Mills must not toy with 2012 elections – John Boadu

A former Youth Organiser of the New Patriotic Party, (NPP), Mr John Boadu says President J.E.A. Mills cannot afford to toy with the 2012 general elections.

He said even former President Jerry Rawlings who took a gun and toppled a constitutionally elected government and accepted democracy grudgingly, organized elections in 2000 that led to a change in government.

Speaking on MultiTV’s Minority Caucus, Mr Boadu said the NPP was worried because the president had not made a clear commitment to adequately resourcing the Electoral Commission to undertake its mandate of organizing free, fair and credible elections.

He said not only was it important to have a biometric register, it was equally critical to have a verification system in place at the point of poll to check voter impersonation.

Deputy Minority Leader, Mr Ambrose Dery supported John Boadu’s argument, stressing that given the disorganized and chaotic manner in which the assembly elections were held, there was no guarantee that elections 2012 would be conducted in accordance with the standards set previously.

He said unlike former President John Kufuor who, prior to the 2008 elections and in response to concerns by the NDC, went to Parliament to assure the nation that his government would adequately resource the EC to conduct a free, fair, and credible poll, President Mills in response to the NPP and its flagbearer’s complaints about violence meted out to their supporters at by-elections, went to Parliament to issue a red alert.

Mr Dery said Ghanaians must demand from, and be given, assurance by the president that he will stop rewarding violence perpetrated by supporters of his party against their opponents and that the EC will receive the funding they need and in good time in order to conduct the 2012 elections in a manner that satisfies all.

Veering off the subject of elections, Mr John Buadu said he was shocked at the twist of events with the Deputy Information Minister, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa quoting religiously from the NPP’s 2000 manifesto to justify the NDC government’s own inability to fulfill its electoral promises to the people.

Wasn’t it Vice-President Mahama, who as running mate to Prof Mills in 2008, said it was a mark of mediocrity for the NPP to call for comparison of records? he asked.

He argued that despite what Mr Ablakwa called abysmal performance by President Kufuor in his first term in office, “52 per cent of the people of this country gave approval to what president Kufuor had achieved. So now the Deputy Minister for Information is saying that he is wiser than the 52 per cent of the population that approved the performance of…President Kufuor.”

The failed NPP General Secretary accused Mr Okudzeto of deliberately taking the promises of the NPP in 2000 out of context for propagandist analysis.

“If you want to do better analysis, you look at situations. You are comparing an economy under…four billion (Ghana Cedis bequeathed to Kufuor) to an economy you inherited that is over 32 billion Ghana cedis. …This is an economy that you are inheriting that has school feeding programme, capitation grant, health insurance, LEAP (Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty), [Metro] mass transit [transport] and all that. If you don’t even do anything and decide to even close your eyes, what will happen is that you will produce the same quantity of facilities about four times because this is an economy that is bigger, an economy that GDP rate in 2008 was 8.3 per cent, without oil revenue; an economy that inflation was 18 per cent (in 2008) as compared to when you were leaving (power in 2001) which was around 40.5 per cent; an economy that interest rates was around 26 per cent as compared to when you were leaving interest rates was around 50 per cent,” he stated.

Mr Boadu stressed the need for the Deputy Information Minister to appropriately guide himself in his analysis of issues.

Source: Myjoyonline.com/Ghana