JJ & MAHAMA DARES NPP

…To prove allegations
By Charles Takyi-Boadu
Posted: The Chronicle. Wednesday, December 17, 2008
The office of former President Jerry John Rawlings has dared the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) and its assigns to provide adequate evidence to support claims that he is plotting to assassinate pastors who oppose the National Democratic Congress (NDC).
Spokesman for the former President, Kofi Adams who spoke to The Chronicle in reaction to an earlier press conference organised by the Youth Activist Forum (YAF), an off-shoot of the NPP described the allegations as “an amateurish part of an NPP design to create disaffection between the NDC that is going to form next government and the people of this country.”
He however said the NPP would not succeed with this vile and cheap propaganda because it lacked merit.
The NPP Youth Activist Forum had alleged among other things “we are reliably informed that a twelve man contingent of assassins has been smuggled into the country through the Elubo border from Sierra Leone to amongst other things execute this heinous plot put together by some key people in the NDC.”

The supposed hit list is said to include names such as Rev. Dr. Mensah Otabil of the Intentional Central Gospel Church, Cardinal Peter Appiah Turkson of the Catholic Church, Rt. Rev. Dr. Yaw Frimpong Manso, Moderator of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana and Apostle Dr. Micheal Ntumi, the immediate past Chairman of the church of Pentecost.

Adams indicated that the former President and the NDC have no time for any such thing but thinking of how to win power and solve the numerous challenges confronting the nation.
He therefore asked Ghanaians to treat the allegation with the contempt that it deserves since according to him, it does not contain an iota of truth.
According to him, this alone tells of the level of desperation in the NPP since he could not fathom why a government would sit in laxity for assassins to come into the country without any precautionary measures in place to detect their arrival.
He wondered why the NPP has decided to make such allegations at this point in time if not for the sake of vile propaganda to create disaffection for the NDC and win votes in the upcoming Presidential run-off.
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Earlier at the press conference, spokesman for the Youth Activist Forum, Kofi Boateng flanked by other members like Pius Enam Hadzide, Harry Afrim, Emmanuel Attafuah-Danso and Anold Boateng alleged that they had credible information which suggested that the supposed 12 assassins and former members of a rebel group now turned political party in Sierra Leone were being hosted by one Corporal Sharp and Captain Sowu at a hideout in Sogakope in the Volta region.
The group alleged among other things that the monies were being laundered into the country by the NDC at an alarming rate to fund their campaign.
“We are aware that under the cover of the recently held All African Students Union (AASU) awards, a Nigerian oil mafia descended in this country via a chartered flight and met the NDCs Running Mate at the La Palm hotel.”
At this meeting, it was alleged that Hon. John Mahama was given a huge amount to help the NDCs campaign efforts.
The NPP youth activists further alleged that Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez had also through illegal channels given the NDC a whopping $15million and in return the NDC had pledged Ghana’s oil find as a collateral, stressing “ two prominent members of the NDC left for Saudi Arabia incognito through Togo to bring in $2million.
Meanwhile, the NDC Running Mate has denied knowing and meeting any such person as a Nigerian oil mafia at the La Palm hotel let alone received an amount from him.
Whilst admitting that he had friends including Nigerian politicians some of whom have often lodged at the said hotel, he said he never received money from any of them to help fund the NDCs campaign.
He could not but laugh over the issue of the Venezuelan leader funding the NDC with a whopping $15million, stressing that, in its entire campaign process, the NDC has not spent over $4million.
Hon. Mahama thus described the allegations as a clear indication of desperation on the NPP to retain power and dared them to come out and substantiate the allegations with concrete evidence.

