Nadowli North, said the country "was not HIPC" when the NPP took over from the NDC, adding that, the money in government coffers at the time of the handing over was used by the NPP to renovate bungalows for its ministers.

He asked the Government to produce document to show that the debt was caused by the NDC.

Mr Bagbin said the CNTICL loan was bogus and the Government could not even give the address of the Company that was granting the loan. He said investigations revealed that one of the addresses of the Company in London given by the Government was a refugee settlement and another was a hairdressing salon.

He said he was prepared to co-sponsor a team of Journalists to London to find out the truth of the matter.

Mr Bagbin said according to the Transparency International the level of corruption in the country was high and this was not so when NDC was in power.

He called for a forensic audit of the NPP government to ascertain whether the NDC or NPP was more corrupt.