‘REVIEWING THE CURRENT SITUATION IN GHANA’
A PUBLIC ADDRESS BY NANA AKUFO-ADDO AT THE EBENEZER HALL, PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, OSU, Accra
26 MAY, 2009
INTRODUCTION
Good morning and thanks for coming to listen to me, and excuse me for being late.
Fellow Ghanaians, last December, as prescribed by the Constitution, we went to the polls to vote. An election in a democracy is about how a nation determines its priorities and who should lead it. The NPP and I campaigned on our record and our vision for the future. Through our manifesto, rallies, interviews and community interactions, we spelt out clearly how we would move our nation forward.
The choices before the nation were clear.
Ghanaians had a chance to vote for enhanced continuity with the NPP or to vote for the NDC, CPP, PNC, DFP and any of the other parties. The official verdict was that the NDC and its candidate, Prof. Mills, won --- by the slimmest margin in our history. In reacting on 3rd January to the official declaration of results by the Chairman of the Electoral Commission, I stated, after congratulating President-elect Mills, that the NPP and I were prepared to do whatever we could from our side to promote the unity and cohesion of our nation. That remains our pledge.
I believe that there is a season and a time for everything--- a time to campaign and a time to govern.
The time for campaigning is past. It is time for those who got the mandate to execute that mandate, in the interest of Ghanaians.
Apart from going round the country to thank Ghanaians for their votes in the last elections and to call for peace and unity in the nation and within the NPP, I have kept my silence. I believe that a new government deserves some space to put itself together and to take the first steps towards fulfilling its pledges to the electorate.
THE FIRST HUNDRED DAYS
President Mills himself seemed to signal that the honeymoon period was over when he marked and graded himself for his performance in his first hundred days. Ironically, the man who made modesty the hallmark of his campaign marked and gave himself an astonishing 80%!
The 100-day tradition has been a yardstick, in the modern era, for judging new American administrations and trying to predict how successful they would be. While this has not been part of our political culture, the President and his party have introduced it by making significant pledges to cover their first hundred days in office and then delivering---- nothing of substance. They promised to clear our streets of garbage, but they did not. They promised a lean government, but they did not deliver one.
They promised to tackle crime and reduce armed robbery, but they did not. Rather we have an increased sense of insecurity in many communities of our country and the budget for the Police Service has been cut. They promised to reduce the prices of fuel drastically, but the prices went up. Indeed, there is shortage of pre-mix fuel.
They promised to reduce taxes and tariffs to bring relief to Ghanaians. They have not. Candidate Mills said his aim was for at least 40% of his appointments to go to women, but he has not delivered on even half of this promise. While not finding the time to deliver on its promises, the NDC has found time for mischief- a lot of mischief.
ATTACKS ON NPP MEMBERS
Fellow Ghanaians, Instead of uniting us and fostering peace, the last four months have been spent intimidating innocent citizens and political opponents. We have seen physical attacks on NPP members in several parts of the country, including Agbobloshie, Kumasi, and Tamale.
In the Tamale incidents of February 17th, violence erupted after discussions on Radio Justice following the seizure of my vehicle by agents of National Security. According to the report of the NPP Committee sent to investigate, which was confirmed by the press, there were arson attacks in Nyihini, Lameshegu, Worizehi, Choggu and Gumbihini. All the 27 properties that were attacked belonged to NPP members. Not a single one belonged to an NDC member. In the most outrageous case, Madame Sadia Seidu, a thirty-five year-old Nursing Officer and wife of Mr. Bawa Baako Alhassan, was brutally assaulted after a mob burnt and razed down the family’s 18-room house. She was chased by a mob of about a hundred, firing gun shots behind her. She ran 400 yards down the street to the house of an NDC member, where the gang attacked her and inflicted multiple cutlass wounds on her. When she recognised one of the assailants, a brother of one of her best friends and a teacher and asked “Teacher, why are you doing this?” he replied “I am going to kill you.” She had to be airlifted to the 37 Military Hospital for treatment where she underwent surgery and weeks of treatment. No one has been arrested and charged for the attempted murder of Sadia, even though she identified those who led the mob attack. No attempt has been made by the state to assist the innocent victims, numbering about 800, who had their homes and belongings destroyed.
