The National Women’s organizer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Ms Frances Assiam, has said the New Patriotic Party (NPP) has run out of ideas, initiatives and creativity, adding that the minds of the NPP members are blocked.
She said as a result of the “fraud and failed IFC loan saga”, the government has decided to use the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) debt to create ‘hullabaloo’ and doing public relations over the debt, using it as means of revenue mobilization.
Speaking to Chronicle in an interview, Ms Assiam said it was rather unfortunate that Albert Kan-Dapaah, Minister of Energy, who was the president of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Ghana, revealed that he did not see ?1.1 trillion in the 2001 audited accounts of TOR until his special assistant discovered it.
She said in view of what transpired at TOR; Minister Dapaah should resign because he does not qualify for his position. “Now the Finance minister has quoted something about ?2.3, tomorrow they say, ?4.something; it means the government is not serious, they are inconsistent.
They do not have any business, every government is there to do something either to add value to something, you redeem a situation or you alleviate the sufferings of the masses,” she said.
According to her the debt at TOR is not the basis for increasing the fuel prices so in the midst of “the confusion, one could not understand the point of the NPP, stressing that it is a revenue mobilization drive.”
The vocal organizer urged the masses to re-consider where to put their votes, come the 2004 general elections, saying since the government has lacked vision and creativity in just its few years in power, it would drive the country into bankruptcy if it were given the power again. “
They are not speaking the truth, they have lying tongues, they are not tolerable, they are the worst government that you could describe about people who profess to be super democrats. “
I am surprised about the 100% fuel price increase; even the IMF has given a certain level of increase - about 25%-30% so why should the government go to near 100%?
They should explain the rest to the public”, she insisted, claiming that fuel reserved at Buipe, Mamiwata and two other areas that have been sold could have been used to clear the giant TOR debt.
“How much was the reserve sold? She questioned, insisting that the money could have been used to wipe off the?3.3 TOR debt.
She contended that the NDC never left the ? 1.6 trillion debt that the government party accuses her party of accumulating for the country. “If the government in two years can just come and swell the TOR debt up by over ?2.3 trillion, then they are the most inefficient government that ever existed in the history of this country.”
She questioned the whereabouts of the windfall profit that the NPP government got, which allegedly amounted to about ?3.3 trillion. But what Hon. Kan Dapaah, actually said at the press conference to announce the fuel price increases, on January 17, 2002, was that the rising crude oil prices in the world market and the depreciation of the cedi against the dollar had resulted in an under-recovery by TOR at the ex-refinery level resulting in the present administration adding ?500billion to the TOR debt they inherited from the previous administration.
According to him the audited financial statement on TOR as at December 2000, ?3.4 trillion was quoted, where ?2.3 trillion showed separately and ?1.1 trillion also showed separately, representing orders of credit that had been established.
He said when the NPP came to office they were told specifically that the debt at TOR was ?2.3 trillion which he communicated to Ghanaians. Reacting to the confession of the president, Ms Assiam said, if Mr. Kufour should be a confessing president, claiming that he did not know how difficult it is to be in government, then he needs Pope John Paul to come to Ghana for him to kneel down to confess his “political sins, his economic inabilities and his woeful displays” before him.. Ms Assiam described the president as a plain tourist president.
According her, the blue print of the National Reconciliation Committee is not working, arguing that it has descended squarely on the AFRC and PNDC with a few cases on the previous military regimes. The nation has not gone into genocide, civil war or apartheid, which would call for reconciliation, and hence it is not necessary was her contention.
Commenting on the alleged plans of the followers of Dr. Kwesi Botchwey to defect to other parties as a result of their reported intimidation and vilification during their last year congress at Legon, she said it was orchestrated by the NPP to divert the attention of the members of the NDC from government inadequacies.
According to her no such report had reached the NDC secretariat, adding that the NDC is more committed and united just after the congress than ever before to boot the NPP out of power.
