A NEWS CONFERENCE ADDRESSED BY THE PILLARS FOR GHANA’S FORWARD MOVEMENT (PGFM) AT THE NPP NATIONAL HEADQUARTERS, ASYLUM DOWN, ACCRA, THURSDAY, 11TH SEPTEMBER, 2008

Ladies and Gentlemen of the mass media, we thank you for honouring the maiden news conference of the Pillars for Ghana’s Forward Movement (PGFM), a group formed by concerned patriots who are determined to ensure that the agenda to move Ghana forward stays on course. Today is September 11, and we deem it appropriate to use this date as a platform to strengthen the ongoing efforts to protect Ghana from all acts of electoral terrorism.

Three months ahead of the December 2008 Presidential and parliamentary elections, it is already clear that the National Democratic Congress under Flt Lt John Rawlings, Prof John Atta Mills and Mr John Mahama cannot mean well for this nation.

Messrs John Atta Mills and John Mahama first tried to present to the media and the nation an image of a so-called “New Image” NDC, which had supposedly severed itself from the baggage of atrocities and political butchery that characterised the 20-year NDC administration under Flt Lt Rawlings. Against the scepticism of Ghanaians, earlier in the year, the NDC attempted to give the impression that the Rawlings-factor was a thing of the past. But, this lie could not last. Now there is no ambiguity as to which of the three Johns is actually in charge of the NDC and would be in charge if Ghanaians did the unthinkable on December 7.

We are pleading with Ghanaians not to be duped by the discredited claim that the ‘official’ flagbearer and leader of the NDC is an Asomdwehene. In our humble understanding, the literal translation of an Asomdwehene is ‘the King of Peace.’ A nation where tribalism and ethnocentrism are fanned cannot be a nation of peace. A leader who preaches tribalism and ethnocentrism cannot be a leader of peace and does not deserve the title Asomdwehene. It is time we make clear the difference between a leadership of timidity and one of humility. There should be no confusion about that. Prof Atta Mills, for the records, has never led any fight for peace for the people of Ghana to carry himself as the King of Peace. If prophesising a Kenyan-like post-elections mayhem in Ghana makes him the humble, caring, peaceful leader his image-makers portray him to be, then we dare say that the pantomime is over! The iron curtain of the NDC era is drawn. The theatre of horrors lost its licence to operate in Ghana nearly eight years ago. The house of horrors has been razed down. In place a new solid structure, built on the foundation of development in freedom has been masterly erected by people who believe in Ghana and in the manifest destiny of opportunity and prosperity for every Ghanaian.

Ghana simply cannot afford to go back and shall not! While Prof Mills is happy going back and concentrating his national campaign, based on tribalism and lies, in the Central Region, and John Mahama is proudly going around insulting the people of the three Northern Regions that their development can wait until the debts of the Volta River Authority are paid, the main John, the omnipotent, omnipresent, omni-fearsome John Rawling has been once again unleashed on Ghanaians doing what he does best – threatening mayhem and violence.

Ghana’s contemporary history is contaminated with countless evidence attesting to the fact that the only democracy that Flt Lt John Rawlings is comfortable with is the “democratisation of violence.”

Just this week in the Volta Region, he once again justified coups by saying when an individual commits a crime the law prescribes an arrest by the police and that when a government is bad that government must be removed by the police and soldiers. Ghanaians should make no mistake: the NDC is desperate for power and it is becoming increasingly obvious that the only way that their founder believes they can return to power is through violence. But, let the two Johns and their founder John be verily reminded that since the 1992 Constitution of the Republic of Ghana, Ghanaians have fully accepted the only legitimate means of maintaining a progressive, performing government in power: which is the ballot box. It is through that same democratic means of expression that the majority of Ghanaians dutifully exercised to kick the NDC out of office in December 2000.

Aware that they cannot beat the NPP legitimately on the tale of records, programmes or leadership, the NDC has resorted to lies, insults and intimidation. It is clear that what the Rawlings-Mills-Mahama NDC trio is actually offering the nation today is no different from what they gave the nation and political opponents during their oppressive regime(s) under which at least 249 innocent Ghanaians disappeared; the properties of old friends and foes were bombed; under which judges and a retired military officer were officially abducted and murdered in cold blood; under which ordinary, hard working market women were stripped naked and whipped in public, with hot pepper inserted in their private parts; and under which free expression was criminalised, the prices of everything – from kerosene to freedom - rocketed like never before in Ghana’s history and ordinary citizens effectively silenced until the 2000 elections.

