NPP has been perpetuating lies since 2000 elections and they are still doing it. They take us for a fool. The thing is simple, NPP stop the nonsense…..MOKO AYA NI MOKO ABA…that is all….The purpose of representative government is hackneyed as providing practical solutions to the problem of government, and also as the most valid way for the realization of society’s interests on the basis of political mandate delivered unto a chosen few. It must however be emphasized that the “ultimate supremacy of the electorate as the true political sovereign of the state” is fundamental to any civilized democracy, and thus power having been delivered to the elected few, the warehouse of these powers can hardly be said to be the originator of such powers as they merely exercise the powers in trust for and on behalf of the people.
I am appealing to the good people of Ghana to reject the NPP government partly because its activities and practices barely support the basis for which authority was entrusted to it, and also because its claim as an outlet of the rule of law and democratic principles is merely a frontage intended to disguise conspicuous realities incoherent with the principles they so deceitfully advocate. Although the factors are colossal I shall, for reasons of space confine me to few conditions that should militate against the party’s call for a renewed mandate.
The size of government One of the most endearing political messages that catapulted the NPP to victory was its pledge to run a government size of less than 40 ministers as opposed to the then NDC’s government of 78 ministers. So compulsive and attractive was the pledge that it was viewed as the panacea to executive sumptuousness and brazenness which in the eyes of the electorate had become a dominant characteristic of the NDC government. The NPP contended it was a sheer spendthrift waste of resources to run a government with so large a number when the affairs of government could effectively and efficiently be managed with a comparatively smaller number. Today it is crystal clear that the NPP took the electorates for granted.
The electorate, in fact relying on the faith of this attractive pledge (together with other pledges though) voted into power, the NPP. Sometime after being in office, President Kufour in a concessionary tone apologized to Ghanaians, claiming his attacks on the NDC government were made in error and therefore superfluous, and that the size of government of the NDC which he had criticized was even too smaller a number to enable him effectively pursue his mandate. WHAT A JOKE!!! We may perhaps congratulate the President for having rendered this purportedly earnest apology. However, the absence of honest belief in the President’s pledge to the electorate renders the substance of the apology nothing more than a political gimmick intended to bury underground the critical issues therein involved. It may be asked; did the President honestly believe he could run his government with the number he so pledged? The answer is a rumbling no. Why; because the benefit of history extremely and illuminatingly disproves the President’s pretensions.
The rationale behind the criticisms and its consequent appearance of alternative policy is a firm pillar of any democracy of which any such criticism is deemed to be motivated. It also provides alternative reasoning which should justify confidence in the policy which is advanced as an alternative to the policy which is the object of the criticism. It may be presumed therefore that the NPP considered, or ought to have considered this underlying principle of alternative policy before presenting its pledge of running a government of such a minimal size they again took the electorates for granted. It seems that these dazzling conditions could hardly support such a conclusion so as to validate the impropriety of rendering an apology for failure to fulfill a pledge which the President did not honestly believe in its truth. But then an even more serious determination of the President’s pledge falls into clearer view if considered from a more encompassing perspective. If we could hold brief for the President on his inability to fulfill his pledge of less than 40 ministers, we could hardly do same for him on his inability to establish a convention of the constitution. In other words, if prevailing circumstances conflated to render the fulfillment of the President’s pledge patently unworkable, what prevented him from maintaining and conforming to the status quo of 78 ministers of the previous political administration and thereby establishing a unique convention of the constitution which though would not have been subject to any legally enforceable rules, would still have been binding as a conventional rule on subsequent governments?
However, the President ceded this opportunity and yielded to the frailties of personal desires and capacities of political affinity by building a large array of over 110 ministers and their concomitant legion of special assistants. However this can hardly be justifiable an assertion as the large government size has only compounded and intensified the rate of sumptuousness and licentiousness that the NPP pledged to eliminate. Why then should I return to power a political entity which professes sanctimoniously to be the forerunner of constitutional principles and rule of law, but reneges when an opportunity is so provided for it to accord affirmative meaning to the principles and ideals inhered in the concepts? A firm adherent of democratic principles and rule of law – A delusion now, it may be asked again; to what ideals or tenets does the NPP lay claim to be a spreader of rule of law and democratic principles? Can any political entity in an era of constitutional rule lay solitary claim to being the forerunner to the advancement of constitutional and democratic principles? What are the democratic and constitutional institutions required to function effectively to sustain the progressive advancement of rule of law?
The NPP government prides itself as being committed to the rule of law, yet the institutions for the realization of the concept under its administration are struggling to grip traction on the system. The judiciary is wobbling under the creak of corruption and financial starvation, the NCCE is embroiled in similar conditions, the CHRAJ is struggling to assert its authority and influence, example is Richard Anane case, the NPP said categorically the CHRAJ have no power to charge Richard Anane WOW!!! The Ghana Police Service is riddled with imperceptive corruption and lack of responsibility, Parliament is starved of basic facilities to enable it effectively realize its mandate because of NPP majority in parliament, etc. Yet, in the face of all these the executive authority sustains itself with grandiose purchases and wealthy lifestyle, inventing notions that entry into the executive domain provides the most competitive avenue for making immediate financial gains.
