Welcome to Ghana Pundit: The Home of Politics and Intelligent Analysis

LATEST:

Grab the widget  Tech Dreams

Insist on Your Right to Education

Uneducated citizenry is like a pitch any game can be played on it. Illiteracy is what has given the politicians in Ghana the chance to fool so many people for so a long a time.

Sunday, March 25, 2012

Taxation, Global Economic Crisis and the poor


By Lord Aikins Adusei (taken from Eurodad partner TJN Africa’s Quarterly Newsletter Africa Tax Spotlight), 
The article below looks at the current global economic and financial crisis, its impact on firms, governments and the poor. It argues the crisis has generated new kinds of tax policies in both developed and developing countries that in the long run will lower inequality between the rich and the poor. The article concludes that although the poor appear to have been badly hit by the crisis they will end up being the final beneficiary if the taxes and other policies being implemented begin to bear fruit.
Taxes play an important role in the economy of many nations. In many countries taxes paid include but are not limited to Personal Income Tax, Corporate Income
Tax, Value Added Tax (VAT), Fuel Levy and Windfall taxes. These taxes help build and maintain public goods and infrastructures such as roads and railway networks, schools and universities; pay salaries of teachers, nurses, doctors, police, and soldiers; maintain law, order, peace and security of the country; and improve economic and social wellbeing of citizens; and pay debts owed to creditors. In short, taxes are essential for the running of every country. Over the last three or four years, the world has gone through and is still going through tumultuous and painful financial and economic crisis. The crisis, which began in the United States and quickly spread to Europe and other Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) economies, was as a result of a combination of factors including under regulation and over supply of financial products; too much public and private sector debt; near-zero interest rates that
fueled cheap credit; and asset prices that boomed and then busted. The crisis has had devastating impact on ability of firms to secure credits as banks are unwilling to lend. In fact, a number of banks have failed and with it the assets of companies and individuals who did business or saved with them. Additionally, demand for goods and services produced by firms has gone down forcing companies to close down completely or lay off workers to cut down cost. The result is that many small and major firms have seen their profits slashed and so are their taxes to government. Governments’ bailouts and efforts by Central Banks around the world to stimulate the global economy by injecting additional
liquidity have not yielded the desired results. Governments’ efforts to raise revenue through taxation have also suffered severe setbacks. As exports and imports in advanced economies slow down and businesses collapse or underperform, governments are losing corporate income tax, personal income tax and other taxes that could help them maneuver through the storm. In a recent op-Ed titled “Globalization of Protest” Columbia University Professor Joseph E. Stiglitz put the impact of the crisis this way: “Around the world, we have underutilised resources – people who want to work, machines that lie idle, buildings that are empty – and huge unmet needs” (Stiglitz, 2011). Stiglitz was referring to the cost of the crisis on the poor. Governments’ inability to raise revenue to implement social and economic programmes has been borne largely by the poor, low wage and middle class workers. In both private and government institutions there is freeze on wage increase.
That not withstanding, the crisis has elicited positive responses from people around the Globe. In India, demonstration against corruption has forced governments to act to prevent corrupt politicians and their business associates from taking bribes and evading tax. The crisis has seen the United StatesFranceand Spain acting in a coordinated fashion to stop corrupt African leaders from looting their coffers and depositing their loot in Europe and America. One illustration of such actions was the fact that Teodoro Obiang Nguema, son of Equatorial Guinea’s dictator, had his cars confiscated by French police. If auctioned the proceeds of the $5million worth of cars could help provide schools, hospitals and improve sanitation for the people in that country.
In several African countries, the soaring prices and profits for the gold, copper, oil and gasoline industry in the past years have seen governments receiving a boost in the their balance sheet. Zambia for instance has seen revenue from copper increase tremendously. African governments that have not benefited from the windfall profits from oil and minerals are proposing or have proposed a windfall tax that will bring additional revenue to the state.
In 2007, a report prepared for South Africa Treasury, Dr. Zavareh Rustomjee and his team defined windfall profits as “excess profits, of which conceptually there are two possible types: those of a temporary or cyclical nature (called “quasi rent” or “economic profits”), or more structural or permanent (called “economic rent”)” (Rustomjee et al, 2007). Thus taxes on these excess profits constitute windfall tax. According to James Muyanwa (2011) windfall tax is a tax levied by governments on certain industries when economic conditions allow those industries to experience above average profits. Companies who benefit from massive profits due to a favourable economic condition are targeted. In October of 2011, the Reuters news agency cited Ghana’s Finance Minister Kwabena Duffuor as saying. Ghana is in talks with gold miners about extra taxes, including the possibility of a windfall tax. In May of 2011, media houses inNamibia quoted Mines and EnergyMinister Isak Katali as saying that the government was looking to introduce a minerals windfall tax to enable the state to benefit more from the country’s vast mineral resources. The Energy Minister said: “It is my view that as the custodian of the mineral resources, the state should also benefit in good times beyond normal taxes and royalties” (Dontoh, 2011). AlgeriaSouth Africa,ChadGabon and Angola have already indicated that they would want to implement some kind of windfall tax that would target massive profits and use it to implement social and economic programmes to benefit the poor. Although the poor have been badly hit by the economic and financial crisis, there is hope that they will turn up to be winners if the policies begin to bear fruit