Those affected by the violence are first and foremost, Ghanaians, whatever their political colours. The law enforcement agencies should investigate and bring to book the authors of these acts of violence. I express my profound sympathies to all those affected by the violence. The apparent revival of the idea of the “democratisation of violence” in our politics is unwelcome and unacceptable. It is against this background that I am extremely concerned about the creeping threats to the peace process in Dagbon, which appear to be with the active connivance of the state machinery. Under the agreed roadmap to peace in Dagbon, as fashioned by the three eminent chiefs, the Asantehene, the Na Yiri and the Yagbon Wura, none of the factions was supposed to have access to the old Gbewaa Palace for any reason. Indeed, on two occasions, in 2004, before the roadmap was drawn up, and in 2007, after it was drawn up, the NPP government used security personnel to stop the Abudu faction, when they attempted to enter the old Gbewaa Palace to perform certain rituals.
Unfortunately, two weeks ago, the Andanis were assisted by state security personnel to enter the Palace and perform certain rites and renovations. As a result, tension in Yendi and Dagbon is, predictably, rising again. The President, the father of the nation, should show the same even-handedness in the enforcement of the roadmap that his predecessor, President Kufuor, showed, even at the risk of jeopardising his party’s traditional support base in Dagbon. That is the hallmark of statesmanship.
The NPP’s leadership has worked very hard to restrain our supporters from reacting to these acts of intimidation and provocation. I am very concerned that sooner or later, militants on our side convinced that the state cannot or will not protect them, may take measures to protect their interests, themselves and their loved ones. Events will then be out of control, driving all of us towards a point of no return.
All of us, the President, the ruling party, the parties in opposition and civil society must, together, act to make our country peaceful and safe, and thus preserve our democracy for posterity.
THE RISING COST OF LIVING
Fellow Ghanaians, instead of lightening the hardships that have been imposed on the Ghanaian people by an allegedly insensitive and uncaring NPP government, as Candidate Mills promised during the campaign, we have seen in this brief five-month period of NDC rule, even greater hardships being visited on our people. Over the last five months, the cedi has lost a significant portion of its value and government appears to be helpless in doing anything about it. Over the last five months, the prices of basic items have risen dramatically, undermining the living standards of the broad masses of our people.
Here are some examples of what I am saying:
ITEM PRICE IN JANUARY PRICE IN MAY UNIT OF MEASURE
Gari GH¢1 GH¢
1.60 Olonka
Maize GH¢1.70
GH¢2.50 Olonka
Yam GH¢1.50 Gh Cedi GH¢3.00 Tuber
Rice GH¢63.00 GH¢75.00 50-kilo bag
Plantain 45 pesewas GH¢1.00 5 fingers
Vegetable oil GH¢2.50 GH¢3.50 1 liter
Tomatoes 50 pesewas GH¢1.00 Four small fruits
This is the practical effect of a growing inflation and growing loss of confidence in our economy.
Tuition-fee increases of nearly 14% have been announced for our Universities for the next school year while loans have not been released when the semester has ended.
The effect of this is that instead of putting money in your pockets, food has been taken off your tables and money out of your pockets.
Fellow Ghanaians, we have seen this before, what the French call ‘déjà vu’. In the late nineties, when President Mills as Vice-President and Dr. Dufuor as Governor of the Bank of Ghana were in charge of our economy, we had similar problems. Then, just like now, there were high inflation and interest rates, and our currency kept losing value. Then just like now, business people were happier investing their money in 90-day Treasury Bills than in expanding their businesses and creating jobs.
The NDC in 2008 promised us a better Ghana. This should mean, among other things, better jobs, better pay, better personal security, better sanitation, better homes, better schools, better hospitals, better roads, better prices of goods and services.
It is not a BETTER GHANA when instead of lean government; we have lean kenkey at a higher price.