MILLS DRAWS BATTLE-LINE

…between him and Nana Addo
By Charles Takyi-Boadu
The Presidential Candidate of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), Professor John Evans Atta Mills has drawn the line between him and the Presidential Candidate of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP), Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.
For him, the second round of the Presidential elections is a contest between himself and Akufo-Addo and not a contest between the NDC and the NPP, stressing “the NDC and NPP contest is over. It is now about John Evans Atta Mills and Akufo-Addo and I want the people of Ghana to judge us by what we stand for.”
Prof. Mills believes there is a big difference between him and NPPs candidate, stressing “I am the leader of a party that has welfarism and people-centered approach to managing the affairs of state as its core values. Compare that to Akufo-Addo who is leading a party that believes in property-owning democracy and holds on to the maxim that the rich must get richer whiles the poor get poorer.”
He has thus asked the teeming Ghanaian populace to vote for a President they can trust.
Mills, who happens to be the former Vice President made the comparison during his campaign tour of the Western
Whilst appreciating the fact that the region is blessed with rich natural resources, he emphasised “with the oil find, you a need a President who will not enrich himself and his cronies with your resources whiles you the people who should benefit from the resources wallow in abject poverty.” In line with his pledge to present a bill to Parliament in the first 100 days upon assumption of office to review downwards tariffs and taxes, Professor Mills promised the NDC government will bring relief to Ghanaians.

On the issue of the high customs duty importers pay at the ports, Prof. Mills promised a government under his administration will reduce the cost.
“I am a tax expert and I know it for a fact that it is not about the quantum of revenue that is generated; it is about how efficiently the revenue is managed that is why I will not hesitate to bring relief to Ghanaians by reviewing downwards taxes and tariffs”, he emphasised.
Professor Mills has also pledged to make sure that private lotto operators stay in business.
He said it was during the time of President Rawlings that private lotto operators were licensed and promised to give them back their legal freedom to operate.
According to Professor Mills, the lame and desperate attempt by the NPP to create the impression that private lotto operators will be given back their license is nothing but an attempt to score cheap political points.
“Is it not the NPP that has destroyed the private lotto business? So if Akufo-Addo says that he is going to move in the same direction as President Kufuor, why should anybody take the NPP serious when it is now paying lip service to private lotto operators?”, he asked rhetorically and stressed “the NDC has done it before, and we will do it again by allowing private lotto operators to function within the ambit of the law.”

NDC, NPP Desperate for Power

By Charles Takyi-Boadu
Posted: The Chronicle. Tuesday, December 23, 2008.
Unfolding events after the December 7 elections which ended up in a deadlock between the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) has shown how both sides of the political divide have become desperate to win power in the upcoming Presidential run-off.
Over the last couple of days, the two political parties have employed both fair and foul tactics which can best be likened to sheer propaganda in their campaigns, contrary to an earlier promise of strictly focusing their campaign messages on issues and policies.
Whilst the ruling NPP is strenuously trying to consolidate the gains it made in the December 7 elections to retain power, the opposition NDC is also doing all it can to return to the reins of government after losing out in the 2000 elections which ushered the NPP to power.
Among the series of propaganda messages being employed by both parties include the NPP accusing the NDC and its founder, Jerry John Rawlings of having prepared a supposed 'hit list' to eliminate certain outspoken Pastors who are alleged not to be supporting the NDC.
On the other hand, the NDC is also circulating documents with huge sums of monies running into several billions of cedis, showing the account numbers and names of certain Ministers and members of the ruling NPP on a supposed Prudential Bank letterhead to create the impression that those monies had been siphoned from state coffers by those whose names were given.
Though these strategies are meant to win the votes and sympathies of Ghanaians, they appear to be causing much disaffection for both political parties.
However, a Political Science lecturer at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Mr. Kwasi Amakye-Boateng is not the least surprised about unfolding events and developments which has taken place in the country over the last couple of days or probably weeks. He believes that both the NDC and NPP have lost their calm and are acting out of nervousness or in panic reaction gear.
In an exclusive interview with The Chronicle, he noted that both parties seem to have hit their wits end in issue-based campaigns, and are rather churning out propaganda messages to unmake their opponents, in order to win the confidence of Ghanaian voters, especially those who are yet to decide on who to vote for (floating voters).
He, however, noted that the misinformation being employed by the NDC and NPP would not necessarily influence the decision of the floating voters, since they are not based on issues, policies and programmes and how they affect their livelihood. To him, they would rather excite members and supporters of the parties.
In the end, he said it would do more harm than good to the country since it will divide the Ghanaian society along various ethnic and political lines, instead of uniting them as one people and one nation after the elections.
He therefore, expressed grave doubts as to whether the propaganda messages would influence the decisions of the teeming floating voters who are yet to make their minds on which of the two candidates, the NDC's Professor John Evans Atta Mills and the NPP's Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, to vote for.
At the end of day, he noted that the party which is able to give hope to the people will win their confidence and thus urged both the NDC and NPP to keep their calm and campaign on issues instead of vile propaganda.
The NPP's Kwabena Agyapong and the NDC's Seth Ofori yesterday accused each other's political party of employing black propaganda in their campaign to woo voters.
However, they both tried to distance their political parties from any of the propaganda messages making the rounds in sections of the media.
Propaganda is defined as the dissemination of information aimed at influencing the opinions or behaviors of large numbers of people. As opposed to impartiality in providing information, propaganda in its most basic sense presents information in order to influence its audience.
It often presents facts selectively (thus lying by omission) to encourage a particular synthesis, or gives loaded messages in order to produce an emotional rather than rational response to the information presented. The desired result is a change of the cognitive narrative of the subject in the targeted audience to further a political agenda.
That notwithstanding, it generally appeals to emotion, contrasted to an appeal to intellect generated, usually by governments and political parties, since it shares techniques with advertising and public relations.
Propaganda was often used to influence opinions and beliefs on religious issues, particularly during the split between the Roman Catholic Church and the Protestant churches in the olden days.

