Sunyani, July 2, GNA - Colonel E.K.T Donkor (rtd), Minister of Defence in the National Democratic Congress (NDC) administration, on Tuesday said the party "is financially handicapped and members must therefore not expect to be given monies for organizational activities like it used to do".

The party is broke and members should not expect that money would come from somewhere, he stated.

Col. Donkor, a member of the NDC's Council of Elders, was addressing an extraordinary meeting of the Party on: "The State of the Party - Unity and Funding", in Sunyani.

The meeting, under the theme: "Planning Together for Victory in 2004", was attended by regional and constituency executives, former and current Parliamentarians, former District Chief Executives as well as cadres and other functionaries of the party.

The former Defence Minister urged members to pay their dues promptly and to take membership registration exercise seriously, "for manna will not fall from heaven".

Col. Donkor outlined some factors that caused the defeat of the party in the last general election, citing among other things the imposition of parliamentary candidates on members during primaries and the party's poor relations with the media.

Col. Donkor said disunity within the rank and file of the party was another problem, but added that all those problems had been solved, "including even the Rawlings-Obed feud".

He advised members to relate well with the media for positive results and also focus on the party's determination to win in 2004.

Mr Johnson Asiedu-Nketiah, Member of Parliament for Wenchi West, who spoke on a number of issues affecting the national economy called on the Government to equip and strengthen State institutions like the Serious Fraud Office (SFO), Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) and the Auditor General's Department, to enable them to function to expectation.

He alleged that the Government had "intentionally weakened and incapacitated these institutions to disenable them to deal with corruption in the country".

Mr Asiedu-Nketiah said prior to the introduction of the new 10,000 cedis and 20,000 cedis notes, he challenged the Government to publish the first and last serial numbers of the notes to avert the printing of counterfeits into circulation.

Mr Asiedu-Nketiah said the Government did not pay heed to his challenge and he had been vindicated as fake currency notes of those two denominations had been printed and put into circulation. He called on the Government to take measures to arrest the situation since that could worsen the inflationary trend in the country.

Mr J.H. Owusu Acheampong, former MP for Berekum, Mr I.K Adjei-Mensah, MP for Techiman North, Mr Peter Yaw Mensah, MP for Atebubu North, Mr Francis Hayford Amoako, MP for Nkoranza and Alhaji Collins Dauda, former MP for Asutifi South and Regional Chairman of the party addressed the meeting.