These are the issues which the NDC government and its activists should be tackling instead of seeking to divert attention with threats, intimidation, assaults, car-snatching, seizures of lorry parks and toilet grabbing. The President and his inner circle seem to be concentrating their energies on vilifying former President Kufuor and some of his former officials. The deliberate and determined efforts to embarrass this highly respected President can only cast us in a bad light amongst the international community. These side issues should not be allowed to take our focus away from important issues affecting the lives of Ghanaians. The President should be addressing the concerns of newly qualified teachers, doctors and nurses, but he is not. The President should be addressing the problems of unreliable water and electricity supply in our communities, but he is not. Today, load shedding and blackouts are back with us. The President should be working to secure the healthcare legacy of the Kufuor administration in the form of the National Health Insurance Scheme by improving the delivery of services in our hospitals, but he is not. Increasingly, NHIS patients are having to buy even standard drugs. The salary difficulties with doctors are systematically eroding the viability of the NHIS. The failure to clarify or to lay down a programme for implementing the “one-premium pledge” is leaving the public confused and undermining confidence in the Scheme. The President should be focused on the salary issues confronting workers, but he is not. Nothing should matter more to a President and his government than the concerns and living conditions of each and every one of you - from the man who has watched his savings dwindle to nothing because of inflation, to the woman who worries about whether she’ll be able to get the medical help she needs because of the uncertainty surrounding the NHIS, to the taxi driver who has to work 18 hour days and hasn’t received the help he was promised on fuel prices. While the business of the nation awaits the serious attention of government, all that we hear are excuses upon excuses, the most common of them being that the problems of the nation are all the fault of the NPP. Fellow Ghanaians, excuses can never be a substitute for vision and purposeful action and can never lead to the BETTER GHANA WE WERE PROMISED. LEGACY OF NPP The NDC claims almost on a daily basis that this or that problem was left by the NPP administration. I say to President Mills today: if you say that the system is broke, fix it! Every government inherits assets and liabilities. In 2001, the departing NDC administration left a few assets and lots of liabilities. Amongst the liabilities were high inflation and interest rates, historic levels of debt and very low external reserves. Instead of complaining, our government went to work to build our country, with its bold decision to join the HIPC initiative for which our nation has reaped much benefit. Naturally, every government leaves some unfinished business. And our government too, did leave some unfinished business, just as the current NDC government will leave some unfinished business when it leaves in 2012. But we left assets—lots of them. We left a nation with the best economic growth and the best economic performance in our half-a-century of independence. We quadrupled the GDP from US$3.9 billion in 2001 to US$17 billion in 2008. Indeed, despite the global financial crisis, Ghana posted a record growth rate of 7.3% last year. As a result, our government was able to introduce policies helpful to the poor, including the NHIS, the Capitation Grant, School Feeding Program, the National Youth Employment Program, the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty programme, and the 50% subsidy for fertilizers. On the back of these programs, we were the only nation in sub-Saharan Africa that was poised to meet the Millennium Development Goal of halving poverty ahead of the 2015 target. We also built and rapidly expanded the nation’s infrastructure, involving roads, major water systems, wells and toilets—at a pace unknown since the Nkrumah era. We expanded the frontiers of our freedoms and today every Ghanaian can attest that the fear of government characterised by the “culture of silence” and other such instances and episodes were unknown during the NPP era. One of the highlights of my career was when as Attorney General I had the honour of leading Parliament, under the direction of President Kufuor, to repeal the Criminal Libel Law, which has made Ghana’s media one of the freest and most vibrant in the world. Assaults on and discrimination against media practitioners, which we are beginning to hear of again, are taking as backwards, not forward. Robust public discourse is the very stuff of democracy, and all democrats of our nation, regardless of party affiliation, should unite and ensure that the free expression of views is scrupulously preserved in our country.
Our energies should be focused on harnessing all our talents, so that we can improve the lives and liberties of Ghanaians and move our nation. The real challenges of our people are poverty, unemployment, crime, and the burden of ignorance, squalor and disease. These are the real challenges facing our people that require our collective and co-ordinate efforts to overcome. If President Mills and the NDC government take meaningful steps to confront these challenges, they can count on our principled support. Our party stands ready, as pledged in my statement of 3rd January, to work with the President to move our nation forward.
To this end, our nation is in need of bold and visionary leadership. Today, let me share with you some ideas on how we can address some of the challenges facing us because I am convinced that we can reach our goal of becoming a middle income nation by 2015 with effective leadership and proper management of the national economy, including the incoming oil revenues.
THE CEDI
It is imperative that the government acts to restore confidence in the management of the economy. To this end, I urge the government to act with dispatch to address the free-fall of the cedi by working with private business here and in the Ghanaian Diaspora, the Central Bank and private banks, while making responsible utterances on our economy, at home and abroad. The relative stability of the cedi has been very crucial in the creation of jobs, stimulation of commerce and the strong performance of our economy over the last decade. The restoration of a stable cedi will go a long way to restoring the confidence of the business community which is absolutely essential for getting the investment that will bring systematic growth and the rapid expansion of our economy. This is the surest way to prosperity for the broad masses of our people.
