Ex-Prez Kufuor Hits Road

Former President John Agyekum Kufuor has joined Nana Akufo-Addo�s campaign, firing from all cylinders about the bad governance of the NDC administration. He was in full flight at Nungua, Krowor constituency, on Friday, where the turnout for a New Patriotic Party (NPP) activity almost overwhelmed the security detail�s crowd control skills. Now a regular feature at such NPP programmes which have subtly replaced the previously held rallies, he enhances the turnouts as he did at yesterday�s Oman FM�s �Have Your Say� programme in Asamankese in the Eastern Region. Mr Kufuor was at Labadi in the La Dadekotopon Constituency on Saturday for an NPP rally, after attending a similar function in Cape Coast in the Central Region last week Tuesday. He told a teeming crowd of NPP faithful at Asamankese yesterday that God had paved the way for the NPP to return to power and that what remained was the people to work towards that. He educated his audience on the importance of voting which, among other things, he said was a means of using an individual�s power to elect people to represent them in government, especially since everybody could not participate in running the government. �When the people we vote into power under-perform, we vote them out at the end of four years,� he said, pointing out that the NDC, having failed to deliver, should be voted out. The free SHS promised by Nana Akufo-Addo, he said, was feasible and that if the NDC had nothing to offer the people of Ghana, it should shut up. �The free SHS idea was arrived at as a way of managing the situation where JHS graduates at their tender age are unable to proceed to the next stage in their educational process. Our inability to get such young ones to the next stage in education is a time bomb which could explode in the future in the form of social strife and increase criminality,� he said, adding that it was the outcome of a careful study and therefore feasible. Mr Kufuor took a swipe at the NDC government for abandoning some projects initiated by his government, a situation which he said had led to the christening of a portion of the Nsawam-Suhum road �Azonto road� because of its roughness and how passengers were shaken when their vehicles were traversing the stretch. The NDC, he noted, was the originator of some of the bad deeds being witnessed in the country today. �They introduced machos into the country,� he said. Former President Kufuor had charitable words for Nana Akufo-Addo. �I testify to his good qualities and capabilities in matters of governance,� he said amidst a deafening sound of elation from the crowd. �He partook in all the good things we did for the country in my eight-year administration and I vouch for him,� he stated. �In the NPP, we believe in teamwork and that was how we operated when we were in power. We have specialists in various disciplines such as medicine, education and so on and it is these persons who manage issues pertaining to the areas of their specialization,� he said. �The NPP is unlike the NDC where an Attorney General can snub Parliament by refusing to honour a summons to appear before it. �Such an issue can be handled in a more civil manner. The AG could have turned up with an excuse instead of this contempt for the House of Parliament,� he added, stressing, �The Attorney General is an appointee of the President and should respect the authority of Parliament to which the President is answerable. Is this the kind of team which should be given another four-year mandate?� With abundant wealth in the form of gold and now oil and gas, the former president lamented, �we are still suffering the effects of abject poverty in the country�. There was no doubt that former President Kufuor had fired the people of Asamankese up, especially when in his closing remarks, he assured them, �I can assure you that when you vote for the NPP, you will not regret your action.� Earlier, Kennedy Ohene Agyapong, MP for the Assin North, had spoken about corruption in the NDC administration. He took a swipe at an NDC advert which he said appeared on the back page of the DAILY GUIDE which, for him, was an unacceptable position of the party on the free SHS policy of the NPP. Agyapong turned his attention to President John Mahama and his brothers, accusing them of running down Merchant Bank to the tune of $58 million. He also blasted the NDC administration for doling out state resources to party cronies like Alfred Agbesi Woyome who was fraudulently given GH�51.2million for no work done.