In recent times many a politician across the political divide in Ghana have expressed concern about the governing style of Prof. Mills, vis-à-vis the severe economic hardship, corruption, mismanagement and indiscipline among the youth and thus have in one way or the other, made ‘uncomplimentary’ remarks about Prof. Mills in particular and the NDC as a whole. The Rawlingses, the Garbrahs, the Teye Nyaunuhs, the Afo Agbos, the Bagbins, the NDC foot soldiers, the Ras Mubaraks and of late, the Sekous, the Ursulas, the Akufo-Addos, the Kufuors and the Rev. Asante-Antwis, just to mention but a few.
Taking the remarks made by the afore-mentioned personalities on the current NDC administration into perspective, there is no denying the fact that, His ‘Accidency’, Prof. John Fiifi Atta-Mills remains the saddest thing that had befallen mother Ghana as far as the ascension on the presidential throne by both civilians and military rulers are concern. I know a few myopic people in the NDC would disagree to this scientific proof due to their lack of knowledge and common sense, but let me hasten to throw a big challenge to them to be objective in passing a judgment on my assertion after reading this piece.
Ideally, I would have loved to put Flt. Lt. J.J. Rawlings in the same category of John Mills but I have decided leave him alone due to his low level of education as well as his poor socio-economic background which sometimes affects his actions and inactions.
Fellow compatriots, let us be honest to ourselves and find out if the following promises were made by Prof. Atta-Mills or not prior to and after the 2008 general elections:
• I will reduce the price of fuel drastically from GHS 5.2 to GHS 2.0
• I will heal wounds and unite the nation
• I will bring peace to Bawku within 100 days
• I will be a father of all Ghanaians irrespective of political affiliation
• I will make armed robbery a thing of the past
• I will not pursue politics of vendetta
• I will give 40% of ministerial appointments to women
• I will bridge the poverty gap between the north and south
• I will strengthen the pro-poor policies and interventions - School Feeding Programme (SFP), National Youth Employment Programme (NYEP), free maternal care, metro mass transit, mass cocoa spraying exercise
• I will make Ghanaians pay one-time premium for National Health Insurance Scheme
• I will make Nkrumah’s birthday a public holiday
• I will turn the Golden Jubilee House into a poultry farm
• I will abrogate the Ghana Telecom sale to Vodafone
• I will probe the Ghana @ 50 celebrations and prosecute those who have misappropriated any government funds
• I will probe Ya Na’s death and bring justice to the people of Dagbon
• I will probe Issah Mobilla’s death and prosecute the perpetrators
• I will reverse the duration of Senior High School from 4 to 3 years
• I will cut down waste and profligate spending
• I will prosecute my own ministers and any corrupt official without asking for any evidence
• I will generate funds internally instead of relying on Bretton Wood Institutions (IMF, World Bank)
• I will invest in people and indeed put money in their pockets
• I will provide free uniforms to ALL public basic schools
• I will modernise agriculture and supply free fertilizers to farmers
• I will build airports in Cape Coast and Tamale
• I will use my first 100 days in office to clear all cities of filth
• I swear, try me and see and I will never disappoint you
• I am a ‘Better man for a Better Ghana’
• Ghana would BURN like Kenya if I don’t win the elections
• I CARE for you because I was not born with a silver spoon in my mouth
• I will pay 15% of teachers’ basic salaries to those who opt to teach in the remotest parts of the country
• I will not be a globe-trotter like my predecessor
• I will build the capacity of local industries and professionals
• I will pursue a consensus driven agenda
• I will hit the ground running
• A vocational training institute would be established at every district to train the youth and also establish a cottage industry, based on the raw material, to create job avenues for the youth in the area
• The NDC will focus on four thematic areas – investing in people, job creation and strong economy, expanding infrastructure and transparent economy.
To show his commitment to executing the above-mentioned promises, that thing with human face and chief propagandist of the NDC, Fiifi Kwetey, in a press conference held in September 2008 remarked; “the deception and broken promises of the NPP are too numerous to deal with in one press conference... Prof. Mills exudes honesty, believability and genuineness. He is a clean politician who inspires trust and confidence in the electorate. He will not mount platform to deliberately lie to the people of Ghana. He will not do that because he is not desperate for power but for the opportunity to serve the people in truth and honesty. He will not do so because he respects the people of Ghana and knows that they are not as naive and credulous as others obviously think” (ghanaweb 01-10-08).