Where then lays the rule of law when institutions for maintaining the balance of power are rendered almost unproductive and retrogressive in their efforts to sustain the progressive application of the concept? Is the social foundation not suffering progressive wreckage, and are social values not being submerged and supplanted by a restless desire for power and dominance? Where are the pressure groups to delimit executive tendencies? Is the TUC is really a pressure group under the NPP government? What about NUGS, GNAT and all others? Is the NPP government not conscripting pressure groups into its fold in a bid to weaken criticism and dissent? Has it not waded into the arena of the media by ensnaring many journalists with its enthralling devices? The NPP categorically is bribing journalist to write concocted stories to project them to the public as the best party, guess what? The people know about their tricks.
NPP always boast of the rule of law, what a camouflage? Perhaps the NPP’s claim to the rule of law lays rooted in the institution of its populist concept – the People’s Assembly – the NDC outreach programs commenced first. which besides being bereft of any substantive quality, has merely served as a platform for sounding political appellations and rendering adulations to the President, and which short of any, has only been an superfluous waste and a stubborn charge on public funds. Policy examination When executive authority is delivered to any person or group of persons it is so delivered in the belief that the said authority holds such power to deliver effectively to the people the realization of their fundamental interests; being housing, food, water, health, provision of basic social services and an avenue of equal opportunities for all citizens to pursue their goals.
Now when a call is made to the NPP government to account for its stewardship, it fervently recounts as follows: a “strong and resilient economy,” School Feeding Programme, Free Bus Ride for pupils, National Health Insurance Scheme, Capitation Grant, LEAP, NYEP etc. But in all reality, could anyone really believe in his heart of hearts that the realization of society’s goals be predicated on such populist policies? PLEASE NPP GIVE ME A BREAK….Should we even consider for the sake of analysis that these were wholly good programmes, any such consideration whittles away when cognizance is taken of the conspicuous failure of these supposed achievements to ease or combat the widening abyss of social inequalities so evident in society? Of what value is a “strong and resilient economy” that confers deprivation and misery on many and enriches a few? MORE PEOPLE ARE GETTING POORER AND HUNGRY…Where are the social and economic liberties of the individual who is overburdened with a wide superfluity of taxes but enjoys no benefit from the progressive taxation thrust daily on him? NPP HIGH TAXES AND ON EVERYTHING …What can be said of the steady erosion of the social and economic liberties of the individual who pays higher tariffs on utilities but who enjoys a minimal fraction of these utilities or none at all? Now should we accept again for the sake of analysis that the policies were good, thereby warranting a call to the electorate to return the NPP to power, the operation of rising cost of rent, high cost of food and basic necessities, rising cost of living, steadily decline in educational standards, etc. shall operate to nullify any benefits derivable from these policies.
Do these conditions not support the now apparent conclusion that the NPP is clearly incompetent to rule, and that a relegation to their former status of an opposition party may provide them with a luminous opportunity to assess themselves, particularly their weaknesses and failures that militated against their efforts towards realizing the hopes and aspirations of the people? The picture could not have been much clearer. To the electorate however, the time is now. A VOTE AGAINST THE NPP is a vote not only for yourself, nor is it only an contention of certain conditions considered alienable to you which the government failed to convey, but it is most importantly an affirmation of the principle that a WISE VOTE is in itself a progressive determination of the creed of rule of law and democratic principles which the NPP so dishonestly advocate.
With a person like Akufo-Addo who has admitted that he cannot survive on public service salary, can you imagine what Nana Akufo-Addo would have done with his position, were head of IRS? He will loot the treasury as he is known to do.
Nana Akufo-Addo has made it profusely obvious that he will need more sources of income if ever he is mistakenly given the mandate to govern this dear country of ours. Oh my God this narcotic brother will chop all our money. He will use more of the money for “ASHAWO” and drug trafficking, SNIFING COCAINE and WEE. Reject this thief for a better Ghana.
In public service, Akuffo-Addo failed as Attorney General and failed as Foreign Minister. The man has a very short record in public service and he wants to be given the mandate to serve the public? JULOR KWAKWE!!! If Ghanaians make a mistake and allow Akufo-Addo to become president of Ghana, we will all die in this country within 90 days in office. For a person who has admitted that he cannot survive on public service salary can you imagine the extent to which Akufo-Addo and the NPP will go to get extra money to live like and Arabian King if we make a mistake and allow him to govern the country? Can you imagine the extent to which the drug racketeering will be made to boom so Akufo-Addo can make buku money? Indeed, with his admission that he cannot survive on public service salary, that we now believe that Nana Akufo-Addo “stole” diplomatic passports and gave them to his drug baron friends (OBRI) an illiterate fool to facilitate their business and make the cocaine money flow like a river? Akuffo-Addo is a jerk……rejects this crook for a better Ghana.
VOTE ATTA-MILLS AND NDC FOR A BETTER GHANA
Humphrey Tettey Mensah (BOOKER TEE)
Email: [email protected]