NDC Deepens Public Disillusion – CPP

Ladies and Gentlemen, fellow Ghanaians, our democracy is alive and marching on, albeit very very slowly, in terms of meeting the aspirations of the citizenship. A new elected government has crossed the customary early assessment point of 100 days and his Excellency President J.E.A Mills has given himself high marks. But the question is - what is the mood of the country?

There is something quite fundamental taking place in our politics however and we feel it our duty as part of an opposition Party and the Party of Ghana’s Independence to bring it the attention of all Ghanaians. It is now quite clear that the citizens of Ghana together with the media will scrutinize promises of politicians and government more and more vigorously and our politicians would need to be careful in the promises that they make to the electorate. No longer is it possible or acceptable to make hollow promises. The NDC government made a number of bold promises on what it will achieve in 100 days in office, including:

• Tackling filth and sanitation in our cities.

• Lean Government

• Government Accountability

• Review Taxes

• Curb Armed Robbery

• Lower Petroleum Taxes.

They have reduced the number of Ministries from 27 to 23 with 75 Ministers, down from the 83 Ministers of the NPP Government and estimated to save the country $80 to $100million if it stays that way for the full 4 years. But with appointments not fully completed, we all need to keep an eye on the numbers. On Sanitation no major initiative has been launched by the Government as yet and indeed appointment of DCE’s and MCE’s who would have had a role to play in any cleaning and sanitation process has not been finalized to date.

The government has signaled reduction of tax on certain imports but a reduction in petroleum taxes did not prevent petrol prices rising subsequently. No immediate benefit has been felt on the spate of armed robberies and no clear statistics to point to a reduction, certainly the public do not feel safer and indeed a policeman had been gunned down recently in Kumasi, showing a new boldness by the criminals.

There have been some positives with the country seeing its first female Speaker of Parliament and also a female Attorney General and Minister of Justice.

More worrying however is what many see as the return of macho posturing in our politics, laced with the politics of envy.

Questions of concern from the public are numerous - why should 40 NADMO and security officials be visiting the home of former President Kufuor to examine a fallen wall?, Should a Head of Protocol at the Presidency have any role in chasing the collection of state owned cars from former Ministers and NPP functionaries?, Why do national security personnel suddenly have such a high public profile?

Why is it taking so long to get important appointments in place? is there nothing more important to tackle than issues of cars and houses? Etc. etc. The government had promised it will hit the ground running but many have concluded they have hit the ground standing, and that is not good for public morale at this time in our history.

In 2000 Ghana had faced a near 20year rule of PNDC/NDC government. Ghana’s debt stood at $6billion and many were asking what the money had been spent on, inflation had seen peaks and troughs, mostly high peaks, unemployment had risen sharply, and the gap between rich and poor had widened, corruption was rampant. The nouveau rich were in NDC colours and were viewed by many as a quasi military government. NDC reign produced poverty, insecurity and dangerous division especially among ordinary people. The populace was ready in 2000 for change and that change was delivered to the NPP, in a second round vote. The NPP was not offering a clear vision for the country but espoused values that many were prepared to rally round – simplistically summed up as, development in freedom, the rule of law, zero tolerance on corruption, positive change etc.

The HFC loan saga, the Hammersmith Hair Saloon loan saga, the rush to declare Ghana HIPC, legal blunders at the Attorney General’s department,“Bambagate” , “Bintimgate” , “Essekugate”, “Ananegate”, President Kufuor awarding himself the highest honour of the land etc.

The NPP seemingly moved from Zero Tolerance to Zero Values., and corruption had become even more rampant and laced with arrogance - all of which eventually took a toll on the NPP government. Ghanaians became disillusioned and were seeking new answers by the time the 2008 elections came. The narrowness of the NDC win signaled uncertainty in the minds of the electorate, but enough to deliver victory to the NDC.

In 100 days NDC confusion on many fronts, NDC in – fighting, with the founder sniping at the heels of his own government has lead to rapid disillusion among the population. This is something quite unprecedented in our politics and something that the NDC government must move very quickly to check. Candidate Mills had chastised the NPP government for polarizing the nation, but President Mills needs to look closely at issues of NATIONAL COHESION since he became head of our unitary state.

We have argued that Ghana deserves change, that change in itself is a solution to our crisis, a way to teach the politicians that the people will not be taken for granted, that the power of the people is supreme.

Ghana has always been prepared to give a new Government a chance to get its act together , but concerns on our new government has surfaced rather too quickly signaling deepened sense of disillusionment and disenchantment among the populace.

The increasingly higher standard that Ghanaians are expecting from their Government is at variance with Government delivery.

We all hope this new President and his new Government will get their act together very very quickly.

The CPP – Still Ghana’s Hope Forward Ever ! Backward Never!

God bless our homeland Ghana Communications Directorate CPP (United Kingdom & Ireland) www.cppuk.org; cppyouth@gmail.com