THE presidential candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in Election 2008, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, yesterday broke his long period of silence and criticised the Mills administration for what he termed its “blame game” and “democratisation of violence”.
He also called on the government to find innovative ways to solve the problems facing the country, especially what he described as the deteriorating security situation in Dagbon and the rising cost of living.
“The NDC claims on a daily basis that this or that problem was left by the NPP administration. I say to President Mills today: If you say that the system is broke, fix it,” he noted.
Addressing hundreds of party faithful and some market women at the Ebenezer Presbyterian Church Hall at Osu in Accra, Nana Akufo-Addo pledged that if President Mills took concrete steps to fix the problems facing the people and refrained from divisive tendencies and harassment, “they can count on our principled support. Our party stands ready, as pledged in my January 3, 2008 statement, to work with the President to move the country forward”.
In the speech, dubbed: “Reviewing the current situation in Ghana“, the defeated presidential candidate said every government inherited assets and liabilities and noted that in 2001 the departing NDC left a few assets and many liabilities, including high inflation and interest rates, historic levels of debts and low external reserves, but instead of complaining, the Kufuor administration came out with bold decisions such as the HIPC initiative which brought many benefits to the nation.
Nana Akufo-Addo claimed that the NPP also left some unfinished businesses and many assets, including an increased GDP from $3.9 billion in 2001 to $17 billion in 2008, as well as posting a record GDP growth rate of 7.3 per cent last year, despite the world economic crunch.
In a mood reminiscent of the 2008 campaign, Nana Akufo-Addo, together with some party heavyweights, danced to NPP campaign tunes. Some of the leading members, former ministers of state, former and sitting MPs present were the National Chairman of the NPP, Mr Peter Mac Manu; the General Secretary, Nana Ohene Ntow; the National Organiser, Mr Lord Commey; the MP for Kwabenya, who is also the Second Deputy Speaker, Prof Mike Oquaye, the MP for Suame and Minority Leader, Mr Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, and the former envoy to Serbia, Dr Nyaho Nyaho-Tamakloe.
After enumerating many of what he said were the achievements of the NPP administration, Nana Akufo-Addo said the real challenges facing the people of the country today were poverty, unemployment, crime, the burden of ignorance, squalor and diseases.
He expressed worry that instead of taking concrete steps to address the real problems, fulfil what it promised the people within its 100-days in office and foster peace and unity, the Mills government had rather “found time for mischief”.
He also mentioned some of the alleged attacks on NPP supporters in the country, especially what took place in Tamale after the announcement that his car had been seized by National Security operatives.
That, he alleged, resulted in the burning of 27 properties and the brutalisation of NPP supporters, including Madam Sadia Seidu, a nursing officer.
Describing the act as the “democratisation of violence” which was rearing its ugly head, he again expressed worry that no attempt had been made by the state to assist the 800 innocent victims whose homes and belongings were destroyed.
Flanked by his wife, Nana Akufo-Addo said the creeping threats to the Dagbon peace process, which appeared to be with the “active connivance of the state machinery”, especially the alleged assistance given by state security to the Andanis to enter the Gbewaa Palace to perform certain rituals, were worrying.
He, therefore, urged President Mills, as the father of the nation, to exhibit the same even-handedness in the enforcement of the road map that former President Kufuor exhibited, even at the risk of jeopardising his party’s traditional support base in Dagbon.
He cautioned that the leadership of the NPP had worked hard to restrain its supporters from reacting, adding, however, that there was the tendency that “militants on our side, convinced that the state cannot or will not protect them, may take measures to protect their interests, themselves and their loved ones”, a move which could drive the process towards a point of no return.
Describing himself as an ardent believer of accountability, the rule of law and the fact that a person was innocent unless proven otherwise by a court of competent jurisdiction, he said the announcement by the National Security Adviser, Brigadier-General Nunoo-Mensah (retd), that former government officials would be sent to court was a “prosecutorial decision made by political operatives with an axe to grind or scores to settle”.
He said pronouncements by leading members of the government and the NDC were dangerous for democracy and urged President Mills to condemn them and work to expand the frontiers of freedom and respect for the rule of law.
Nana Akufo-Addo was, however, quick to commend the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Mrs Betty Mould-Iddrisu, for repudiating the position of the National Security Adviser.
He cautioned that the ethnic passions that were deliberately heightened during the 2008 elections, coupled with the closeness of the election results and the serious challenges facing the country “demanded that we make extra efforts to promote the unity of our nation”.
He alleged that unfortunately, upon assumption of office, the NDC had chosen to emphasise what divided the people and said there had even been references to certain ethnic groups as if they were second-class citizens.
On the international front, he said Ghana could not isolate itself if it wanted to be a modern and prosperous nation. He noted also that with the departure of President Kufuor, ECOWAS and the African Union still yearned for Ghana’s leadership and so President Mills must provide such leadership.
Nana Akufo-Addo explained that the historic levels of growth in the economy and the international stature attained during the Kufuor era needed to be maintained by President Mills through travelling because “there are places where surrogates will not do”.
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