Any attempt to substitute Prez Mills will be suicidal - Ludwig

Any attempt to substitute Prez Mills will be suicidal - Ludwig The National Youth Organiser of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Mr Ludwig Hlodze, has stated that any attempt to substitute President J.E.A. Mills with any other person as the party's presidential candidate for the 2012 elections will be suicidal. "Let no one deceive you; one of the best assets of the NDC now is the image, character and personality of President Mills. Therefore, it will be suicidal for us as young people to support any cause to change President Mills as the NDC flag bearer for 2012," he added. Mr Hlodze, who was addressing the NDC's Tertiary Education Institutions Network (TEIN) of the Methodist University College, Ghana (MUCG) in Accra on Monday, noted that President Mills’ administration was on course to achieve great strides in the area of the economy, security, employment, health, education, among others. He said although all the moves to challenge Prof Mills’ bid to contest the 2012 elections had come in the early hours of his administration, he remained focused to deliver on the NDC's campaign promise of a better Ghana. The National Youth Organiser urged all party members, especially the youth, to respect the rules, regulations and structures of the party to engender unity and progress. Mr Hlodze said President Mills' intellectual capabilities and command over issues had never been in doubt. He reminded the TEIN members that they were the intellectual wing of the youth branch of the party and so they must constantly provide ideas and suggestions that would help the party to execute its better Ghana agenda. He said as tertiary education students, they must update themselves with the party, government and national issues so that they would be able to educate ordinary Ghanaians in their villages, towns, cities, among other places, and also counteract the propaganda of the opposition. He said the youth wing of the party was putting in place measures to mobilise its TEIN members so that during long vacations they would assist pupils and students of primary and junior high schools in the deprived areas which lacked teachers. That, Mr Hlodze noted, was in line with the NDC's social democratic policy of assisting the less privileged in society to realise their potential, as well as contribute their quota to national development. A Deputy Minister of Information, Mr Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa; expressed concern over the agitation by some members of the NDC that the Mills administration was slow and not delivering on its campaign promises to Ghanaians, notwithstanding the great progress made by the government in its, one-and-a-half-year rule. "Our tradition had been in power for 19 years but we could not solve all the problem of this country. We did not leave power with the unemployment rate at zero per cent. It tells you that national construction and, development is work in progress," he said. He noted that the government aimed at constantly working to improve the livelihoods of the people, saying, "We may not even be able to finish in our life time, but there should be a substantial improvement and that is what the Mills government is doing." He explained that as party supporters who believed in the principle and philosophies of the NDC, the students should bear in mind that sacrifice to a political party did not come with the party winning power but should include supporting it to succeed in delivering on its promises. "We should also be clear in our minds and differentiate between genuine concern and opportunistic concern," he added. He said there was a certain former President in this country who, in his time, never allowed himself to be treated the way he was insulting President Mills. Source: Daily Graphic/Ghana