Accra, June 9, GNA - The National Democratic Congress (NDC), which celebrates its 13th anniversary on Friday, says it still remained the most viable alternative to the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP).

A statement Mr Bede Ziedeng, Acting General Secretary of the Party, signed on Thursday said NDC was the only hope for the millions of Ghanaians waiting to be redeemed from the current economic hardships they were going through under the NPP Government. He accused the NPP Government of gradually glorifying corruption as a virtue.

The statement said: "Thirteen years ago on 10th June, 1992 the NDC was born as a political party when the people of this country, after 10 years of revolutionary government, decided to return to constitutional rule, underpinned by multi-party democracy. "The NDC emerged as a political party against a strong background of egalitarian philosophical benefits, which caught the appeal and attraction of many Ghanaians," the statement said.

It noted that Former President Jerry John Rawlings won two successive elections in 1992 and 1996 and between 1993 and January 2001 "the economy of this country witnessed massive infrastructure development in all sectors, especially in education, roads, telecommunications, aviation, harbours, health, agriculture and energy, particularly rural electrification". It recalled that 1999 and 2000 were bad for the country due to the adverse external economic conditions at the time. "The situation of the internal economy was exacerbated by the rising prices of crude oil on the world market and the fall in prices of our export commodities such as gold, cocoa as well as irresponsible opposition, which was bent on using the difficulties of the time to make the country nearly ungovernable."

The NDC said these seriously affected the performance of the economy and partly accounted for the Party losing Election 2000. The statement said while in opposition, the Party had developed its philosophy of social democracy that stressed the centrality of the ordinary man in the development process and stressed the responsibility of the State towards the poor, the marginalized and the disadvantaged.

"On the occasion of the 13th anniversary of the Party, the NDC wishes to salute all Ghanaians for the support they gave the party to enable it to run the affairs of this country for eight years. "The NDC also wishes on this occasion to salute its foot soldiers for their gallantry, hard work and sacrifice during the 2004 elections...." The Party said it was paying "glowing tribute" to the founding fathers upon whose vision the NDC was established and all those, who worked tirelessly to make it a formidable Party. It said it was particularly paying tribute to "those who have been victims for serving the people of this country under the NDC government and have been used as sacrificial lambs", citing the Former Deputy Minister of Finance, Mr Victor Selormey, who died last April after he had been given a remission of his prison sentence by President John Agyekum Kufuor.

"The NDC wishes to appeal to all its members and supporters to remain steadfast and committed to the Party," the statement said. "We must also strive to achieve and maintain unity in the Party whilst eschewing all divisive tendencies that have the potential of weakening our resolve to win back political power in the year 2008."