References

Rawlings, Nana Addo Slam Mills



Jerry Rawlings and Nana Akufo-Addo
The flagbearer of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has described as shocking government’s decision to boycott the Multimedia Group, while former President Jerry John Rawlings insists he will not respect his party’s decision regarding the boycott.
The Multimedia Group has in its stables Joy FM, Adom FM, Luv FM, Nhyira FM, Asempa FM, Hitz FM, myjoyonline.com and Multi TV.
According to the main opposition leader, the position of the government was a clear violation of freedom of speech and the NDC should without delay rescind that “astonishing” decision.
“I’m astonished and at a time when we have a lawyer of such repute as our President and such actions are being taken; clearly it is unconstitutional,” Nana Addo told the media yesterday during his tour of the coastal line in the Greater Accra.
“Impediments are being put in the place of the media in doing their work; the media are being penalised because government decides for itself what is fair coverage, that is not the business of government,” Nana Akufo-Addo stated.
“When we were there, we had a lot of many problems with the media; never did it occur to Kufuor to take this sort of gesture towards any particular item. What didn’t Radio Gold say about us? Yet, no one from the NPP came forward to make the kind of pronouncement that spokespersons of the government are doing.
“It is not for government to decide what should be the content of media publications. The idea that government can take the view that particular sections of the media are unfair to it and therefore they will prevent that media access to public events is a shocking development. If President Mills is looking for unprecedented events on his period of stewardship to talk about this is one of them,” the one time Attorney General pointed out.
In the same vein, the office of former President Rawlings said it would disrespect the government directive instructing and all government agencies and members of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) to boycott all programmes on the Multimedia Group and to treat all journalists from that network as gate crashers.
President Rawlings, despite the directive, has agreed to send his special aide cum spokesperson, Kofi Adams, to appear on Joy FM’s News File programme today, Saturday, March 24.
Mr. Adams, who has been axed from the NDC, described the directive from government as wrong and suicidal for any political party, especially in an election year like this, to boycott the media.
Though the directive was made official on Tuesday, Mr. Adams said he had the invitation from Joy FM on Thursday and insisted that the invitation should be put in writing which the station did and addressed the letter to President Rawlings’s Office.
“I would appear on Joy FM tomorrow. Yes, I would be on News File because they have invited me to speak on certain issues concerning the former First Lady, Nana Konadu and about myself too and by my work, I speak for the former President and until he tells me not to appear on a particular media network, I have no reason to turn down the invitation,” Mr. Adams, who was on Thursday suspended as Deputy General Secretary of the NDC, noted on Peace FM yesterday.
Mr. Adams made rather revealing comments on his suspension and said he was not the intentional target but a smokescreen to pull off a “grand agenda”.
Kofi Adams’s NDC Membership Revoked
The General Secretary of the NDC, Johnson Asiedu-Nketia, said the party no more considered Kofi Adams, a deputy General Secretary, as a member of the NDC because his membership card was revoked at the National Executive Committee (NEC) held at the Local Government Training Institute, Madina on Thursday.
“We have withdrawn his membership from the party so it affects his position as well because you cannot be an executive member if you are not a member of the party…Kofi Adams is no longer a member of the NDC and he cannot exercise any rights as NDC member until the determination of the matter…If the investigations exonerate him, the suspension will be withdrawn; but if it goes against him, we will apply the recommended sanction,” Asiedu-Nketia told Okay FM on Friday.
