The leadership of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) seems to be gradually waking up to the realities in the country that things are hard.

This follows complaints of harsh economic conditions from ‘ordinary Ghanaians’ on the ground.

General Secretary of the NDC, Johnson Asiedu Nketiah, is the latest to join the fray to admit to the fact that times are hard in the country.

Speaking on Adom FM yesterday, he could not but admit to the fact that times were rough.

He was addressing concerns raised by former Majority Leader, Alban Bagbin, to the effect that President Mahama was not doing enough to salvage the country from the doldrums with his indecisiveness.

An obviously distraught Asiedu Nketiah who was grieving over the loss of his Omanhene, the chief of Seikwa, and the confusion that had erupted in his party said “all of us are living in the country and aware of the fact that things have become hard”, insisting that no one needed to come from somewhere else to tell President Mahama times were hard in the country.

He, therefore, stressed the urgent need for government to do whatever it would take to fix the broken economy before things got out of hand.

“That is why people voted for us; so once we know times are hard, we are also doing our best to make life bearable for the people”, he said, indirectly appealing to Ghanaians to bear with government in these trying times

For him, it should not take even callers into radio programmes to let one know things were not going well and that “if you are in government and someone will have to come and tell you that times are hard in the country, then you probably live in a different environment; because we the leadership of the party and the government together live with you in the country and the same environment.”

“We are all aware of the fact that things are hard, but what we are saying is that we should not throw our hands into the air in despair”, he said.

He stressed the need for government to be truthful to the people and called for all hands to be on deck in finding a lasting solution to the problems confronting the nation.

On the issue of the concerns raised by Bagbin, the NDC General Secretary indicated that a committee had been set up to investigate his complaints.

Though he stressed the need for people to be made to express dissenting views, he was against taking internal party issues to the public and, therefore, called for a cease fire within the rank and file of the NDC over the raging controversy since according to him, they had been holding series of meetings to resolve the several challenges confronting the party including those complained of by Bagbin.