PNC MPs, REGIONAL CHAIRMEN BACK NANA

After nail biting 19-19 vote of NEC with Edward Mahama abstaining
By Charles Takyi-Boadu

Posted: The Chronicle. Wednesday, December 17, 2008
The National Executive of the People’s National Convention (PNC) yesterday held a meeting to decide which of the two leading parties to support, but it ended dramatically with a nail biter when the event ended in a tie with the national leader opting to abstain.
At the end of a long meeting to deliberate on whether to support the New Patriotic Party (NPP) or the National Democratic Congress (NDC),19 members of the national executive opted for the NPP and another 19 went for the NDC, with the leader of the PNC refusing to break the tie by abstaining from voting.
But in a follow up interview with Hon. Haruna Bayirga, MP for Sissala West, he noted that on their individual and collective convictions, all the incumbent and newly elected PNC Members of Parliament and virtually all the Regional Chairmen of the party opted to throw their weight behind the NPP and its Presidential Candidate, Nana Akufo-Addo.
He thus urged the party’s supporters and members to go out in their numbers to vote for the NPP and its Presidential Candidate come December 28 during the run-off to consolidate the gains made by the party.
Chronicle could not establish which of the pro-NPP members of the NEC voted for the accord with Nana Addo, but it is believed that the party’s National chairman, Alhaji Ramadan may have been among the pro NPP voters, since his daughter is married to the NPP candidate’s running mate, Alhaji Mahamadu Bawumia.
In a radio interview, some of the members of the pro-NPP faction said that they experienced terrible times under the PNDC when the regime overthrew the Government of the party’s founder, Dr. Hilla Limann, an event which was echoed by national chairman of the NPP, Mr. Peter Mac Manu.
Dr. Hilla Limann was virtually penniless in his estate house in his modest Teshie Nungua house, where he taught privately to subsidise his income, while his wife Fulera also traded in tie and die.
His friend, the late Chronicle columnist Professor Paul Ansah, who was a source of refuge in those trying times in the early and late 1980’s and early 1990’s, even though Paul refused to serve in his Government, but later remained a constant critic of the PNDC which overthrew his friend’s Government.
It is those sentiments that influenced Hon. Bayirga and the other MPs to vote for the NPP because they saw in Nana Addo, the exact opposite of the NDC on account of their track record in human rights violations.
A leading member of the Committee for Joint Action (CJA), Mr. Eghan, popularly known as Abaatan, also said on radio in Takoradi that his own wife suffered harassment under the PNDC, but diluted the compliment with a remark that NPP is not necessarily a haven of angels because they are guilty of human rights violations as well.
Abaatan noted on Kyzz FM yesterday that PNC’s endorsement of the NPP could impact the second round of voting because in politics, numbers was everything and nobody should discount the support of the PNC.

