... In The NPP Government & Party

PART 1

This letter as the title portrays is addressed to those who fall in this category. It is a call on them to wake up and take the destiny of the Party (NPP) into their hands or if they fail to change the cause of destruction the President is leading them, they better resign early enough and join other progressive and patriotic Ghanaian citizens to form a new party.

It appears our President Mr. J.A. Kufuor does not intend to leave a legacy of a united, peaceful and prosperous nation as was handed over to him by his predecessor when his term definitely ends on 6th January 2009. I am compelled to say this for the reasons I am stating below.

(1) ANTI PEOPLE ECONOMIC POLICIES. ?Despite the so called macro economic gains and stability of the cedi against major currencies and a progressive GDP growth the common man does not see the impact in his pocket. Day in day out the common man is worse of and he is strangulated by the harsh economic policies. The President before he assumed the reigns of government the price of petrol was ?6,400.00. The President and his colleagues in the NPP in their campaigns chastised the NDC government for being wicked and unsympathetic to the ordinary Ghanaian for selling petrol at that ridiculous high price. Today under the leadership of the ?gentle giant and God fearing: leader a gallon of petrol is sold at ?34,850.00 Perhaps the gallon of our ?God fearing ? President is about ten times the size of the gallon under the NDC government. Our dear President should therefore consider the plight of the ordinary man on the street and come out with humane economic policies.

(2) DISPLAY OF ARROGANCE BY GOVERNMENT FUNCTIONARIES. ? Most government functionaries of the present administration are just arrogant and are behaving the NPP came to power through force of arms. Government functionaries like Kwabena Agyapong and Dan Botwe do not display any sign of humility in them. Their responses to questions or when addressing issues smacks of complete arrogance. They might have forgotten that they attained their present positions by the might of people?s thumbs.

(3) INTOLERANCE TO CRITICISMS ? President Kufuor rode on the back of the media to power. The media castigated and wrote many unprintable words about the former President Jerry John Rawlings and his government. What the media is writing about the present government is not up to 30% of what they wrote about the personality of the former President and his family. The President by his actions has shown that he is very intolerant of criticisms. My dear President should know that once he calls himself a politician there is a thin line between your private and public life. If the President has no big heart of a leader to tolerate criticisms no matter how distasteful they may be he should advise himself. As he enjoyed the insults and insinuations that were hurled at his predecessor he should have the temperament to accommodate same treatment. The President should please call for the video clips of the so many demonstrations he participated in when he was in opposition and hungry for power. He should read the messages in the placards and listen to the various speeches of he and his colleagues then in opposition he can then compare those messages with the current ?Wahala? and Anti- ROPAB demonstrations. The President would come to the realization that the former President is a real man. I t is this display of arrogance and intolerance that the NPP government is refusing to heed to the call of the minority parties, organized labour, student leadership and civil society organisations to withdraw the controversial ROPAB bill. The President does not seem to care about the consequences of the practical implementation of the bill if it becomes law. After all he has already served his term and what ever happens to mother Ghana it is his back case, as some people would say.

(4) CORRUPTION ? The government of the NDC was perceived and described as the most corrupt government by the NPP and the other parties in opposition. The campaign message of the NPP was that Ghana our motherland was endowed with natural and human resources. That the main problem of this country was good leaders, corruption, mismanagement and incompetence. Ghanaians therefore needed a new crop of honest, sincere and committed leaders. The clarion call of all Ghanaians was a change and positive change we all voted for. Come 7th January 2001 and President Kufuor was sworn in as Ghana?s President. The President in his inaugural speech declared a ?Zero Tolerance for Corruption ? Policy and all hailed the new President who has decided to deal with this evil canker called corruption, which has bedeviled our body politic decisively. No sooner had the President declared his ?Zero Tolerance for Corruption? policy then one of his ?own? men decided to test the President whether the policy was a mere slogan. I am referring to former Minister of Sports Mallam Issah. Mallam Issah who was the PNC?s Vice Chairman was roped into the government in the so-called all-inclusive government. Dr. Edward Mahama the PNC leader the matured and wise man told Mallam Issah that he was moving into the lion?s den. But the young and enthusiastic would not listen to the advice of the elderly and grabbed the appointment without consulting his part leadership. The controversial $46000 landed him in Nsawam prisons. Everybody hailed the President for we saw ?Zero Tolerance for corruption ? passing its first test with distinction. Many Ghanaians hailed the conviction of Mallam Issah not because we believed he had really stolen the $46000 but his conviction was to serve as a deterrent to others in the government they would not be spared if they found themselves in similar situations. Ghanaians however got disappointed shortly after the Mallam?s conviction. Our dear President then developed cold feet on worse issues on corruption. I may be tempted to say that Mallam Issah was convicted with the speed of a super sonic jet because he was not and original NPP and more importantly he was a Northerner (Peipei) as the akans call Northerners. The President?s famous Cape Coast ?Wawaa? speech in which he was alleged to have said that corruption has been with man since Adam and even in countries such as Asia, Japan and England there is corruption. My question for our dear President is that he knew all these and declared a Zero Tolerance for Corruption policy. The President should have the moral courage to fight corruption and investigate the few cases mentioned by the Palaver Newspaper from the numerous cases appearing daily in our media. As for his statements that corruption is a mere perception and people who have evidence of corruption should go to the police it would not stand the test of time. The President should as a first step to fighting corruption within his government by investigating the following cases to demonstrate his commitment, sincerity and willingness to fighting this canker.

(a) Professor Kassim Kassanga?s mango importation scandal.;

(b) Hon. P.C. Appiah Ofori & Hon. Isaac Edumadzie confirmation scandal;

(c) Mr. Kojo Mbir premix fuel scandal;

(d) Hon Yaw Osafo Marfo and the fraudulent Macmillan contract and

(e) the Richard Anane and Alexandra O?Brien scandal.

Mr. President only then that you can have the moral courage to prosecute former ministers of state in the NDC administration who were alleged to have been involved in corrupt deals.