He said the decision was to allow the party to investigate the authenticity of a leaked audio tape recording in which a voice suspected to be Kofi’s, with another voice believed to be that of Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko of the New Patriotic Party, on how to sabotage an electoral victory for the NDC in 2012.Kofi Adams Speaks On Gabby Tape
Reacting to the suspension, Kofi Adams expressed shock at media reports that the NDC National Executive Committee had suspended him.
He said assuming without admitting that he was the one captured on the tape, it would not be enough grounds to suspend him because he had said worse things on public platforms.
“No one has told me anything about my suspension and I am only hearing of it in the media….but there are ways of doing things and I believe there is a laid down procedure of informing me of such a decision….so you may have to ask those speaking on the issue to explain their decision,” Mr. Adams said and added that when the issue was tabled for discussion at the NEC meeting, he eloquently denied ever having such a discussion with Gabby Otchere-Darko and that the tape might have been forged, especially when the NDC leadership had recently warned its leading members to be cautious of some voice mimicking gadgets that had been brought into the system.
He said it would be significant to note that Otchere-Darko had also denied ever having such discussions with him and challenged the authenticity of the tape recording.
On whether former President Rawlings was present at the NEC meeting when the suspension was decided on, Kofi Adams said though the former President went to the meeting, he left because the NEC members had walked out with an excuse that they were conferring on an issue which kept them outside the meeting grounds for a very long time and they returned only after the former President had left.
Cracks Over Suspension
NDC Founder Jerry Rawlings is reported to have expressed misgivings about the decision to suspend Kofi Adams and though he had spoken to his spokesperson on the specific issues of his grievance, the latter said he was yet to receive permission to make the details public.
Meanwhile, NDC Member of Parliament for Lower Manya Krobo, Michael Teye Nyaunu, has warned that the suspension of the Rawlings aide would further widen the gaping cracks within the NDC.
“By doing this thing, they are deepening the factions within the party rather than bringing us together. We all know that anybody who associates with the Rawlingses becomes endangered species so far as the party’s activities are concerned.
“I disagree with them because he is a senior member of the party and he has denied ever granting such interview…This so-called tape recording thing I have once been a victim of it and it is never true; so I think they should have allowed an investigation to go through first for them to establish a position before the sanction…Granted that they go for the investigations and it proves to be otherwise that he never said it, what about the damage that will be caused to his reputation and credibility.
“They should rather go ahead to investigate and based on the outcome of the investigations, so they can slap whatever sanctions they wanted to do on Kofi Adams,” Teye Nyaunu told Citi FM on Friday.
Source: Halifax Ansah-Addo

Friday, March 23, 2012

Kofi Adams Is “A Free Agent”…He’s No More An NDC Member - Gen Mosquito



General Mosquito (l) and Kofi Adams (r)
 
 
General Secretary of the ruling National Democratic Congress, Johnson Aseidu Nketia has set the records straight on the suspension of one of his able lieutenants who also doubles as a Spokesperson for the Rawlingses, Kofi Adams.

According to him, Kofi Adams was not only suspended from his position as a Deputy General Secretary of the party, but his status as a card-bearing member of the NDC has also been revoked.