THE LABOUR FRONT
Government should act with dispatch to bring stability to the labour front by completing and implementing a new salary regime for public sector workers. As part of this comprehensive system of salaries and benefits, the Pension Act, introduced by the NPP government and passed by Parliament, must be implemented with the inclusion of farmers and fishermen to bring relief to those whose sweat and toil have moved our nation forward. In addition to this, government must look at the retirement and other benefits of those in the health and teaching professions, and help them acquire accommodation they can retire into.
THE DRUG MENACE
All well-meaning Ghanaians welcome the professed commitment of the NDC government to fighting the drug menace. It is necessary, however, to distinguish between talk and action. Talking about increased commitment to fighting the drug menace, while reducing the budget for drug enforcement will not do.
I urge that the government continue both the Global Container programme and the Westbridge project, both of which were introduced by the NPP administration. Operation Westbridge, which started in November 2006, has apparently led to a significant reduction in the use of drug couriers on flights from Ghana. Again, the recent haul at Tema of a large amount of cocaine is the direct result of the NPP’s government arrangement with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). The NDC should build on these initiative. That is why, during the campaign, we laid out measures to continue the fight on drugs, including turning the Narcotics Control Board into an agency, with a Drug Czar of cabinet status, more staff with better pay, training and resources. Currently, NACOB does not have control of our anti-drug policy-making or operational control of the law-enforcement agencies that it needs to wage an effective war on drugs. The coordination of the work of the state agencies, together with their counterparts in the West African region, is essential to the long-term success of this all-important fight.
ELECTION REFORMS
As the 2008 elections revealed, there are potentially dangerous developments in our country that, if ignored, can disturb our peace and our democracy. Acting together, with the Electoral Commission and the political parties, we must all work to make our electioneering processes more transparent and secure, so that all Ghanaians can have confidence in election results declared from all parts of our country. The widespread belief that some can make up their own rules in their local areas and implement them beyond the reach of the law, if unchecked, will inevitably spread to other areas of our country and affect our national cohesion. With our party as the leading force, we have steadily improved our electioneering processes. From transparent ballot boxes to photo identification, we have been the pioneers of a credible electoral system, moving our nation and its democracy forward. As we have done over the last decade, we shall continue to fight to advance the frontiers of our democracy. Even our acceptance of the results of the 2008 elections, despite its significant problems, was a demonstration of our commitment to the preservation of peace and democracy. We did not want to win at any cost. We should have a biometric register and other measures that will enhance the integrity of our electioneering process, from registration through voting to counting. If India, with 714 million voters and nearly 900 thousand polling stations, in a vast and mostly rural country, with a large illiterate population, can have an electronic voting system that works, so can we. Disputes over elections have been at the root of many wars and disturbances in Africa, which we do not want in Ghana. For us in the NPP, democratic governance and the peaceful transfer of power are not negotiable. We urge all political parties and Ghanaians committed to promoting peace and deepening our democracy to work with us in securing these ends. Ghanaian democrats, no matter their party affiliation, should stand shoulder to shoulder to defend and promote the aims of our democratic Republic. Our generation, like every generation, has in its time to rededicate itself to the values of liberty and freedom. The price of freedom, they say, is eternal vigilance.
THE RULE OF LAW
Again, there is the need to strengthen the rule of law. During the short term of the Mills administration, there has been a lot of loose talk about taking people to court for political malfeasance and corruption. Indeed, recently, the National Security Adviser, Brigadier Nunoo-Mensah, announced that prosecutions were imminent. I have been for accountability all my life and will never waver in that commitment. But I, am also equally for the rule-of-law and due process. My commitment to these bedrock principles is also not negotiable. I believe a person is presumed innocent until proven guilty by a court of competent jurisdiction. That is why I will insist on the right of every accused person to a fair trial before a properly-constituted court. When plans for prosecution are announced by the National Security Adviser, it appears that prosecutorial decisions are being made, not by legal professionals, but by political operatives with an axe to grind or scores to settle. The implications of such behaviour for our democracy and legal system are dangerous. I am happy that the new Attorney General, who is the sole source of authority for all prosecutions, has repudiated the position of the National Security Adviser. Let the President, who is a lawyer, condemn such talk and ensure that during his tenure, the frontiers of our freedom and of our respect for the rule of law will be expanded, not diminished.
