Kumasi, May 27, GNA - Mr Kwabena Ampem-Darko, a Kumasi-based legal practitioner, has called on the smaller opposition parties including the Convention People's Party (CPP) to join hands with the NDC to form a formidable party to defeat the NPP government in 2008 elections. He therefore asked the CPP to forgive Former President J.J. Rawlings for overthrowing the government of the People's National Party (PNP) under the late Dr Hilla Limann.

In an interview with the Ghana News Agency in Kumasi at the weekend, Mr Ampem-Darko said it would be to the advantage of the opposition parties to unite to give the electorate the opportunity to choose between social democrats to which they belong and liberal democrats like the NPP. Mr Ampem-Darko intends to contest as a parliamentary candidate in the Akim-Abuakwa constituency in the Eastern region on the ticket of the CPP in the 2008 elections. He contends that the capitalist economic policies of the NPP government were responsible for the spate of armed robberies in the country.

Mr Ampem-Darko said for instance that the government has failed to revamp all the abandoned factories established during the first republic, which could have gained the youth employment. He therefore quoted from a portion of the Bible which says, "The devil finds work for the idle hands" and said since the youth who form a greater majority of the population must eat and generally fend for themselves, they have find work in armed robbery in the absence of gainful employment. Mr Ampem-Darko said armed robbery brings in its wake insecurity, which does not promote economic growth since people do not have peace to work. He attributed the frequent increases in petroleum products to the insensitivity of the government towards the ordinary man.