Kofi Adams was suspended on Thursday at a crunch meeting held by the NDCs National Executive Committee (NEC). He has also been referred to the Disciplinary Committee (DC) of the party for further action whiles he serves a 3 month suspension.

He is alleged to have schemed with the Executive Director of the Danquah Institute, Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko, a dye-in-the-wool NPP activist, to scuttle the second term bid of NDC flagbearer President John Evans Atta Mills.

This follows the recording of a private conversation he is alleged to have had with Gabby, the contents of which has since been made public.

Speaking however in an interview on Okay FM’s Ade Akye Abiamorning show, General Mosquito, as the NDC Chief Scribe is affectionately called, explained that the Disciplinary Committee had been mandated to give a fair hearing to Mr Adams, establish the veracity or otherwise of the recording and advise the NEC appropriately or make appropriate recommendations.

He further stated that the withdrawal of Mr Adams’ membership is to afford the DC the opportunity to thoroughly authenticate the recording by getting to the bottom of the matter without any interference whatsoever.

He was emphatic that until the disciplinary committee submits its report on the case, Kofi Adams is “a free agent” and not a member of the NDC, adding that he (Kofi Adams) can no longer exercise any rights as an NDC member until the committee comes out with its report.

“…the case was referred for further investigations because Kofi Adams denied the allegations and insisted the voice on the tape is not his own…We have withdrawn his membership from the party so it affects his position as well because you cannot be an executive member if you are not a member of the party…Kofi Adams is no longer a member of the NDC and he cannot exercise any rights as NDC member until the determination of the matter…If the investigations exonerate him, the suspension will be withdrawn; but if it goes against him, we will apply the recommended sanction. This (suspension) is not a punishment; it is just a process to give the committee the freedom to investigate without interference,” he said.

Asked if in his personal opinion the voice on the taped telephone conversation was that of his deputy, General Mosquito was non-committal saying, “I cannot judge or give an opinion neither can anybody else give an opinion on a matter that is before the disciplinary committee, else it will prejudice the committee’s outcome.”
 
 
 
Source: Beatrice Adepa Frempong/Peacefmonline.com

NDC Suspends Kofi Adams...For 3months



 
Related Stories
 
Peacefmonline.com can confirm that Kofi Adams, Deputy General Secretary of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) has been suspended and referred to the disciplinary committee of the NDC.

The decision was taken at a just-ended NDC National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting.

The Deputy NDC General Secretary has been cited in a plan aimed at running the ruling NDC down in the 2012 general elections.

General Secretary of the NDC, Johnson Asiedu Nketiah, who confirmed this on PeaceFM during the 6pm Bulletin, also revealed that Kofi Adams has been asked to step aside for three months by which time the Disciplinary Committee would have finished conducting investigations into the issue and handed in its report.

"...the party took the decision to suspend him for a period of 90 days pending further investigations by the Disciplinary Committee...the decision is to also ensure that Mr. Adams’ position does not interfere in the work of the committee," Asiedu Nketiah said.

Mr. Adams who also doubles as an aide to former president Rawlings is reported to have vowed to scuttle President Mills’ second term bid following the recording of a private conversation he is alleged to have had with Executive Director of policy think-tank Danquah Institute, Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko just a day after the party’s Sunyani congress which elected President Mills as the flagbearer for the 2012 General Election.

Kofi Adams has since denied the allegations. Gabby has also described the leaked conversation as an invasion of privacy and insists “that voice doesn’t sound like the Kofi Adams I know.”

“Yes, I had several conversations with Kofi Adams over Sunyani congress. I even had a phone call from President Mills after Sunyani. But I don't recall anything in the conversations about election 2012 or Kofi Adams saying he would do anything to send Mills into opposition. I've dealt with Kofi Adams on several occasions and he has always shown loyalty to the NDC. I'm utterly shocked. That voice doesn't sound like the Kofi Adams I know," Asare Otchere-Darko said in a text message he sent to Peacefm.


More soon...
 
