STATEMENT: ‘Nothing Has Changed And Nothing Will Change Unless....

‘NOTHING HAS CHANGED AND NOTHING WILL CHANGE UNLESS YOU MAKE THE CHANGE ON DEC 7’

Ladies and gentlemen of the media, thank you, once again, for showing such strong support at such short notice. The New Patriotic Party is very grateful to have the opportunity to congratulate our country for a smooth transition and the strong sense of unity we showed in bidding our departed President farewell – a farewell befitting of the office he held.

The events of the past few days have reminded us of the clear and unwavering determination of all Ghanaians to live in a country where democracy thrives under the rule of law. Democracy is obviously the best form of lasting government for us. It is about making our politics about the competition of different ideas in a democratic system, and learning to carefully evaluate who can and how to move the country forward.

The New Patriotic Party wishes to congratulate the new President John Dramani Mahama and the new Vice President Paa Kwesi Amissah-Arthur. The smooth transition has reassured our people about the strength of our system. We also wish them the best of luck in their efforts to be endorsed next month as the official NDC candidates, and look forward to a spirited exchange of ideas in the coming months.

This exchange should be particularly interesting since President Mahama recently claimed that he was effectively running the show behind President Mills, and thus was fully prepared to step in to the shoes of the presidency.

In his own words, delivered at Cape Coast when he delivered the news of the death of the late President to the family of the deceased, he said: 
“I believe I am the luckiest Vice President in the world to have had a President like him. He gave me the space to operate and gave me every responsibility. He made me Chairman of the Police Council, Chairman of [the] Armed Forces Council, Chairman of the Economic Management Team, everything [sic]… and he said, ‘John I trust you can do it.’ He reposed absolute trust in me. Anytime there was tribulation and I felt troubled, I went to him. He calmed me done and said ‘John I trust you, I like the work you are doing, carry on’.”

But in making this claim – no doubt to reassure our people of his credentials in a time of potential crisis – he also made himself accountable for the failures of that presidency. If Mills did indeed tell him, ‘John I trust you, I like the work you are doing, carry on,’ then we should all be worried that President Mahama intends to stay the course of middling failure that is devastating to the prosperity of so many Ghanaians.

ECONOMIC MISMANAGEMENT

President Mahama extols that he led the team that President Mills put in place to manage our economy. But for more than 3½ years, the Economic Management Team he led with now-Vice President Kwesi Amissah Arthur in charge of Monetary Policy as the Governor of the Bank of Ghana directly failed to deliver improvement to the economic lives of our citizens.  What they delivered was economic hardships to the people.

President Mahama and Vice President Amissah-Arthur are the actors responsible for the economic hardships that Ghanaians are suffering now. They failed to manage the economy and they failed to deliver on the trust that President Mills placed in them.

They failed the people of Ghana, and they failed their President. How can they be trusted to offer anything new?

For the majority of us, nothing has changed. December will be a referendum on their failure to deliver economic transformation, access to free and quality education, and strong anti-corruption measures – all aspects of the leadership that Nana Akufo-Addo and the NPP are offering to voters.

MISMANAGING THE CEDI

The Vice President claims the Ghanaian economy is strong under the NDC. That is another big lie. Since 2009, the NDC has continued to tell us that we have never had it so good. But this is propaganda and lies. Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, our own Vice Presidential Candidate, said, “you can engage in all the propaganda you want but if the macroeconomic fundamentals are weak, the exchange rate will expose you.” And he is right: the weak nature of Ghana’s economy has been exposed by the rate of depreciation for our currency.

The cedi has lost 81% of its value against the dollar under Mahama and Amissah-Arthur, and it is still falling. This year, with the year from over, while crude oil prices have been stable and our revenues from export commodities are strong, the cedi has fallen another 21%. The continuous rapid depreciation of the cedi since Mahama’s inauguration shows that confidence in the economy remains low. The NPP encountered food crisis and record price hikes in crude oil imports in 2008 and yet managed economic growth of 8.4%.

Ghana needs a change. Ghana needs the NPP, or the money in your pocket is going to be worth far less tomorrow than today.
  
DISAPPOINTING DECISIONS FROM THE NEW PRESIDENT

Everyone deserves a chance to rise to the challenge of the driver’s seat. But John Mahama has shown us that with greater responsibility, he will disappoint us more. As president, he has made decisions that alienated the stakeholders that have helped build Ghana; his first decision was his failed attempt to turn the Jubilee House into a presidential cemetery, sparking unnecessary conflict over the choice of burial place for the late President; he launched his campaign while the country still mourned for President Mills and proceeded to insult the youth of Ghana by asking them to vote for him because he was born one year after 1957. What the youth of this country want is not a 54-year-old who wants to pretend to be one of them but a leader who can solve their problems and meet their aspirations. They want education, skills, jobs and accommodation. Not propaganda gimmicks about age.

