Obed Accuses NPP Over Rawlings Jibes

Dr. Obed Yaw Asamoah, National Chairman of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), has accused the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) of being myopic about issues raised by ex-President Jerry John Rawlings.

According to him, the NPP always failed to critically analyze the statements of Mr. Rawlings but had a tradition of condemning everything that he said.

The party, he told The Chronicle, only emphasized the negative and tried to magnify it in the belief that it would derail thObee fortunes of the NDC.

''The NPP, obviously being prejudiced against the ex-President, have to look at things negatively and that is what they have been doing all the time.''

Responding to The Chronicle’s enquiry about the former President’s recent ''effusions'' and their impact on the NDC, Dr. Asamoah said: ''I think that an assessment of the impact of those statements varies from person to person more particularly in terms of the political divide.

''For the NPP and others who are opposed to the NDC they readily like to see his statements in negative terms while most of the people in the NDC think that he has a contribution to make because of his charisma. They therefore think that his involvement in the campaign, whether by way of statements or visit from place to place, is by and large positive.''

The veteran politician said even though there were reservations to some of the utterances of the ex- President, it was not everything that must be subjected to criticisms as some anti-Rawlings elements, including the NPP, would do.

''It is not everything that you can criticize. He comes out with good ideas, ideas which all of us are expressing all the time. The NPP do not reserve their comments and balance their comment to see that there are positive things that the former President says or does.

''They would rather go for the negative and try to magnify it,'' he charged, saying that this kind of approach raised suspicions.

Dr. Asamoah said the NPP had ''some kind of mindset which is anti-Rawlings.''

''I think really he does move a lot of people and I think that to develop that myopic view is not going to be helpful.''

This was because, he said they saw everything of the ex-President in negative terms while others and passionate supporters of the NDC saw what he was doing in positive terms and they could misjudge the mood of the country.

The NDC chairman, himself a known critic of Mr. Rawlings, said whether his utterances would jeopardize the chances of the party or not depended on the floating voters — how much impact he had on the floating voters.

The one time Foreign Minister and Attorney General said it was difficult to assess the impact but believed that at the end day, it was this category of voters that would determine who went to the Castle and not the statements or whatever interpretation that was given to them.

Dr. Asamoah said the NPP was sinking under the weight of unfulfilled promises to the electorate and not because of any mess created by the NDC as the government would have people believe.

''I am very certain that the NPP is sinking and the evidence is clear. If you just look at the evidence in terms of where we live, especially in Accra, and you sample opinion, you can see that it is most unlikely that the NPP can repeat their success of 2000.

''I believe that everybody would tell you that not only are they disappointed by the failure of the government in fulfilling their promises but more so in the policies they are pursuing which have made life so unbearable.''