 
 
Source: Rebecca Addo Tetteh/Peacefmonline.com

Woyomegate could never have happened under me - Nana Akufo-Addo


Woyomegate could never have happened under me - Nana Akufo-Addo

The presidential candidate of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), Nana Akufo-Addo says the Woyome judgment debt saga has been poorly managed, stressing it could never have happened under his leadership.

He was addressing chiefs and fisher folk in coastal communities of the Greater Accra region as part of his national Restore Hope tour.

The NPP flagbearer said Ghana was a rich nation with a great destiny.

Nana Addo also reiterated his pledge to bring back the fisheries ministry to help effectively address problems confronting the sector.

He said politics will be taken out of the management of the fisheries sector to allow the fisher folk themselves to take the decisions that are in their best interest.

The NPP flag bearer will wrap up his restore hope tour in the Greater Accra region today with a visit to the Tema East, Krowor and Ledzokuku constituencies. 

Rigging election 2012? NPP accuses; NDC denies



Rigging election 2012? NPP accuses; NDC denies
Even before the country’s Electoral Commission commences its landmark biometric registration exercise across the country for the 2012 general elections, accusations of rigging, mainly from the opposition New Patriotic Party, are flying all over.

For instance, the NPP in the Kintampo North is accusing the NDC of plotting to intimidate electorate in its strongholds in Saturday’s biometric registration in the region.

According to the NPP Deputy Communications Director in Kintampo North Richard Busi, the NDC is also plotting to register minors in the NDC strongholds.

“We had the information that the NDC is plotting to perpetrate violence in the biometric registration. They had a meeting on the 20th, that was just Tuesday, that they wouldn’t allow the NPP to have a smooth registration, and adding to that they would send boys to our strongholds to intimidate the people and make sure that the process is delayed, especially on the last ten days so that many of them would not register.”

He further stated: “information we are privy to is that they are done with the police so any NDC [member] who will go to create any violence, that person would not be arrested.”

Still in the Eastern Region, the NPP is also accusing the executives of the NDC of plans to swell up the number of voters in some constituencies to their advantage.

Regional Communications Director Matthew Baafi, told a press conference in Suhum, Lower West Akim, Akim Oda, Akwatia, Abetifi and Abuakwa south and North as some of the targeted constituencies for the alleged plans.

He said investigations by the party have found “thrilling revelations” of the ruling NDC.

He said the NDC also intends conveying supporters of their strongholds to beef up their numbers at NPP strongholds.

Alhaji Sumaila Mahama, Deputy Eastern Regional Chairman of the NDC, told Joy News the accusations must be disregarded, assuring that the NDC has not taken any of such decisions.

“They don’t have any evidence to back it. It is neither here nor there. They are lying.”

Meanwhile, political parties have begun deploying their national and regional executives to supervise the nationwide biometric registration exercise which begins tomorrow.

The parties are confident their trained agents will ensure the process is not manipulated.

The exercise is intended to compile a new register for this year’s general elections and there are fears poor response or failure to protect the integrity of the process could affect the outcome of the elections.

General Secretary of the Peoples National Convention, Bernard Mornah says his party will count on independent election observers.

Member of the Communications Directorate of the Progressive Peoples Party, Richmond Keelson is asking the National Commission for Civic Education to step up its campaign to address concerns of low publicity.

Jake Obetsebi Lamptey, National Chairman of the New Patriotic Party is demanding suspension of the issuance of National Health Insurance and National Identity cards to avoid confusion.

General Secretary of the Convention Peoples Party, Ivor Greenstreet is optimistic the exercise will be successful.

Meanwhile the Electoral Commission is allaying fears electorates may be disenfranchised because they may not be able to locate registration centers.