Aware that they are losing ground even in constituencies that they fooled themselves into believing a couple of months ago would favour them, the NDC is mustering all of their psychological, propaganda and physical arsenal to cover the country under an umbrella of despair, fear and violence, instead of offering the people a future of hope and belief in Ghana which the NPP has inspired in Ghanaians since 2001. But, let the NDC make no mistake: the kind of fraud, fear of John’s wrath and democratisation of intimidation that forced them to ‘victory’ in the 1992 and 1996 elections stopped working 8 years ago. We have moved on… Ghana is moving forward and doing so confidently in development in freedom.

In the last several weeks the NDC has pursued a tactic of provoke and burn, divide and fool in strategic constituencies, seeking to pit one ethnic group against another and one youth group against another for their sinister, ungodly, selfish, and unpatriotic political survival. You need look no further than the speeches of the Party’s leading men for evidence of this.

Prof Mills, in a desperate bid for votes, exhibited a shocking absence of political memory when he sought to use tribalism in an area often cited as an example of how not to vote on ethnocentricity – the Central Region. After the NDC sold off 33 cold stores within six years, including one at Mumford, Prof Mills, obviously afflicted by selective political amnesia, incited the electorate in the Central Region to vote against the NPP, reasoning somehow dimly and falsely that because President Kufuor hails from the Ashanti Region, he does not care for the coastal fisher-folk and that the President has built the best cold stores in Kumasi. Similarly at a rally in the Volta Region John Rawlings accused the Kufuor administration of dismissing Ewes from the Armed Forces, without providing any specific names or cases to back-up this baseless allegation.

Flt Lt John Rawlings, who is supposedly so concerned about national stability that he, with urgency, summons ex-security bosses to his Ridge residence to discuss how to stabilise the situation. Flt Lt John Rawlings is the same man who has led complaints against the state deploying a combined force of police and soldiers on Election Day to prevent violence and disturbances from any potential flashpoints that could. We should not and will not allow the NDC to threaten the stability and freedom that every Ghanaian takes for granted today. If the NDC so cares for your safety and the integrity of the elections, why would they scream against legitimate attempts to empower today’s security personnel for the polls and then turn around to meet retired security personnel on the pretext of securing a peaceful contest in December? Ghanaians beware!

There can only be one motivation behind the decision to speak out against such an important and sensible precautionary measure – and to attempt to fan the flames that such a force is intended to prevent or put out. That motivation, ladies and genetlemen of the media, is to cause harm to the electoral process and the nation’s security. Is that not the simple truth?

All of us Ghanaians must tell Rawlings and the NDC that we are wise to their cheap tricks and that we will not allow ourselves to be misled by the NDC’s unfounded accusations that the NPP plans to rig the election or by any irrelevant references to Kenya and Zimbabwe. We have stood by and fought for our democratic principles for 61 years. We have repeatedly proved ourselves entirely unwilling to engage in such practices or tactics. After all, even in 2000, when the NPP faced the full force and intimidation machine of the Rawlings Boys from the cadres to his personal army, we fought the elections fairly, peacefully and democratically, and won power – from opposition.

They know they have lost! The NDC can smell defeat like they continue to smell the ashes of the murdered judges that were extinguished by the night rains. The NPP is aware that the NDC, smelling defeat wants to establish a false platform for power-sharing against the electoral wishes of the majority of Ghanaians.

We wish to make it clear to the NDC and we urge the whole nation to not allow the NDC to override the democratic process through their attempts to intimidate and frustrate the will of the people. We will not allow the NDC to bully Ghanaians into dropping our national guard and abandoning our democratic freedoms because of fear.

This resort to dirty tricks and slanderous allegations is because the NDC simply cannot deny the level of development achieved by the NPP under President Kufuor and they know that for this reason the electorate is committed to renewing the mandate of the NPP in this year’s elections.

They know that when they indeed had the opportunity for 20 years to care for the people of Ghana they failed to care then.

Today as in 2000 Ghana is wide awake! And the NDC must know that the nation will not stand by and watch them trample over our freedoms and rights ever again! We therefore call on our religious community, opinion leaders and traditional authorities as well as the good people of Ghana to remain alert and see the NDC’s propaganda and stunts for what they are – cheap lies aimed at trying to hoodwink the electorate and bring the nation to the point of violence and instability.

As a party in Government, the NPP has worked hard to deliver on its promises to the people of Ghana; the NPP has worked hard to improve on education, healthcare, the economy, and infrastructure for all Ghanaians. Furthermore, the NPP has lived up to its motto and achieved this impressive record of development in freedom – ushering in the freest and most open era in our history. The NPP has shown in government and in this campaign – to be the party of both development and freedom. Do not let the NDC take either away from us through their lies and propaganda.

Long live the NPP; long live Ghana! And long and far shall Ghana move forward!