Kumasi Jan. 28, GNA- The National Democratic Congress (NDC), on Friday called on the international community, the media and civil society organizations to collectively prevail on the New Patriotic Party (NPP) to drop the idea of passing the Peoples Amendments bill into law. Mr Alban Bagbin, Minority Leader in Parliament, said such a collective intervention was crucial since in spite of the insistence of the NDC for the idea to be dropped, the NPP was still eager to push the bill through.
He said should that happen, it could lead to disintegration and plunge the nation into conflict.
Mr Bagbin made the call when he addressed a forum, organized by the Ashanti regional executives of the NDC, in Kumasi.
The Minority leader said: "President Kufuor and the NPP will be held responsible should they fail to heed to the pleas of individuals and organizations and go ahead to pass the bill into law". Mr Bagbin described the NPP as an ungrateful party in view of the fact that out of the 100 loans approved by Parliament since 2001, it was only four that the NDC opposed.
The Minority Leader said the four loans, which included the housing loan, IFC, CNFCI and the Presidential palace loan, were all opposed on genuine grounds.
He observed that: "it was the NDC Members of Parliament (MPs) who made approval of those loans possible because, it is they (NDC) who are almost always in parliament, and approved most of such loans whilst the NPP MPs are virtually almost absent".
Mr Bagbin said most of the NPP MPs came to parliament only when there was a crucial decision affecting the party. Mr Ofosu Ampofo, National Organiser of the NPP said a Committee had been set up to look into the alleged attack on some members of the party at its last national congress at Koforidua.
The five-member committee, he said, had Alhaji Hudu Yahaya as Chairman but did not state the period within which to submit its report. Mr Ampofo said the committee, which was set up by the national executives of the party, at its first meeting was designed to amicably resolve the impasse and bring back the aggrieved members to the fold of the party because of the conviction that the game of politics was a game of numbers.
Dr Kwabena Adjei, National Chairman of the NDC, entreated members of the party in the Ashanti region to demonstrate that the party was a peaceful entity and not radical as being propagated by people who were against NDC philosophy.
He advised party members to remain calm and not to insult or avenge the insults of opponents.
Mr Asiedu Nketiah, General Secretary of the party, said the claim by some people that they were wealthy before joining government was no excuse for any politician to say that he or she could not be corrupted. The NDC General Secretary said in was therefore wrong and misleading for the NPP Ministers and functionaries to keep on saying "they had their wealth before getting into politics and for that matter cannot be tempted to misappropriate funds.
He said the NDC was now out to effectively organize its members, and this they would do from the branch levels since the success of any party depended on the branches and Wards.
The meeting was used as platform to express appreciation to delegates of the Ashanti region NDC executives who took part in the regional and national congresses of the party.
The forum was also to create an avenue for the representatives, who were mainly constituency chairmen and their secretaries and other key executives, to strategize on NDC campaign, to enable the party win the general elections in 2008. 28 Jan. 06