The 2008 presidential aspirant of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo, has said the Mills-Mahama ticket has woefully failed Ghanaians in the first 19 months of their administration.
“I can tell you for a fact that the President Mills and John Mahama partnership does not have any good policies and programmes for the development of the country, hence the retrogressing effects we are seeing today,” he noted.
Nana Akufo Addo, who was addressing polling station executives, election co-ordinators and party members in Okaikoi South Constituency as part of his Greater Accra Regional campaign tour to win the flagbearership position, expressed surprise that the ‘better Ghana’ promised by the National Democratic Congress (NDC) has turned out not to be so.
He said the NDC described the Kufuor Administration as being insensitive to the plight of Ghanaians and promised to make things better if they were voted for, but after assuming office, the cost of living had become unbearable.
He said during the 2008 electioneering, the then candidate Prof. J.E.A. Mills promised Ghanaians that he would reduce the prices petroleum products, among other things, but during his 18 months in office, prices of water, electricity, petroleum products have all skyrocketed.
Nana Akufo Addo urged members of the party not to indulge in activities and utterances that would mar the unity of the party after the August 7 election to elect a flagbearer and attributed the inability of the party to win the 2008 elections to petty bickering among leading members of the party.
He said whoever wins the flagbeareship position would be able to recapture power for the NPP, provided he had a strong, united and battle ready party behind him and not a party with apathetic members.
Nana Akufo Addo asked the members of the party whether after the 2008 loss of the party, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) decided sack NPP members from their work places and harass others based on which presidential aspirant they voted for at the party's congress at the University of Ghana, Legon in 2007.
He said fighting between district chief executives and aspiring presidential candidates, constituency executives and parliamentary candidates as well as between regional executives and some members were rife during the 2008 campaign.
He said others also decided to sit on the fence because they lost certain positions in the party and appealed to supporters of the various aspirants to perceive the August 7 elections as a family affair which should not lead to confusion in the party.
Nana Akufo Addo said due to such petty bickering and infighting, people who should have campaigned refused to do so while others claimed that "if you have elected your leaders follow them" and added that such people did not display the true characteristic of committed NPP members.
He reminded the party members that as a democratic organisation, it was necessary that the NPP held elections to fill vacancies and advised that such elections should not lead to disunity.
Nana Akufo Addo recounted how he lost to former President J.A. Kufuor at the Sunyani congress in 1998 but immediately pledged his support for Mr Kufuor and true to his words, he ensured that he and all those who supported his bid campaigned vigorously to secure victory in 2000.
He said every national elections were won basically at the polling station level and that for the party to execute a successful election, he would provide the polling stations, constituency and regional officers with the needed resources for them to be able to carry out a successful campaign.
At Dome-Kwabenya, the Second Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Prof Mike Oquaye said he and members of the constituency have declared their full support for Nana Akufo Addo and assured him that they would increase the difference of votes between the NPP and the NDC from 16,000 in 2008 votes to 20,000 in 2012.
Prof Oquaye who is also the MP for the constituency said the decision was taken at the constituency's victory rally in 2009.
This was corroborated by the Chairman of the constituency, Mr Osei Forjuor Moses.
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