NDC-USA Replies NPP-USA

The NPP-USA’s attack on President Mills which it caused to be published on Ghanaweb and in other media outlets on February 27, 2012, is a classic case of election year desperation and silly pranks on the part of NPP-USA, which is U.S.A-based and should know better. The calumnious statement, which attempted to taint the outstanding moral character of President Mills, was simply an exercise in rumor-mongering, vacuous noise-making and mind-numbing sophistry.

Ghanaian voters have had the opportunity to appraise the characters and moral standing of President Mills and Nana Akuffo Addo over the years, and needless to say they know who to give thumbs up, when straight forward morality is the issue. Without going into tabloid details, no amount of concocted and exaggerated innuendos can convince the Ghanaian voter that, Nana Akuffo Addo has a better character than President Mills. For example in the early days of December 2008, Nana Akuffo Addo after being prepared for a Television Broadcast at Ghana Broadcasting studios by a make-up artist chose to tickle the artist as a sign of his gratitude. Being a US based organization, the NPP USA can tell us what would have happened to any political candidate in the US, if there existed an audio-visual recording of them being even remotely associated with such an outrageous prank. Somehow the whole issued has been answered with excuses like, “the candidate was trying to be friendly”, “the candidate was falling and tried to grasp the make-up artist for support” or simple outrage and threats of force by mobs. The audiovisual recording which continues to rack up high ratings on ww.youtube.com raises troubling issues for the NPP flag bearer, which include gender bias, inappropriate behavior or disorderly conduct, bad judgment and behavior simply inconsistent with the cultural norms of Ghana.

Why NPP-USA wants to wage a political war based on the moral fortitude of their flag bearer is unfathomable. As an American based organization the NPP-USA also knows this truth, that there is no use arguing with evidence clearly captured on an audio-visual recording.

On the Woyome saga, suddenly NPP-USA thinks it can throw dust into peoples’ eyes as to which political party is really the creator of the scandal. The brief facts are as follows. Waterville / Woyome were not awarded the stadia rehabilitation contracts during the term of office of President Mills. The “Woyome contracts” were awarded under the NPP administration under former President J. A. Kufuor.

The EOCO report indicated that Mr. Yaw Osafo-Maafo, the NPP Minister of Education and Sports then authored a Cabinet Memo dated 27th July, 2005, which informed “Cabinet of the illegality of the intended action to abrogate the tender process for the CAN 2008 stadia works” involving Waterville and Woyome. He noted then that it violated the Procurement Act of Ghana. “However, he was the same person, who knowing that it was illegal to terminate the process at the stage it had reached, went ahead and wrote terminating it. It is yet to be fully established however, whether it was Kufuor Cabinet, which in spite of being warned about the illegality of the act or abrogating the tender process, ordered the abrogation,” the report noted. The Report questioned why payments were made out of the consolidated fund for contracts which had been signed with foreign entities, adding that “the investigations are yet to determine whether or not the contracts were subjected to Parliamentary approval.” The Report added that Mr. O. B. Amoah was the Deputy Minister of Education under Mr. Yaw Osafo-Maafo who gave the green light for Waterville to start work. At the time parliament had not approved the contract. This is really prima facie evidence of the NPP Ministers’ criminal negligence in causing financial loss to the sovereign state of Ghana.

Now we all know that, Woyome gave former deputy minister, Mr. O. B. Amoah in the Kufuor-NPP government, GHC 290,000.00 (almost $180,000.00) for his campaign to be MP in 2008. Woyome also gave Mr. O. B. Amoah money for his 2011 NPP primary election. Woyome bankrolled former minister for education and sports in the NPP government, Mr. Osafo-Maafo, during his 2008 presidential aspirations against Nana Akuffo Addo. Woyome gave the current NPP General Secretary, a brand new $60,000.00 SUV as traditional cola/kickback. According to NPP themselves, Woyome contributed a whooping five hundred thousand dollars ($500,000) to the NPP presidential campaign in 2008. He gave the money to chief of staff of former President Kufuor, Kwadjo Mpianim. With all these bribery and kickbacks revelations, the NPP continues to shamelessly make political noises on the Woyome case. With these blatant acts of criminal negligence in the award of government contracts and kickbacks by the NPP during their term of office, what is it that the NPP and NPP-USA do not get in the Woyome scandal? President Mills, a renowned Professor of Law has assured the nation that he is going to allow due process of law to take its course to get to the bottom of the case. President Mills has also assured the nation that his government would investigate the disappearance of the seventy-seven (77) parcels of cocaine on board the M/V Benjamin during the NPP time in office. The cocaine was estimated to have a market value of more than two hundred and fifty million dollars ($250 million) at the time. Notwithstanding all the intelligence reports given to the then NPP government by western drug enforcement agencies, including the Drug Enforcement Agency of the United States of America about the transport of the cocaine shipment into the territorial waters of Ghana, the NPP government conveniently allowed the cocaine to vanish. With one of the main accused dealers of that shipment behind bars and singing like a canary as to who and who were involved, some officials of the NPP are again in political panic mode as President Mills has vowed to get to the bottom of that cocaine shipment regardless of who is involved and whose ox is gored! Thank you, President Mills for your exemplary respect and application for the rule of law in the pursuit of the “Better Ghana Agenda” so that Ghana becomes a better law and order society with great economic prosperity.

The management of Ghana‘s economy under President Mills has been legendary. GDP growth hit a high of fourteen percent (14%). The budget deficit is now two percent (2%) compared to fourteen point five percent (14.5%) under the government of former President Kufuor’s NPP government. Inflation is in single digits. We have a sustainable debt to GDP ratio, and a phenomenal increase in foreign direct investments of seven billion dollars ($7 billion) in 2011. Cocoa production has hit more than one million tons and the government of President Mills is paying cocoa farmers $2,850.00 per ton for their cocoa production which is the highest in living memory and creating substantial purchasing power to boost the economy and prosperity of a majority of Ghanaians especially in the rural parts of the country.

We want the NPP-USA and the whole NPP party to appreciate that God is rewarding the genuine hard work, good political, economic and moral governance of the government of President Mills. In addition to the seven billion dollars ($7 billion) in foreign direct investments realized in 2011, His Excellency President Mills has been invited on an official visit by His Excellency President Obama of the United States of America. Our sources indicate that, because of the good political, economic and high moral standards of the Mills’ administration, the US government has recommended that Ghana be rewarded with more than one billion dollars in economic assistance for development projects through facilities to be made available by the Export-Import Bank of the United States and the Millennium Challenge Corporation of the United States America. President Atta Mills will be the guest of President Obama at the White House on March 08, 2012. Both Presidents will hold bilateral talks on Ghana/USA relations. His Excellency President Atta Mills will also interact with, Senators, Congressmen/women, leaders of all United States economic sectors and industry, as well as members of the Ghanaian community in the Washington DC Metropolitan area. His Excellency President Atta Mills will be accompanied by, First Lady, Dr. Mrs. Ernestina Naadu Mills, some Ministers of State, and a high powered business delegation. President Atta Mills is scheduled to return to Accra on March 13, 2012.

Long Live the Government of President Mills, long live the NDC, long live Ghana. Authored by NDC USA Media Response Committee

Signed Osborne K Sam Secretary, NDC USA