THE General Secretary of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Nana Ohene Ntow has said he will be surprised if the government fails to listen and address concerns raised by the Alliance for Accountable Governance (AFAG) and other groups.
He said the concerns being raised by the Ghanaians which included high cost of living, politics of intimidation, vilification and tribalism as well as increased corruption and unfulfilled campaign promises demanded that the government acted with dispatch to find lasting solutions to them.
Nana Ntow who joined the Alliance for Accountable Governance’s (AFAG) demonstration on Tuesday said he participated in the event to add his voice to that of the numerous Ghanaians who were disappointed by the Mills’ administration.
He said he joined the demonstration as an ordinary Ghanaian in solidarity with his compatriots who were also not seeing any clear policy direction by the government, a situation that he said had worsened the living conditions of a lot of people.
Nana Ohene Ntow said this to newsmen during the demonstration and added that contrary to the campaign messages of the NDC during the December 2008 elections that it would make life better, reduce corruption, make the cost and distribution of outboard motors and pre-mix fuel to fishermen even and cheaper, things had rather gone worse.
He said fishermen on the coasts of Ghana who believed in the campaign promises of the NDC and voted for it, had regretted and were dreading that they would not be able to get money to off set their loans, because there was no pre-mix fuel for fishing.
Mr Henry Asante, a leading member of the People’s National Convention (PNC) said contrary to claims by sections of the media that AFAG was a wing of a particular political party, the alliance was made up of Ghanaians who believed in the rule of law and the need to voice out the ills that were affecting the people in society.
He said prior to the 2008 election run-off, Ghanaians were told that at least they should stick to the New Patriotic Party (NPP) administration but were taken in by the lies and deception of the NDC campaign messages.
He said the government was changed so that the in-coming one would fix existing and emerging problems, and that it was unacceptable for the NDC government to continuously complain to the people about the issues that existed adding that “what the NDC must do is to amicably find solutions to the problem”.
In a related development, the NPP has congratulates AFAG for the peaceful and law-abiding manner in which they conducted their August 4, 2009 demonstration.
“Ghanaians are grateful to AFAG for rising to fight on the side of the ordinary people of this country. The large crowd (the largest since the Kumepreko demonstrations in the mid-nineties) that joined them shows that Ghanaians identify with the concerns they raised,” a statement signed by Mr Kwaku Kwarteng Communications Director of the party said.
It is even more impressive that in spite of the large numbers, the demonstrators conducted themselves responsibly, making the exercise incident-free. We urge them to keep this up., it stated.
They also congratulated the Ghana Police Service for their sense of professionalism.
The officers have proved that so long as demonstrators do not get violent and lawless the police would relate to them politely.
It called on the Mills administration to pay attention to the concerns raised by the demonstrators who came from various backgrounds: traders, fisher-folks, pastors, students, fresh graduates, farmers, public servants, artisans, teachers and lecturers, journalists, drivers, employees of the formal private-sector.
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