Accra, May 14, GNA - The National Democratic Congress (NDC) on Wednesday said the NPP failed to answer questions its Leader and Flag bearer, Professor John Evans Atta Mills together with his running mate,

Mr John Dramani Mahama had raised in their campaign launch in Accra recently. The NDC said, the NPP and its leaders have still not answered the pressing questions it had raised that this year's election would be contested on issues and that it (NDC) would not engage in comparing records which it considered as a recipe for mediocrity.

The NDC, in a statement signed by Ms. Hannah Tetteh, Director of Communications, said the NPP had "rather in its typical fashion is seeking refuge in distortions of statements that were made, creating their own versions of the facts and perfecting the art of deception by trying to divert the attention of Ghanaians from their failures and their inability to answer the questions.

"The NPP persists with vicious personal attacks on NDC leader's personal capabilities, the party's philosophy and history. "The comparison of records between PNDC/NDC and the NPP as is being demanded by the NPP is also a diversion. The real comparison is between the PNDC/NDC and the UP/NPP traditions."

The statement said, "for now, the NDC as a political party is focusing on putting people first because it is quite clear that notwithstanding the much trumpeted effective economic management of the NPP our people's living conditions have deteriorated."

The reports of the Ghana Demographic Health Survey of 2003, and UNDP's Ghana Human Development of 2007, indicated that in spite of having increased access to resources, high commodity prices and debt relief, the improvements in the conditions of living for Ghanaians during eight years of NPP rule have not been significant, and in some cases the human development indicators have shown deterioration in the living conditions of Ghanaians.

The NDC gave the assurance to Ghanaians that "this year, in this election campaign, the party would speak on the issues that concern all of us most and would address itself fully to responding to the issue of how to ensure that government puts the interests of the most important of Ghanaians above every other interest and would work to create a better Ghana for the majority of Ghanaians."

The statement said, "We will speak to the issue of improving access to decent health care such as how we intend to deal with the challenges of waste management and public sanitation. We will talk about how we intend to manage the economy and continue to grow this economy at rates that will truly take us to middle-income status by the year 2020 as had always been envisioned by the NDC."

The NDC will show what can happen when government recognises that the people's priorities are the government's priorities and not vice-versa.

It said the NPP's performance ought to be measured against their campaign rhetoric and it would be a shame if the good people of Ghana would let them get away with their mismanagement and mediocre record by "buying" the political propaganda that they have cynically and consistently put out in the public domain.

The NPP perpetuated the lie that the NDC did nothing and thus shifting the goal posts, or lowering the bar for an assessment of their own performance.

The statement said the NDC believed that when Ghanaians have the opportunity to critically evaluate the NPP record "they will be left with no doubt that they have been let down by the people who promised paradise, and failed to deliver on their platform promises adding, "this is the issue at stake."

It said; "The people of Ghana will not allow themselves to be intimidated into voting for mediocrity because some politicians have made it their task to make them afraid of their fellow compatriots who belong to a different political tradition.

"It is that style of propaganda that thrived on holding up a distorted image of ones opponents, making people afraid of them, and then blaming all their sins on them in the hope that in their fear they would vote otherwise."

It said Ghanaians have nothing to fear from John Evans Atta Mills, John Dramani Mahama or the NDC and that the NDC believed they were discerning and intelligent and they have the mandate to make their rightful choice.

"We believe in a better Ghana and will invest in people, in jobs and efficiently manage the economy to get us back on the road to prosperity", the statement added.