....after election'04

NDC receives more flak

WITH BARELY ten months for the nation to go to the polls, the National Democratic Congress (NDC), which is gearing for recapture of power, continues to draw flak from the masses over their poor performance during their eight years of reign.

The latest person to join the fray in putting the NDC on the carpet was the aspiring Member of Parliament for the Jomoro constituency/ Nzema-West in the Western Region, Major (Retired) Philip Ackatia-Armah.

Major Ackatia-Armah, a bilingual, who is vying for the MP post on the slot of the Convention Peoples Party (CPP) said, ?The NDC for over twenty years has woefully failed to improve upon the educational standard of people in the country. The party failed to bring developmental projects to the areas.?

Speaking in an exclusive interview with The Chronicle, last week, the aspiring MP who holds a post graduate diploma from the Institute of GIMPA and was one-time commander of the 5th Battalion of Infantry, submitted that it was unfortunate that the NDC was still canvassing for the seat in the area.

?The NDC is only crying wolf over various issues in the country. And I am very sure that the NDC would get the shock of their lives after this year?s election,? he said.

Assigning reasons to his assertion, Major Ackatia-Armah who was also a former instructor at the Military Academy Training School indicated that, ?The NDC has been seen as the most corrupt regime and has nothing to teach about democracy and good governance as they are shouting on their rooftops to be.?

He added that when the NDC came into power, they claimed they had come for the poor but in the end, most officials of the government only amassed wealth, adding that its manifestations were being seen in the number of ex-government officials who were before the courts.

The aspiring CPP candidate, who is also a managing director of Cilfoa, a company based in Ivory Coast, dismissed the issue of vote rigging and vote buying and rather attributed it to the NDC as part of their modus operandi.

?The policy of vote rigging and vote buying which was very rampant in the days of the NDC is now a forgone policy, because people have now observed and learnt to vote on issues rather?, he pointed out.

Asked whether the NDC as it stood now was a force to reckon with during this year?s election, Major Ackatia responded in the negative, saying, ?NDC is a spent-force because it has disappointed the people in the area and therefore changing of personality of the MP by the NDC in the constituency would do the people no good. Look, the NDC and its MP in the constituency are a failure.

We cannot produce eggs by ourselves but have to travel to Kumasi to buy eggs to come and sell. This is obnoxious,? he claimed.

He was of the view that when given the nod as the MP, the troubles of unemployment, poor utilization of natural resources, lack of youth training institutions to inculcate entrepreneurial skills into the youth and absence of effective education among the market queens and farmers, including difficulty in securing soft loans to improve upon their business ventures would be relegated to the background.

?If I win, I will ensure that the youth are adequately trained, the women helped to obtain soft loans for small scale projects, ensure that we exploit our natural resources to make more money especially cassava and coconut which are found in large quantities in the area,? he promised.

The aspiring MP who had his post graduate studies in the University of Montpelier in France and studied in the Canadian Armed Forces School in Toronto called on the NDC to desist from making untrue statements but rather tell the truth to the people.

The aspiring candidate, apparently poised for action, stated among other things that education had collapsed in the area, television network was poor, roads were in disrepair and communication systems, poor.

Major Ackatia-Armah, 65, who had attended various schools of translators including the University of Bradford in England and Spain said, ?The duty of the MP is to make sure that poor situations affecting people are not only reversed but corrected.

?The MP tries to offer jobs where there seem to be no jobs, inspires the youth to be able to help themselves and make living meaningful.?

He therefore called on the electorate to vote for him since he was the one who could bring the smiles back to the faces of a worried people who had been disappointed by the NDC.