This is not the way to set the course for a new Presidency.

CORRUPTION

Nor does President Mahama give us any hope in the fight against corruption. President Mahama was actively involved in some of the most scandalous contracts and loan agreements over the last few years.

Mahama ignored the advice of civil society, political parties and the public to sign the US$10 billion STX housing deal – viewed by Ghanaians as the most corrupt contract ever. As we speak, the Korean partners are demanding $17 million in court for no work delivered to Ghana. How was that $17m spent? Who benefited from it?

Mahama signed the deal to acquire the Embraer 190 presidential jet from Brazil and agreed to $19 million in extras, add-ons, and luxury details, including $17 million to build a hangar to park the plane.

Mahama championed the SADA project to develop Northern Ghana – but instead developed the habit to promise and fail. He neglected to deliver the GH¢200 million start-up funds or the annual GH¢100 million needed. Perhaps the money was needed for the entertainment system on his future jet.

Mahama’s use of public funds should give us all pause. He is squandering funds that should benefit all Ghanaians, which means those funds are not translating to increased opportunity for the people – only for a few people close to the President. We cannot trust him with the public purse. Ghanaians cannot feel safe with John Mahama as the keeper of the public purse.

JUDGEMENT DEBTS

The NDC administration has paid GH¢642 million in so-called judgment debts to investors, with records showing that a lot of these payments were allegedly procured by fraudulent means and also through arbitrary settlements.

Unless Mahama is willing to take action against former Attorney General Betty Mould Iddrisu, Deputy Attorney General Ebow Barton-Odro, Finance Minister Kwabena Duffuor and other NDC functionaries implicated in this theft – such as take action to return to the state coffers the GH¢51.8 million fraudulently paid to Mr Alfred Agbesi Woyome – his words cannot be trusted. He must take action to sack the two ministers and bring the three people to face the law.

POLITICS OF INSULTS

The NPP welcomes President Mahama’s call for a clean campaign and his appeal to party supporters to avoid insults.  He has promised that the NDC government will do everything possible to ensure the elections are conducted with dignity and decency and we sincerely hope that he keeps to his word. We also welcome his decision to fire any member of his administration who engages in the politics of insults – a practice that has polarized our system in the last few years. But, that call for a clean campaign has already been breached. First, by the President himself who described as “useless” the debate he himself generated by his rash decision to want to bury the late President at the new presidential palace. Just yesterday, the CEO of the Ghana Free Zones Board, Kojo Twum Boafo, launched an unprovoked attack at Nana Akomea, when our Communications Director joined the calls for more light to be thrown on the circumstances that led to the President’s death to end all the speculations. The President assured his Church leaders that he would sack his appointees who trade insults.

We hope that President Mahama’s promise amounts to more than just words. But we had similar promises from the late President which were also not kept. This campaign should be an opportunity to discuss the issues and political parties must present their vision to the voters about how they intend to manage the country and how to assess their track record, performance and competence – a luxury never accorded under President Mills.   

WHAT ARE THE ISSUES?

This election is about the future. This election is about the performance of this third NDC government. This election is about the incompetent, corrupt and uninspiring leadership they have provided. They have made decisions that have made our economy weaker, and the money you earn from it of less value. They have negotiated contracts that waste our precious resources to provide payments to their friends – and this has increased your cost of living and taken away your opportunity.

We do not expect anything new from President Mahama in the last few months of the NDC. He represents no real hope for the youth of this country. He has no new ideas for the struggling businessmen and women of this country. He has a record of irresponsible management of public resources.

Across Ghana, we remember the anxiety we felt when the NDC mishandled the economy in 2000, and we don’t want to live that way again.

Ghana cannot afford four more years of failure. Ghana needs leadership that cares about the people and has the will and the capacity to increase our prosperity.  

The New Patriotic Party, under the leadership of our Presidential Candidate, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, offers the people of Ghana something remarkably different. Ours will be a government of real action. One that focuses on transforming a raw material producing economy into a value-added economy that increases the prosperity of the people – instead of telling people to be grateful for what they already have. Of course we have come a long way – but any president of Ghana should know how much more we deserve, how much more we are capable of. An Akufo-Addo administration will make sure that every child has access to Free Senior High School education and drive forward our industrialization agenda.

It is time for effective leadership to move Ghana forward.

NOTHING HAS CHANGED AND NOTHING WILL CHANGE UNLESS YOU, THE GHANAIAN ELECTORATE, MAKE THE CHANGE ON DEC 7, 2012.

We hope President Mahama and Vice President Amissah-Arthur help ensure Ghana has free and fair elections and conducted in a peaceful environment. The NDC inherited a peaceful Ghana and we urge them to handover a peaceful Ghana after the December polls.

Thank you and God bless Ghana.

Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey,
NPP National Chairman

‘NOTHING HAS CHANGED AND NOTHING WILL CHANGE UNLESS YOU MAKE THE CHANGE ON DEC 7’

Ladies and gentlemen of the media, thank you, once again, for showing such strong support at such short notice. The New Patriotic Party is very grateful to have the opportunity to congratulate our country for a smooth transition and the strong sense of unity we showed in bidding our departed President farewell – a farewell befitting of the office he held.

The events of the past few days have reminded us of the clear and unwavering determination of all Ghanaians to live in a country where democracy thrives under the rule of law. Democracy is obviously the best form of lasting government for us. It is about making our politics about the competition of different ideas in a democratic system, and learning to carefully evaluate who can and how to move the country forward.

The New Patriotic Party wishes to congratulate the new President John Dramani Mahama and the new Vice President Paa Kwesi Amissah-Arthur. The smooth transition has reassured our people about the strength of our system. We also wish them the best of luck in their efforts to be endorsed next month as the official NDC candidates, and look forward to a spirited exchange of ideas in the coming months.

This exchange should be particularly interesting since President Mahama recently claimed that he was effectively running the show behind President Mills, and thus was fully prepared to step in to the shoes of the presidency.

In his own words, delivered at Cape Coast when he delivered the news of the death of the late President to the family of the deceased, he said: 
“I believe I am the luckiest Vice President in the world to have had a President like him. He gave me the space to operate and gave me every responsibility. He made me Chairman of the Police Council, Chairman of [the] Armed Forces Council, Chairman of the Economic Management Team, everything [sic]… and he said, ‘John I trust you can do it.’ He reposed absolute trust in me. Anytime there was tribulation and I felt troubled, I went to him. He calmed me done and said ‘John I trust you, I like the work you are doing, carry on’.”

But in making this claim – no doubt to reassure our people of his credentials in a time of potential crisis – he also made himself accountable for the failures of that presidency. If Mills did indeed tell him, ‘John I trust you, I like the work you are doing, carry on,’ then we should all be worried that President Mahama intends to stay the course of middling failure that is devastating to the prosperity of so many Ghanaians.

ECONOMIC MISMANAGEMENT

President Mahama extols that he led the team that President Mills put in place to manage our economy. But for more than 3½ years, the Economic Management Team he led with now-Vice President Kwesi Amissah Arthur in charge of Monetary Policy as the Governor of the Bank of Ghana directly failed to deliver improvement to the economic lives of our citizens.  What they delivered was economic hardships to the people.

President Mahama and Vice President Amissah-Arthur are the actors responsible for the economic hardships that Ghanaians are suffering now. They failed to manage the economy and they failed to deliver on the trust that President Mills placed in them.

They failed the people of Ghana, and they failed their President. How can they be trusted to offer anything new?

For the majority of us, nothing has changed. December will be a referendum on their failure to deliver economic transformation, access to free and quality education, and strong anti-corruption measures – all aspects of the leadership that Nana Akufo-Addo and the NPP are offering to voters.

MISMANAGING THE CEDI

The Vice President claims the Ghanaian economy is strong under the NDC. That is another big lie. Since 2009, the NDC has continued to tell us that we have never had it so good. But this is propaganda and lies. Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, our own Vice Presidential Candidate, said, “you can engage in all the propaganda you want but if the macroeconomic fundamentals are weak, the exchange rate will expose you.” And he is right: the weak nature of Ghana’s economy has been exposed by the rate of depreciation for our currency.

The cedi has lost 81% of its value against the dollar under Mahama and Amissah-Arthur, and it is still falling. This year, with the year from over, while crude oil prices have been stable and our revenues from export commodities are strong, the cedi has fallen another 21%. The continuous rapid depreciation of the cedi since Mahama’s inauguration shows that confidence in the economy remains low. The NPP encountered food crisis and record price hikes in crude oil imports in 2008 and yet managed economic growth of 8.4%.

Ghana needs a change. Ghana needs the NPP, or the money in your pocket is going to be worth far less tomorrow than today.
  
DISAPPOINTING DECISIONS FROM THE NEW PRESIDENT

Everyone deserves a chance to rise to the challenge of the driver’s seat. But John Mahama has shown us that with greater responsibility, he will disappoint us more. As president, he has made decisions that alienated the stakeholders that have helped build Ghana; his first decision was his failed attempt to turn the Jubilee House into a presidential cemetery, sparking unnecessary conflict over the choice of burial place for the late President; he launched his campaign while the country still mourned for President Mills and proceeded to insult the youth of Ghana by asking them to vote for him because he was born one year after 1957. What the youth of this country want is not a 54-year-old who wants to pretend to be one of them but a leader who can solve their problems and meet their aspirations. They want education, skills, jobs and accommodation. Not propaganda gimmicks about age.

