"They are paying us back" - NPP MP

The National Democratic Congress (NDC) on Tuesday said it had forgiven the New Patriotic Party (NPP) for subjecting them to severe criticisms when they were in power in the spirit of reconciliation and the development of the nation.

The Minority denied that they were lambasting President John Agyekum Kufuor's state of the nation address as retribution of the bashes the NPP had subjected the addresses of ex-President Rawlings to in the past.


Mr Isaac Adjei-Mensah, NDC-Techiman South, and the Deputy Minority Leader raised the issue on a point of order to correct the contribution by Mr Alex Korankye, NPP-Asante Akim South, that the Minority was paying back the NPP in its own coins.


Mr Korankye said: "I am not surprised that the Minority has for more than one week or so now been describing President Kufuor's address as uninspiring, lacked bite, hollow and et cetera.


"I must confess that it is not surprising to hear them do so because when Rawlings delivered his 2000 address it received bashes from the then Minority. They are paying us back."


Mr Adjei-Mensah replied: "Don't impute bad motives to our cause. We are contributing to our nation's development. It is not retribution. "We are doing it in the spirit of reconciliation. We have forgiven you."

Mr Korankye continuing his contribution said the President's address was premised on the pursuit of vigorous infrastructure development, modernisation of agriculture and enhanced social services with special emphasis on education and health, good governance and private sector development.


He said President Kufuor has demonstrated that he had the political will to take decisions and he has done that by stabilising the cedi, taken the state out of a state of hopelessness, fear, intimidation, poverty and indiscipline.


Mr Korankye said: "The address encompasses everything that Ghanaians needed to develop. There is light at the end of the tunnel."


Mr Mumuni Seidu, NDC-Wa Central said criticism and tolerance were the beauties to parliamentary democracy and urged the government to be tolerant of critical views. "It is unfortunate that some of us have not acquired the acceptance of criticism and have become worst enemies to democracy and have fallen into complacency.


"I was gladly satisfied that the NPP was continuing about 85 per cent of NDC's projects and policies unlike other regimes when the ruling government threw overboard the policies of previous government. "We should not allow change of government lead to change of policies. This is what we want in Ghana."

Mr Seidu said the government should, however, pursue its promises and that one would have expected that the President had concluded the work on the code of conduct for his ministers as he promised in his previous address.


He said he agreed with the President that one must first know where one was coming from to be able to know where one was going but that one year was long enough for the NPP "to know where we are going."


Mr Seidu said the fact that there was the need to review the educational reform programme did not mean that it had failed and that in reviewing it the government should not adopt any gimmicks and play to the gallery because the exercise was more important "than giving promises".