The electorate (only 44% NDC members and about 6.5% CPP members) were convinced and thus brought this diabolic party into power in 2009, though unwillingly. However, having witnessed the Mills-led NDC in office for nearly two years, it behoves on all of us as patriotic Ghanaians, to examine the extent to which those promises have been fulfilled in order to find out whether John Mills truly respects Ghanaians as claimed by Kwetey. This would go a long way in guiding us in our next judgement, come 2012.
• Fuel prices have been increased by 45% and now a gallon of petrol which was sold for GHS 3.1 in 2008 is being sold for GHS 5.4
• The unemployment rate has gone up by more than 50%. This is so because our university graduates and graduates from other tertiary institutions cannot access public sector employment. This has made the youth resort to cyber scam (Sakawa) and other shortcut ways of acquiring wealth
• A few women (only 11%) were given ministerial portfolios and not 40% as was promised
• All the pro-poor policies – NYEP, SFP, free maternal care, etc have collapsed due to mismanagement by incompetent administrators
• There has been heightened conflicts in Bawku, Agogbloshie, Gushiegu, Yendi and Tamale
• The paramount chief of Gushiegu – Naa Yakubu Andani has been assassinated
• Mills and Mahama have embarked on over 48 foreign trips since the assumption of office and these unnecessary trips have not yielded any positive results
• In January 2009, over 40 NDC sympathizers spent tax payer’s $12,000 on a trip to La Cote D’Ivoire to watch the local Black Stars in a football match
• The NDC under Mills has purchased an aircraft for his personal use
• The People’s Assembly concept instituted by President Kufuor, which gave opportunity to the citizenry to have regular yearly interaction with the President and his representatives has been abolished
• Corruption could be smelled everywhere in the country as Alhaji Muntaka continues to purchase baby diapers and ‘Kyinkyinka’ for his girlfriend
• There has not been any prosecution of NDC officials involved in the Mabel & Johnson bribery scandal which led to the resignation of two ministers
• The president has turned a deaf ear and a blind eye to the financial scandal at NVTI involving Alhaji Mumuni – a Foreign Minister
• There have been abuses of power by officials of NDC yet Mills is blindfolded to take action and Mahama Ayariga (Mills’ disgraced former spokesman) who stole 5 tractors belonging to Ghanaian farmers, is walking a free man
• The action of the car stealing syndicate involving Carl Wilson and his in-law Alex Segbefia, has caused huge financial loss to the state. Carl Wilson was allegedly making a monthly deposit of $30,000 into Segbefia’s bank accounts yet no action has been taken against them
• The interest rate is still high and this has made it difficult for petty traders to access soft loans
• Over 56 billion old Ghana cedis has been spent on the renovation of 7 government bungalows
• The Volta lake disaster has claimed several people under Mill’s watch
• There are high levels of poverty and economic hardship and insecurity in the country
• The has been astronomical increase in school fees in the senior high school
• There is high increase in the academic facility user fees in the universities
• The Mills-led NDC government terminated the appointments of 400 army recruits in 2009 and this has brought untold hardship to the families of the victims
• There continues to be fire outbreaks of public and private buildings including the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Rawlings’ residence, office of the Electoral Commission, the Kumasi Central and Agogbloshie Markets
• There have been frequent attacks on media personnel, NPP activists and Radio stations by NDC thugs including Kofi Adam – a general secretary of the NDC
• The appointments of ex-convicts like Dan Abodakpi, George Sipa-Yankey, Kwame Peprah into sensitive positions have given credence to Mills’ commitment to entrench corruption in Ghana
• In early part of 2009, the transition team of the NDC did not spare the tax payer at all as they squandered 1.3m Ghana cedis on tea drinking party
• There has been illegal distribution of government cars to NDC serial callers
• There has been seizure of vehicles belonging to political opponents
• There has been seizure of passports, public toilets and car parks by the BNI and NDC fool soldiers
• The harassment of political opponents including His Excellency, J.A. Kufuor and Dr. Bawumia is still fresh in our minds
• There has been increase in road accidents since 2009 claiming over 1000 lives
• There has been victimization of public office holders perceived to be NPP sympathizers such as co-ordinators of NHIS and NYEP
• There has been breakdown of rule of law as NDC fool soldiers continue lock up public offices with impunity
• The supply of fuel including pre-mix fuel and gas has not been encouraging as Ghanaians occasionally queue for this basic commodity
• Prof. Mills in his wisdom, after criticising heavily the Kufuor administration for granting $20,000 car loan to 200 MPs in 2001, has granted $50, 000 to MPs in 2009, with majority of them being NDC MPs
• There has been consistent increase in the budgetary allocation at the presidency at the expense of other important sectors like education and health
• The Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) has been shut down for the first time as result of mismanagement
• The Ghana International Airlines (GIA), the only government courier has been liquidated by the NDC administration due to corrupt practices
• Mother Ghana is gradually being turned into an Ewe state with over 80 Ewe appointees to most sensitive government positions
• There has been consistent reversal of the GDP growth rate from 7.3% in 2008 to 4.7% in 2009
• Prof. Mills’ has expressed his desire to turn Ghana into a prayer camp with T.B. Joshua – his spiritual leader to control the camp against other religious bodies
• Prof. Mills, the man who ‘cares’ for the poor insulted Ghanaians in Kumasi that they complain too much
• There has been plethora of committees and commissions (Ghana @ 50, Black Satellites) etc with fat sitting allowances and all these have caused huge financial losses to the state.
