Nkrumaist Forum Support Mills

PRESS RELEASE FROM THE NKRUMAIST FORUM, ON THIS DAY, FRIDAY, DECEMBER 19, 2008.

Fellow citizens of Ghana,

We the undersigned members of the Coordinating Committee of the Nkrumaist Forum(TNF) and members of the TNF, on behalf of the TNF, wish to affirm the following policy statements on the forthcoming Run Off to the 2008 General Elections.

After due consultation we wish to communicate the following:

1. We wish to communicate our congratulations to the leadership and membership of all the parties, their presidential and parliamentary candidates, polling agents, and the worthy Ghanaian voters for a most exemplary showing at the December 7, 2008 Ghana General Elections.

2. We wish to congratulate the leaders and cadres of the Nkrumaist parties for keeping hope alive in the face of the daunting challenges they face by mobilizing and rallying the Ghanaian electorate to vote for them. Even though the showing was below expectations, it was the best that could be achieved under the present circumstances. We appreciate the efforts and resources they put into the elections. We however wish to reiterate our perennial call for unity of the Nkrumaist parties as the surest way of making the Nkrumaist agenda dominant and acceptable again. We believe the leadership of the Nkrumaist parties cannot ignore the writing on the wall any longer.

3. We wish to particularly congratulate Hon. Samia Yaba Nkrumah for showing such resolve and determination, and ultimately winning the Jomoro seat on the ticket of the CPP as the sole CPP in Parliament. We congratulate the two PNC MP-elects, Alhassan Azong and Bayirga Haruna, for making it a threesome in Parliament. We look forward to seeing them play an independent role in the forthcoming Parliament.They must never again subject us to the humiliating spectacle of sychophancy that the previous "Nkrumaist" candidates in Parliament had subjected us to.

4. We of the Nkrumaist Forum hold dear to the social democratic foundations and tenets enshrined by Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah and the now vindicated state-centered approach to governance.

5. We recognize that the Central Committees of the Convention Peoples Party and the People National Congress have declared their official positions of neutrality in the December 28th Run Off. We of the Nkrumaist Forum have however decided on giving our unequivocal support and endorsement to the NDC presidential candidate - Professor John Atta Mills based on these simple facts.

When it comes to making a choice between the scion of a foremost leader of the UP/PP tradition, now the presidential candidate of the NPP, and the product of the Kwame Nkrumah Ideological Institute, who is a campus socialist, a leading member of the International Socialist Forum, and a consciencious crusader in the practice of social democracy, there can be no ambiguity in the one all progressives MUST SUPPORT - PROF. JOHN ATTA MILLS.

When financial institutions, transnationals and other pillars of world capitalist countries are collapsing with expected grave consequences for us in Africa, one cannot be ambivalent about the rejection of some dodgy concepts of "indigenous capitalism" in a neo-colonial country like Ghana.

6. Our support comes with several affirmations including the following:

i. That this endorsement comes purely on the basis of the shared ideological and political goals of the Nkrumaist parties which are represented on the Nkrumaist forum.

ii. Regardless of all the mutli-faceted reasons why we have not yet been able to unite into one Nkrumaist party, we believe the time has come for change, and change we must have now! Change is good for the people of Ghana. It will salvage them from the ravages of the eight years of misrule by the unwholesome and money-grabbing NPP politicians.

iii. We must close our ranks and rally behind Professor Atta Mills with the sole aim of helping to bring down the NPP regime that has demonstrated its arrogance, ideological bankruptcy and fraudulence. The NPP has gone against every tenet of the principles of social democracy that have been our core raison d'etre. The government of the NPP has shown optimum contempt for the economic, political and social well being of the people of Ghana, and it is time to join forces and throw their yoke off. Voting for the NPP candidate will further entrench these vices in the body politic of Ghana.

iv. By throwing our support behind Professor Atta Mills at the upcoming election run-off, we are by no means ceding our integrity or sovereignty to the NDC.

We are simply joining the forces of change that are sweeping across Ghana and the world in general. In these times of dire economic crisis when the "private enterprise, property owning democracy," policies of the NPP have been shown to be bankrupt even in the citadels of capitalism, it is time to distance ourselves from such injurious political and economic practices that have held our people to ransom.

v. With the NDC in power, we of the Nkrumaist Forum shall join forces with others to maintain a keen interest and vigilance on the activities of the NDC government under the much respected and astute leadership of Professor John Atta Mills and his cabinet. We do not subscribe to the simplistic and scare-mongering tactics that voting for Mills will amount to voting in Rawlings through the back door. We would among other things, expect transparency, accountability, consciencism, the rule of law and absolute disgust for corruption and other acts that constitute economic sabotage.

vi We will also expect a Mills administration to work tirelessly and assiduously to unite the entire country and make science and technology the main cornerstone for national development.

vii. We urge all voters who voted for the Nkrumaist parties, independent voters and undecided voters who voted for the NPP and those who failed to vote on 7th December, to use this opportunity to turn up in large numbers to vote for change. Our people deserve better and they are better served by a change in government. We beleive that the NDC has surely learned some tough lessons while in opposition. A Mills presidency will be a far better option than an NPP under Akuffo-Addo. Let's give Mills all our support.

FORWARD EVER, BACKWARD NEVER.

We remain the Undersigned, on behalf of:

The Executive and Coordinating Committee, The Nkrumaist Forum:

Ama Adumea Ohene Secretary, The Nkrumaist Forum.

Explo Nani-Kofi,

Andy Kwawukume,

Michael Gyamerah,

Selassie Mawuenyega,

Alex J. Asare,

John Jara Nutakor,

Wendy Addae,

Clement Ameho,

George Kweifio-Okai,

Evans Afenya, Forum Moderator and Owner.