Akua Bonsu

The interesting thing about lying is that inevitably, the liar makes a mistake – a huge mistake that exposes every sinister intention behind the lies. One “Livingston Pay Charlie,” purporting to write for a rag called “The Republic” put out a typical NDC deceptive story coined completely out of thin air to confuse Ghanaians. Little did Charlie know that the reason why many criminals get caught is that their stories, after a while, do not add up.

Charlie wrote: “The Mills administration has also paid the arrears of newly recruited teachers and nurses the NPP neglected for eight years.” Newly recruited? Arrears? Eight years? Since when were “newly recruited” workers of any kind owed arrears? And if they have been recruited for the past eight years, how are they newly recruited?

Charlie continues: “Even though, the NDC government has been able to pay all the arrears of road contractors the NPP government engaged as well as a huge part of the TOR debt, the current administration continues to receive insults everyday from the descendants of Danquah and Busia.” I have news for Charlie – the NDC government that has paid all arrears, as he would like us to believe, has faced more strikes, protests, and demonstrations in the first 18 months than the entire eight-year tenure of the Kufuor administration.

In fact, by the previously private, and now public admission of many NDC functionaries including the founder of that party is that this will go down as the absolute worst government we have ever had, and that is saying a lot considering some of the pitiful administrations in the past. It is now clear to everyone that the NDC cannot govern Ghana, and NPP will let Ghanaians tell their own story.

And the stories would all paint the same picture of a woefully inept administration. Long queues for petrol have become a Ghanaian mainstay; Ghanaians never experienced that under the NPP. Indiscipline is running amok with a DCE forcefully shutting down a police station for an hour; that never happened under the NPP. The Castle has become a seized used car dealership; that never happened under the NPP. Corrupt ministers are praised and given a presidential public vote of confidence; that never happened under the NPP. A sector minister repudiates Ghanaian citizenship by electing to have her baby in another country; that never happened under the NPP, a party that introduced free maternal care for pregnant women.

Already, after 18 months, Ghanaians cannot even recognize their country any longer. When Kufuor was president, the NDC called him every name in the book; when radio panelist merely referred to president Mills’ PICTURE as resembling a Chimpanzee, he was arrested and charged in court. The same experience befell Nana Darkwa when he merely referred to a newspaper report suggesting that Rawlings burnt his own house down. Ghanaians may be peace-loving, but Ghanaians will NEVER SUCCUMB TO INTIMIDATION, HARRASSMENT, AND A SHAMEFUL ASSAULT ON FREEDOM OF SPEECH AND OF EXPRESSION.

Sample size or not, why would anyone question the idea of Ghanaians telling their own stories to their countrymen and women? This beats paying mysterious people to hide behind the anonymity of the telephone and calling radio stations serially to praise and defend a corrupt, deceitful and inept government. If this government was performing well, why would the founder of that party be looking to replace the president as their party’s preferred candidate for the 2012 election?

Yet in spite of all these lapses, Charlie continues: “These are some of the benefits emanating from government’s prudent economic management, a (mysterious) government spokesperson said. Charlie, please name one benefit that Ghanaians have derived from this NDC administration.

Clearly the NDC government is scared stiff about Ghanaians telling their own stories to the camera. That is foreign to a party that specializes in telling people what to do, when to sleep, what to own and not to own. They are masters when it comes to doing all the talking because it enables them to spread lies and deception to Ghanaian with no opportunity for rebuttal or feedback. Thus anytime there is the prospect of Ghanaians telling their own stories, the NDC wants to pre-empt it or shut them up.