This is not the way to set the course for a new Presidency.

CORRUPTION

Nor does President Mahama give us any hope in the fight against corruption. President Mahama was actively involved in some of the most scandalous contracts and loan agreements over the last few years.

Mahama ignored the advice of civil society, political parties and the public to sign the US$10 billion STX housing deal – viewed by Ghanaians as the most corrupt contract ever. As we speak, the Korean partners are demanding $17 million in court for no work delivered to Ghana. How was that $17m spent? Who benefited from it?

Mahama signed the deal to acquire the Embraer 190 presidential jet from Brazil and agreed to $19 million in extras, add-ons, and luxury details, including $17 million to build a hangar to park the plane.

Mahama championed the SADA project to develop Northern Ghana – but instead developed the habit to promise and fail. He neglected to deliver the GH¢200 million start-up funds or the annual GH¢100 million needed. Perhaps the money was needed for the entertainment system on his future jet.

Mahama’s use of public funds should give us all pause. He is squandering funds that should benefit all Ghanaians, which means those funds are not translating to increased opportunity for the people – only for a few people close to the President. We cannot trust him with the public purse. Ghanaians cannot feel safe with John Mahama as the keeper of the public purse.

JUDGEMENT DEBTS

The NDC administration has paid GH¢642 million in so-called judgment debts to investors, with records showing that a lot of these payments were allegedly procured by fraudulent means and also through arbitrary settlements.

Unless Mahama is willing to take action against former Attorney General Betty Mould Iddrisu, Deputy Attorney General Ebow Barton-Odro, Finance Minister Kwabena Duffuor and other NDC functionaries implicated in this theft – such as take action to return to the state coffers the GH¢51.8 million fraudulently paid to Mr Alfred Agbesi Woyome – his words cannot be trusted. He must take action to sack the two ministers and bring the three people to face the law.

POLITICS OF INSULTS

The NPP welcomes President Mahama’s call for a clean campaign and his appeal to party supporters to avoid insults.  He has promised that the NDC government will do everything possible to ensure the elections are conducted with dignity and decency and we sincerely hope that he keeps to his word. We also welcome his decision to fire any member of his administration who engages in the politics of insults – a practice that has polarized our system in the last few years. But, that call for a clean campaign has already been breached. First, by the President himself who described as “useless” the debate he himself generated by his rash decision to want to bury the late President at the new presidential palace. Just yesterday, the CEO of the Ghana Free Zones Board, Kojo Twum Boafo, launched an unprovoked attack at Nana Akomea, when our Communications Director joined the calls for more light to be thrown on the circumstances that led to the President’s death to end all the speculations. The President assured his Church leaders that he would sack his appointees who trade insults.

We hope that President Mahama’s promise amounts to more than just words. But we had similar promises from the late President which were also not kept. This campaign should be an opportunity to discuss the issues and political parties must present their vision to the voters about how they intend to manage the country and how to assess their track record, performance and competence – a luxury never accorded under President Mills.   

WHAT ARE THE ISSUES?

This election is about the future. This election is about the performance of this third NDC government. This election is about the incompetent, corrupt and uninspiring leadership they have provided. They have made decisions that have made our economy weaker, and the money you earn from it of less value. They have negotiated contracts that waste our precious resources to provide payments to their friends – and this has increased your cost of living and taken away your opportunity.

We do not expect anything new from President Mahama in the last few months of the NDC. He represents no real hope for the youth of this country. He has no new ideas for the struggling businessmen and women of this country. He has a record of irresponsible management of public resources.

Across Ghana, we remember the anxiety we felt when the NDC mishandled the economy in 2000, and we don’t want to live that way again.

Ghana cannot afford four more years of failure. Ghana needs leadership that cares about the people and has the will and the capacity to increase our prosperity.  

The New Patriotic Party, under the leadership of our Presidential Candidate, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, offers the people of Ghana something remarkably different. Ours will be a government of real action. One that focuses on transforming a raw material producing economy into a value-added economy that increases the prosperity of the people – instead of telling people to be grateful for what they already have. Of course we have come a long way – but any president of Ghana should know how much more we deserve, how much more we are capable of. An Akufo-Addo administration will make sure that every child has access to Free Senior High School education and drive forward our industrialization agenda.

It is time for effective leadership to move Ghana forward.

NOTHING HAS CHANGED AND NOTHING WILL CHANGE UNLESS YOU, THE GHANAIAN ELECTORATE, MAKE THE CHANGE ON DEC 7, 2012.

We hope President Mahama and Vice President Amissah-Arthur help ensure Ghana has free and fair elections and conducted in a peaceful environment. The NDC inherited a peaceful Ghana and we urge them to handover a peaceful Ghana after the December polls.

Thank you and God bless Ghana.

Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey,
NPP National Chairman