NATIONAL UNITY
Our nation appears to be under unnecessary divisive strain. The ethnic passions that were deliberately heightened during our elections, coupled with the closeness of the results and the serious challenges facing our nation, demand that we make extra efforts to promote the unity of our nation.
Unfortunately, since coming to power, the NDC has chosen to emphasize what divides us rather than what unites us. There have been references to certain ethnic groups as if they were second-class citizens. For instance, Ashantis have been deliberately and falsely accused of having many children in order to swell their electoral numbers. There should be no place for tribalism in Ghana’s Republic, and we should all work towards that end.
I urge President Mills to focus on things that unite us and can move our nation forward, together, to build on our growing democracy, to expand the rule of law, to confront the challenges of the global crisis and to make this, indeed, a better country for all Ghanaians. All well-meaning Ghanaians should be ready to work with government on these important tasks.
ENGAGING THE WORLD
We must continue to engage the world in this era of the global village. We cannot isolate ourselves if we want a more modern and prosperous Ghana. With the departure of President Kufuor, ECOWAS and the AU still yearn for Ghana’s leadership and President Mills must provide it. With recent changes in the leadership of Nigeria and South Africa, Ghana’s President should partner the new leaders of Nigeria and South Africa to advance the interests of Africa. When they reach out, we must reach out to meet them. Within a few months, we have moved from the Kufuor era when we were regularly invited to G-8 Summits to not being invited to the G-20 Summit that laid out the blueprint for tackling the global financial crisis and designing a new global financial architecture. The unprecedented levels of debt-forgiveness and the regular presence of President Kufuor in the conclaves of the worlds’ leaders were no accidents.
They were the result of years of strategic planning and hard work and those who do not appreciate this are sadly mistaken. The historic levels of growth in our economy and our international stature, that we experienced over the last eight years, need to be maintained. And for this to happen, our President needs to be up, doing and travelling. There are places where surrogates will not do. AU Day yesterday, celebrated as it should be, reminded all of us of the need to continue engaging Africa and the world, and of our historic responsibility to lead the process for Africa’s integration and unity.
PRESIDENT OBAMA’S VISIT
Last week, the White House and the Castle announced that US President Barrack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama will pay a two day visit to Ghana 10th and 11th July, of this year. The world historic is a much abused word, but there can be little doubt that it aptly describes the position of the new U.S. First Couple. They are the first blacks, the first persons of African descent, to occupy the White House, and for them to choose Ghana as the first African country to visit is a singular honour for all of us Ghanaians. The entire Ghanaian nation is pleased that President Obama will become the third successive American President to visit Ghana, after visits by President Clinton with President Rawlings and President Bush with President Kufuor. According to the White House, the US President hopes by this visit to reinforce America’s strategic partnership with “one of its most trusted partners in sub-Saharan Africa” and to highlight the “critical role that sound governance and civil society play in promoting lasting development”. These visits have been an acknowledgement of the strides we have made in democracy and governance over the last decade. The NPP government took this partnership to new heights which culminated in the award of 547 million USD grant, the highest in our history, from the Millennium Challenge Account to Ghana. The Obama visit, without doubt, will offer us encouragement to continue, as we should, to advance and deepen our democracy.
MESSAGE TO NPP
The NPP’s historic mission has been twofold: the establishment of a free, democratic system of governance that will protect the liberties of our people, and the creation of a strong market economy that will deliver prosperity to the broad masses o f our people. This is still our mission. To our members, let me say that over the past five months, the leadership of our party has quietly started strategising on how we will come back in 2012. All of us in the leadership of our party are fully aware that unity in our ranks is vital to the prospects of victory in 2012. Even though our party has always welcomed competition for office as a bedrock principle, well-meaning Ghanaians and the overwhelming majority of our rank and file hope that this time around the competition will be conducted in a way that will facilitate reconciliation among competitors and their supporters, thereby reinforcing the unity of our party. Ghanaians want to see a strong united front amongst us so that we can offer them the vibrant, energetic and visionary leadership they are yearning for returning our party to government in 2012.
We have much to do. Let us be up and doing. Let us be about our nation’s business. Let us move forward, together.
Let us keep faith in one another and in God and He shall keep faith with us. Let us pray that the Lord will bless us and our enterprise, that our party will grow from strength to strength and move Ghana forward, from one triumph to another.
Therefore, I say, together with NPP members across the nation: NO SHAKING! WE SHALL BE BACK!
We shall be back!
Yen nko yanim!
Won ya wor hie! Mutei Gaba!
