...*NDC Gen-Secretary says cars were properly acquired

DAYS AFTER the disclosure of the acquisition of four gleaming bullet-proof land cruisers by ex-President Jerry John Rawlings and the ensuing debate surrounding it, the ruling New Patriotic Party has come out from its closet to dare the ex-President to disclose the identity of his ‘philanthropists’ if he is the man of integrity he says he is.

The party also asked ex-President Rawlings to throw down the gauntlet by revealing the identity of the “philanthropists’ instead of shamelessly claiming these “expensive cars are gifts.”

The 4 land cruisers were bought for the ex-President by people he described as “friends” at a total cost of $136,000 (?9billion) while he paid ?567million as customs duties. Ex-President was questioned about this acquisition during his interrogation at the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) headquarters last week but declined to disclose the identity of those who “dashed” him the vehicles.

Reading the party’s statement on what it termed subversive statements by the former President at a news conference yesterday, Mr. Dan Botwe, General Secretary said the ex-President owes Ghanaians an explanation as to who those “philanthropists” are, “whose largesse is seemingly exclusive only to his family and officials of his erstwhile government.”

According to the NPP “the Rawlings consigned HIPCed people of Ghana would certainly be interested why the country as a whole has not been beneficiaries of the small mercies of these benevolent people.”

“It is instructive to note also that the fleet of vehicles at the disposal of the former President notwithstanding, he is alleged to have spent not less than $136,200 to import 4 Toyota Land cruisers and also paid ?567m in customs duties. He unashamedly claims these expensive cars are gifts.

That is why he owes the people an explanation about those philanthropists, whose largesse is seemingly exclusive only to his family and officials of his erstwhile government.”

He said the only true reason for Rawlings’ fear that was eloquently manifested in the Kumasi speech is based on the “mounting evidence emerging that the ex-President and his family have always lived on lies and that his so-called Mr. Clean image is going to be exposed for what he really is.”

He said Rawlings is getting the jitters because these exposes about him are about to be revealed and that is the reason why he is behaving this way, he said.

But his personal Aide, Mr. Victor Smith would not comment on this or the NPP statement when reached by the National Concord yesterday.

General Secretary Josiah Aryeh however says Ghanaians should not believe the falsehoods being peddled by the NPP (read interview in second lead story).

“There is only one reason for Jerry John Rawlings to call for an eruption in Ghana before the full term of the Kufuor Administration. The true fact of his fear and ranting in Kumasi is simply based on the mounting evidence now emerging that the ex-President and his family have always lived on lies and that his so-called Mr. Clean image is going to be exposed for what he really is.

The truth simply is Mr. Rawlings is wishing for a coup to stop the hangman’s noose from tightening around his accountability, probity and integrity neck. Botwe also debunked what Rawlings referred to as “the rot” in the system and his description of the NPP government as “the worst government the country has had.

He said for nearly two decades of untrammelled power, what the combined governments of the (P)NDC left Ghanaians was a legacy of rot, mismanagement of state institutions and the perpetration of massive fraud on the country under the guise of divestiture of state assets.

“They undervalued and sold state assets under ridiculous circumstances as the examples of Abosso Glass Factory and A.T.S show.”

It also cited Rawlings’s poor human rights record which he said makes his government the most repressive government in the nation’s history. Touching on the economy he said surveys conducted show a significant drop in the cost of living in the country.

An example, he cited, is a market survey that shows significant reduction in the price of foodstuffs and commodities.

The price of an “olonka” of gari, which was sold at between ?10,000-?15,000 last year is now down to between ?4,500-?5,000 at the moment. A quantity of plantain, which sold at ?10,000 last year is now going for ?8,000.

He reiterated the pledge of the NPP government to reduce the importation of rice by 30% by the end of the 2004 which he said is also on course with the government playing a facilitating role in the production and improvement of locally manufactured rice for consumption.

“It is also clear that Rawlings, in seeking to throw this country into confusion, was trying to cover up the shame of exposure over the thousands in foreign currencies he has spent in making all four of his children comfortable in apartments and schools abroad while he consigned poor and less privileged Ghanaian children to the educational system his policies destroyed and made too devalued for people like him.”

The NPP also cited the NDC’s abysmal handling of state institutions like the Ghana Airways, Tema Oil Refinery (TOR), the Ghana National Petroleum Company (GNPC), the health sector, particularly Korle bu Teaching hospital, and “the staggering deals at the Ghana Water Company” to back its assertions.

According to the party, the current state of these once profitable and efficient institutions has been a result of two decades of economic mismanagement by Jerry Rawlings and his team.

Flt Lt. Rawlings inherited an economy where $1 was equivalent to ?2.75 and left an economy so ruined that $1 had space-shuttled to ?7,700; inflation at 41%, interest rates at 52%, and $1bn external debts, which hit the $6billion mark in 2001.

The Rawlings regime, after nearly two decades, left an economy whose average per capita was $370 and the average real wage was a quarter of what it was even in the 1970 while 40% of the population lived below the poverty line. Ghana was therefore HIPC in all respects while a neo-colonial economy still dependent on the production and export of raw materials, which accounted for over 80% of Ghana’s earnings, just like it was 80 years ago.”

This tale of rot and decay Rawlings left behind could physically be seen in the state of government properties like the Osu Castle, Peduase Lodge, the Accra International Conference Centre, and even the NDC government’s pride, our roads.