Mr Kwesi Denkyi, Chairman of the Eastern Regional National Democratic Congress (NDC) Re-organisation Committee, has said that for the few months that the New Patriotic Party (NPP) had been in government, it had demonstrated its inability to manage the country's economy.
He said the worsening economic conditions in the country is a sign that the NDC could win back power in the 2004 elections, but said that such a dream could be realised if only members of the party could forget the past and unite for the future.
Mr Denkyi was speaking at a meeting between members of the Regional re-organisation committee and the Koforidua Constituency of the Party at Koforidua at the weekend.
He advised members to start paying their dues for the running of the party at the ward and constituency levels.
Mr Samuel Sallas-Mensah, Leader of the Eastern Regional NDC Parliamentary Caucus, announced that the party would organise its national congress early next year, to elect its presidential candidate for the 2004 elections.
He explained that, the early election of the presidential candidate would enable the candidate to have ample time to tour the country and to prepare effectively for the elections.
Mr Sallas-Mensah said constituency and regional congresses would precede the national one by the end of this year, to elect constituency and regional party executives and parliamentary candidates for the 2004 elections.
He claimed that due to the NPP government's declaration of the country as Heavily Indebted Poor Country (HIPC), the country would not be able to raise loans for some planned projects like the Accra-Yamoransa and the Achimota -Anyinam roads.
Mr Sallas-Mensah said an NDC Government would not have gone HIPC but would have opted for renegotiation of the payment of the country's foreign debts.
He explained that the NDC Parliamentary Caucus was not happy about the refusal of the Executive to follow the laid down procedure for the approval of Parliamentary Bills and assured the electorate that the NDC Caucus would not compromise with the Executive if any bill to be presented to Parliament was not in the best interest of Ghanaians.
Mr Sallas-Mensah called for the understanding of the electorate when the NDC group rejects any of such bills, explaining that, in most cases the full facts of the case were not presented to the electorate.
The government presents such cases to make it appear as if the NDC group was blocking its developmental efforts.
He cited an example of a 130- million- dollar loan agreement, which was being contracted by the Ministry of Works and Housing for the construction of workers' flats at the cost of 7,000 dollars per unit.
Mr Sallas-Mensah said, instead of the loan agreement, the Ministry had submitted the project agreement to Parliament and the conditions attached to the loan was not also clearly spelt out in the Bill.
Mr Anthony Gyampoh, a Parliamentary Candidate of the Party for Akropong Constituency in the 2000 elections, said it was never the intention of NDC to undermine the NPP government to fail "because when it fails, all Ghanaians including sympathisers of NDC would be affected and the clock of progress which the NDC set in motion would have rolled back by the time the NDC takes over in 2005."
He claimed that the NPP government had "failed to honour any of the many electoral promises it made and was not sure it could honour them hence the efforts to destroy the NDC whom it sees as a force to reckon with."
"However, nobody could destroy the NDC except God," Mr Gyampoh declared. He called on the members to unite and work hard to enable the party to come back to power in 2004.
As part of the programme, a seven- member Koforidua constituency reorganisation committee was inaugurated.