• Today, under Mills’ presidency, Ludwig Hlodze and Kwabena Adjei (NDC chairman and youth organizer respectively) ride in motorcades
• President Mills, who promised to build the capacity of local entrepreneurs, has entered a sham deal with STX Korea to build houses for their cronies
• Ghana, our beloved country, is the second filthiest country in Africa under Mills’ administration
• Ghanaians are witnessing the impunity and wasteful demonstration of opulence by NDC officials. The Benyiwa-Does, Cadnan Mills, Lordina Mahamas, Ofosu Ampofos are siphoning public money into private pockets as they build mansions upon mansions
• In March 2010, over GHS 4.8m (48 billion old Ghana cedis) was uselessly spent on Nkrumah birthday celebrations, a man who died several years ago
• Instead of putting the portraits of the ‘Big Six’ on the new GHS 2 to conform with the existing currency denominations, Mills decided to shamelessly use Nkrumah’s portrait instead, thus making a clear demonstration of polarizing the country
• Ghanaians continue to experience frequent power outages in the face of high electricity bills
• Useless statements such as; the economy is broke, we met a bleak economy, the NPP left nothing in the coffers, the previous administration left a distressed economy have become the slogan of the NDC nutters
• Several millions of the tax payers money have been spent on the renovation of the house of Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings’ mother
• The government continues to lose high profile cases
• Judicial independence is now under threat as the NDC led by its insane Cat Chairman has come out to unveil plans to cleanse the judiciary
Fellow patriotic people, this is the state of our once respected Ghana and as you can clearly see, our beloved country is in great danger. This requires urgent action; an action that will emancipate Ghanaians from this ‘Chimpanzian Slavery’. The price of greatness, according to Sir Winston Churchill, is responsibility. We all have a responsibility; a responsibility to sacrifice our pride, time, money and even our lives to show the NDC that the NPP is more serious than ever and ready to take them on in 2012 in order to save Ghana. Yes, it’s time to chase the Go-Slowers, the Konongo Kayas, the Mortuary men, the do-littles, the poodles, the Team Bs and their captains, the greedy bastards, the rapists, the nation wreckers, the kick-backers, the oil and cat thieves, the bootlickers, the illiterate ministers, the born dogs, the deity worshippers, the palm wine tappers cum truck pushers, the ugly faces, the ballot box snatchers, the cat killers and eaters, the arrogant nonentities and the entire sycophantic team out of their posts so that the ‘ecomini’ could be genuinely fixed by His Excellency, the President-in-waiting, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo in 2012.
This, I strongly believe, could be done through hard work. I therefore take this opportunity to appeal to leadership of the NPP to expedite the setting up of the ‘Patriotic Boys’ or the ‘Bamba Boys’ to ensure the protection of the ballot boxes and against any external aggression. Some of us are ever ready to contribute financially to their training to make sure that these boys are fully equipped for the herculean task ahead. Let us get our acts together now!
Kukrudu! Kukrudu!! Kukrudu!!!
God bless Ghana! God bless NPP!! God bless Kufuor!!!
By Katakyie Kwame Opoku Agyemang, Hull, UK
[email protected] 07944309859
“Vision, coupled with persistency, results in true success”