PRESIDENT KUFUOR, NPP ARE HOT

…Desperate for party to retain power

…Amidst fuel price reduction, decisive war on pair trawling

By Katakyie Okofotakyi - Ghanaian Chronicle Opinion Tue, 16 Dec 2008

The aftermath of the just-ended Presidential and Parliamentary elections, which virtually ended up in a deadlock, has sent shivers down the spines of President Kufuor and his government. This has left the New Patriotic Party (NPP) administration to be doing a lot of thinking through or better still mental gymnastics on some of its decisions and inactions in order to make amends by reverting some of its decisions in order to whisk more votes in the upcoming run-off. Events leading to polls day December 28, 2008 have given a clear indication of how desperate the NPP wants to win and retain power. Over the last couple of days, the government has made a lot of political somersaults, taken certain decisive measures which otherwise would not have been taken if not for political expediency. These include the sudden reduction of fuel prices and the decision to combat the ever-increasing spate of pair trawling by foreign nationals on Ghana's territorial waters, coupled with the supposed release of some 5,000 commercial drivers who were committed to various jail terms by the courts for traffic offences. Prior to the first round of the elections, NPP had hoped to win power by one-touch based on its programmes, policies and achievements. However, that appeared not to have worked the magic. Immediately the election results was announced, Nana Addo had cause to change his campaign team and strategy upon realising that the polls was heading for a run-off. He quickly marshalled forces and launched an intensive campaign to woo more votes. Just as the campaign was gaining momentum in the villages, President Kufuor decided to do what some have labelled as the 'unthinkable' by announcing a reduction in fuel prices. Good as it may be, political pundits and discerning Ghanaians read meanings into it, with the belief that it was meant to canvass for votes. A day or two after the announcement of the reduction in fuel prices; a release was issued indicating government's preparedness to combat the high incidence of pair trawling fishing on our seas. Meanwhile, sources have it that a couple of months before the elections, President Kufuor and his government was advised by political pundits to reduce the prices of petrol in order to reduce the harsh economic conditions which has not been created by the NPP government but the result of the global economic recession. On the contrary, President Kufuor and his government turned a deaf ear on the advice considering the debt government would have incurred as a result of the reduction. Ironically, the results of the December 7, 2008 polls left the President and his government with no other option than to accept the earlier proposal by making a sudden u-turn. This has generated heated debates across the length and breadth of the country. Whilst some especially the opposition National Democratic Congress have likened the reduction to a deceptive ploy by the NPP to win votes after the NDCs Presidential Candidate, Professor John Evans Atta Mills promised to reduce the price of petrol to ¢GH 25.00 if voted into power, the NPP has ridiculed the assertion and defended the reduction as a prudent economic measure which came as a result of the reduction in fuel prices globally. It is however not clear whether the reduction in the prices of fuel would have any effect on the run-off of the Presidential elections which is barely two weeks from now. Tangible as the earlier reason for not reducing fuel prices may be, the controversy surrounding the sudden and rather belated decision to reduce fuel prices and how the NDC is capitalising on it for its campaign has compelled some NPP supporters to raise questions about the credibility of President Kufuor and his advisers considering the timing of the announcement. Some have even gone to the extent of speculating that this has the tendency of affecting the chances of Nana Addo since it is considered to be a temporary measure to influence voters to vote for the NPP. This has made some party faithfuls to blame the President Kufuor for the NPPs performance in the first round of elections. One of the accusations has been that at the time the NDC launched a three-pronged approach with its Presidential Candidate, Prof. Mills, Running Mate, John Mahama and the founder, Jerry John Rawlings busily campaigning in different parts of the country, he (President Kufuor) was seriously jockeying for awards, hopping from one country to the other in search of personal glory and leaving Nana Addo to his fate only to join the NPP campaign just about two weeks to the elections. What seems to bore most party members and baffle the imaginations of party stalwarts was the fact that President Kufuor had time to organise a party to celebrate his 70th birthday anniversary at a time vote counting was ongoing when the party was sitting on tenterhooks. Though Nana Addo was present at the function, his face seemed to tell it all that all was not well. But he had no option than to make an appearance to grace the occasion. In spite of all these, it is the results of the upcoming Presidential run-off which will determine which of the two leading political parties in the country, the NDC and the NPP will have the nod to administer the people. Meanwhile, the NDC promises to give the NPP a good run for its money since it is hell-bent on annexing the governance of the country. Until that decision day, all other things and opinion polls remain nothing but mere speculations because they will not necessary reflect the individual and collective minds of Ghanaian voters.