President would consider credible evaluation before dismissing DCEs-Atta

Mr Kwame Atta, Volta Regional Secretary of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) last Tuesday said the President would consider credible evaluation of the work any District Chief Executive (DCE) and not on the whims of party members before deciding to dismiss him or her.

He said DCEs, as district political heads, represented the interest of everybody and were not supposed to seek the interest of party members alone.

Mr Attah was speaking to the Ghana News Agency (GNA) on alleged agitations by some members of the NPP for the removal of some DCEs in the region.

He denied that there had been any such moves, adding that there was no documented evidence in the party office of such developments.

On how the party had fared in the region so far, Mr Atta said outcome of measures to aimed at wooing people into the party held a lot of promise for the NPP.

He said about 50,000 people had already registered as members of the party in the region after the national launch of the new membership card in Kpando in October, this year.

Mr Attah said the impact of the NPP on the Volta Region, perceived to be the 'world bank' of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), was slow but steady.

He said the government had sufficiently demonstrated that it would develop the region just as it would do for other regions.

Mr Atta mentioned the Ho town roads, the Sokode-Bame and Sokode-Abutia road to link the Ho-Accra highway as well as major road works in the northern parts of the region as evidences of the goodwill of the government towards the region.

He, however, conceded that the popularity of the NDC in the region posed a big challenge to the NPP but said it was doing everything to erase the accolade that the region was "an opposition domain."

Asked if the up-beat stance of the NPP regarding its acceptability in the region was not based on pretensions of people, Mr Attah said opportunism was a fact of life, and that as the party in power, many people would want to associate themselves with NPP for some benefits.

He said every party had such people, "they are even in the Churches and our homes, in fact in every facet of life, you would find opportunists".

Mr Atta said though the recent NDC Congress had enhanced the country's democracy, the party would win power in 2004.

He denied that there was a policy of "job for the Boys", an organised measure to give party supporters employment.

Mr Attah also dismissed allegations that special consideration was being given to NPP sympathisers in the allocation of credit facilities under the various Poverty Alleviation Schemes, saying an NPP supporter who met the requirements and was given a loan would face sanctions if he defaulted just as any other beneficiary.