NDC Had No Hand in Cassava Demo - Alex Asamoah

The western regional chairman of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Nana Alex Asamoah has denied allegations of behind-the-scenes involvement of his party in the recent demonstration that was staged by cassava farmers at Awutu Bawjiase against the government and the management of the Ayensu starch factory.

He said there is no iota of truth in the allegation being leveled against the NDC by some government functionaries because the party would gain nothing from such an action.

Nana Asamoah said NDC has criticized the management of the Ayensu starch factory for not paying the correct percentage of the world market price to the farmers who produce the cassava to feed the factory. However, he said this does not amount to an attempt to sabotage the project or incite the farmers to go on the demonstration.

The NDC chairman made the denial during a radio discussion programme on Good News FM in Takoradi with deputy Minister of Information, Mr. Stephen Asamoah Boateng.

Nana Asamoah accused the government of persistently attacking personalities in the NDC whenever the party criticizes them, instead of addressing the issues they have raised. He said the NDC has the responsibility of keeping the government on its toes.

Mr. Asamoah Boateng had said that the government has in its custody an intelligence report that suggests that the demonstration by the cassava farmers was engineered by the NDC.

The deputy minister said since Nana Asamoah himself has accepted that it is criminal for anybody to sabotage the project, the government would intensify investigations into the matter and possibly prosecute those who would be found to have masterminded the demonstration in their attempt to sabotage the project.

He said when NDC was in power it could not initiate such innovative projects. The party therefore seems happy with the various presidential initiatives that the current government is promoting to generate employment.

The deputy minister advised the NDC to criticize constructively but not raise unnecessary alarms that have no basis. He mentioned specifically Nana Asamoah's pronouncement that president Kufuor's head has been embossed on the new currency notes that have just come out when he knew that what he was saying was not true.

Nana Asamoah said he did not make any categorical statement that President Kufuor's head was on the new currency note. According to him he only asked the central bank to come out to either confirm or deny rumours that the president's head is on the currency that was yet to come out.

The NDC chairman said after his call the government came out to deny the rumour but went ahead to do a mini reshuffle at the central bank thinking that information on the bank notes came from the bank.

On the economy, the deputy minister noted that through prudent policies the government has managed to bring down interest rate that was sky-rocketing during the NDC days to 30% plus and hoped to bring it further down.

He said businessmen can now access loans from the banks more easily to set up businesses to create employment because of the low interest rate they are now paying. This could not happen in the NDC era due to the way they were managing the economy.

Nana Asamoah countered by saying that in 2000 the economy of Ghana nose-dived due mainly to external factors that were beyond the control of government. Fortunately for the NPP, he said the price of cocoa, gold, bauxite among other commodities have all gone up at the world market in spite of this the government is unable to take advantage to improve the economy.