Koforidua, Feb. 25, GNA- The National Chairman of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Dr Obed Asamoah, has said the party would offer better economic policies to redeem Ghanaians from economic hardships if it was voted into power.
He, therefore, called on the electorate to vote the NPP administration out of office because it had never rendered any good services to Ghanaians.
Dr. Asamoah was speaking at a durbar of NDC functionaries at Koforidua on Tuesday to begin his four-day-tour of the Eastern Region. He explained that, one of the major conditions attached to the HIPC policy adopted by the NPP government was full cost recovery and therefore warned that, "if Ghanaians made the mistake of voting NPP back into office by 2005, prices of petrol, utility tariffs and other taxes would be increased further."
Dr Asamoah said the Eastern Region was very important to the NDC if it is to win the 2004 elections, adding that while in 1996 the NDC won 53.48 per cent of votes cast in the Region for the Presidential elections in 2000, the party won only 41.3 per cent and obtained only eight of the 26 Parliamentary seats in the region instead of the 15 won in 1996.
He said President Kufour won the 2000 elections by adding only 300,000 votes to what he won in 1996 while 1.2 million supporters of the NDC refused to cast their votes.
Dr Asamoah therefore urged all members of the party to become organizers and ensure that they and their families and people in their area register when the voter's register is opened.
The NDC Chairman called on members of the party to fight for their rights as citizens of the country and urged them not to allow anybody to intimidate them when the voter's register is opened.
The National Organiser of NDC, Mr Samuel Ofosu-Ampofo the dismissal of 3,000 former staff of National Mobilization Programme (NMP) and recent dismissal of the staff of the Non-formal Education Division was an abuse of workers rights as citizens of the country.
Mr Ofosu-Ampofo said despite President J A Kufour's promise that during his regime, the holding of party card would not be the basis of employment, that has become the practice of his regime as exhibited by the appointment of known party functionaries fill the vacancies created in the National Disaster Management Organization (NADMO).
Mr Sallas Mensah, Chairman of the Eastern Regional Parliamentary Caucus said corruption under the NPP Government started when President Agyekum Kufour allowed state funds to be used to renovate his personal house.
He stated that now the construction of a six-classroom block was being awarded at the cost of 650 million cedis while three- classroom block under the HIPC fund was being awarded on contract at the cost of 350 million cedis.
The Koforidua Constituency Chairman of NDC, Mr David S. Boateng said the NPP 2000 campaign was based on false promises and urged the people to judge the NPP Government by their campaign promises. Mr Fred Ohene-Kena, Eastern Regional Chairman of the NDC, who chaired the function, said the tour was to enable the national executives of the party to put things in place for the take off of the campaign of the NDC for the 2000 elections
