Listen to Ghana@50 probe - Mills tells AFAG

President John Evans Atta Mills has advised members of the Alliance for Accountable Governance (AFAG) that instead of demonstrating, they should find time to listen to the proceedings of the ongoing Ghana@50 Presidential Commission.

This, the President told The Daily Dispatch in an exclusive interview, would enable them to determine whether it was Atta Mills or the previous New Patriotic Party (NPP) government which had deceived Ghanaians. These statements by the President were part of a 45-minute exclusive interview he granted to The Daily Dispatch over a wide range of subjects.

On the allegation by AFAG that he had deceived Ghanaians, the President smiled and answered, "I was given a mandate for four years, so if at the end of seven months, people have come to the unfortunate conclusion that I am deceiving Ghanaians, I do not know what the basis is. I believe that there are many good reasons for our inability to proceed at the pace that we had anticipated. We met empty coffers, nothing was left for us. It's now that we are trying to get something started. The World Bank and the IMP have come through; we came into office with empty foreign reserves. The previous government left us a huge debt, over US$1 billion they owed all over."

President Mills gave further reasons, "if we go to the various District Assemblies, they owe all over the place. On my recent visit to the Brong-Ahafo Region, I found out that one District Assembly owed ¢ 17 billion (GH¢ 17 million)! If a District Assembly is saddled with such debt, what can they do; even in the four years? And it is 'not the Assemblies alone, the debts are all over the place. I have asked that al the District Assemblies should be audited. At least, this is where development is supposed to take place and if they are saddled with debts, who incurred those debts, Atta Mills? No. The debts were incurred by those who went on the demonstration".