Towards 2004 elections: NPP fires more artillery

WITH BARELY a year for the government to account for its stewardship to the electorate, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) is still drawing flak and post-mortem analysis over its eight years’ rule.

The NDC came under renewed criticisms of its reign at the mammoth rally held on Sunday at the Victoria Park to climax the three-day national delegates conference of the New Patriotic Party (NPP). The rally marked the formal launch of the NPP’s campaign for next year’s elections.


Speaker after speaker including ministers of state urged the electorate not to give the political baton to any deceiver with sweet talks.


The first to fire the salvo at the rally was the Member of Parliament for Bawku Central, Ms. Hawa Yakubu (a.k.a. Iron Lady).


According to her, the NDC was suffering from “delay shock”, which she explained only as a form of sickness. She said the NDC reign had virtually done nothing to the people.


“I would have thought that the NDC would resolve to give the NPP an unopposed term to govern the country, following the government’s great performance in terms of development.”

The Iron Lady, after congratulating President Kufuor for being given a second term as ECOWAS chairman, predicted a win of nine seats in the Upper East Region by the NPP and urged the electorate to rally behind the president because of his nobility, transparency, honesty and integrity.


The next to join the fray to castigate the NDC was the Central Regional Minister, Mr. Isaac Edumadze. The minister, in his ten-minute campaign message to the thousands of party supporters at the rally, sought to explain certain remarks attributed to him about Professor John Atta Mills, the presidential candidate of the NDC.


“I was quoted to have said that Prof. Mills was a chamber pot. I did not say that but what I said was that the NDC and Prof. Mills were like a chamber pot that was already disgraced before it was brought from outside.”


He said it was a shame that the flag-bearer of the NDC who was a Vice President for four years could not solve the water problem in the regional capital or do anything significant for the people in the Central Region where he hails from.


“When the Aburi Girls School bus had an accident and a girl lost her life, Prof. Mills came and sympathized with the family and promised that the road that caused the accident would be reconstructed but nothing was done until the NPP came into power” and he asked: ”How can such a person who deceived you come over and ask you to vote for him?”

Mr. Edumadze predicted that all the 17 seats in the region would be snatched by the NPP. “I am saying this because if a blind man says, he would stone you, then you must know that his foot is on a stone.”


On his part, the Minister of Private Sector Development, Mr. Kwamena Bartels, now self-ordained Prophet of the NPP, told the large crowd that the prophecies of the ex-President at the last pre-election rally of the NDC at the Mamprobi INDAFA Park in Accra that if they were not careful and NPP won power, the keys to the Castle would be difficult for them to retrieve, was now manifesting. “Until God creates a new world, NDC would not see power,” he declared and predicted a win of 160 seats by the NPP, 32 by the NDC while the remaining eight seats would go to the other parties.


Mr. Bartels rubbished the action of the NDC in “betraying the nation to the international community” by going to Nigeria to tell lies about the government.