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

JJ leaves NDC divided & shaken




While President John Evans Atta Mills and the remnants of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) leadership  were singing in the rain and frantically extolling the virtues in party unity and its democratic credentials at Mantse Agbona, just at the entrance of the James Town Mantse's Palace in what used to be called British Accra, at the week-end, the wife of the founder, Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings, was busily unmasking the Head of State and his political edifice as pretenders who  stole the vote at the Sunyani  congress.
'People who were not delegates were voting as delegates. I know all the delegates; more than one thousand who voted were not delegates,' she told the Akuafo Hall Ladies wing of the Students Representative Council of the University of Ghana, at Legon.
'I let it be, because if I wanted to deal with it, I would take the whole bunch of them to court. I just decided, no, it's not worth it, let them steal it. If that makes them happy, let them steal,' she said, cheered on by the students.
At a time the NDC is clamouring for unity as a sign of strength to tackle the formidable force of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and its leader Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, the wife of the founder's exposé at Legon puts the party and its leadership on the defensive.
According to the former First Lady, she had been silent over the issue in order to protect the unity of the party founded by her husband, observing that the internal bickering and disunity among party members were some of the fall-outs of the Sunyani congress.
'In my heart of hearts, I felt sorry for the party I belong to, because it was like cracking the party in the middle, and for me it was said because we have built a party for more than 19 years, and then suddenly, 'boom' is not good.'
Reports of a crack in the NDC front after the Sunyani congress have been rife in the body politic for some time, but the statement from the office of Jerry John Rawlings on the eve of the rally in Accra, that he would not be at Mantse Agbona with a warning that the party should not use his name to campaign towards the 2012 elections, was the major song that all may not be well with the party he founded.
As the President and the remnants of the NDC leadership basked in their glory of leading this nation to their own ideas of what constitute prosperity, the Chairman of the party, Dr. Kwabena Adjei, revealed on television on Friday, that his private and confidential letter to the President, calling for a meeting to patch up with the Rawlingses, was leaked from the Castle.
He tried frantically to absolve the President from blame by insisting that at the time the letter got to the Castle, Prof. Mills was out of the country. But the revelation from the party chair that his letter was leaked, rather feeds into the general notion that the orchestrated attempt to exclude the Rawlingses in matters pertaining to the NDC might be the handiwork of the occupant of the Castle.
Political analysts believe it is a means of carving a niche for himself, after being brought in by the founder, who has remained his bedrock and source of legitimacy all along.
At the rally at the weekend, President Mills mocked those he claimed were disappointed in his leadership.  'Let us be positive and not listen to the cries of those who are disappointed, because they will remain disappointed,' he mocked.
Political commentators are reading different meanings into this particular statement. Some political analysts believe the President was referring to the opposition, who are bitterly contesting his claim that the achievements of the party in government were unprecedented.
Others believe the President was further widening the gap between his Presidency and the Rawlingses, who have criticised his style of leadership since occupying Government House three years and a quarter ago.
This school of thought holds that by that statement, President Mills was sending a powerful message across to Boom Junction that he was thriving better without being talked down upon, and that the Rawlingses could do nothing to influence his leadership of government and the party.
If that is the intention of the President, then he would have already offended many in the party who look upon the former President as the man whose sacrifices brought the party into being in the first place, and who nurtured the NDC with his charismatic leadership.
Across the country, billboards and posters are emerging with the effigy of President Mills and former President Rawlings poised to propel the NDC to victory in the 2012 presidential and parliamentary elections.
If the founder is chalked off the scene, many are those in the NDC who would know where to pinpoint if the elections fail to go the way of the party in power
Ghanaian Chronicle

Monday, March 19, 2012

Kofi Adams: NDC leaders have failed probity, accountability test


Kofi Adams: NDC leaders have failed probity, accountability test
Kofi Adams
Kofi Adams, spokesperson for former President Jerry John Rawlings says the current crop of leaders in the NDC have failed the test of Probity, Transparency and Accountability, which are the basic principles of the party.

Kofi Adams was explaining why Mr. Rawlings did not attend the National Democratic Congress’ (NDC) Greater Accra rally on Saturday.

Speaking on Dwaso Nsem on Adom FM on Monday, Mr. Adams said it would have been difficult for the former president to speak at the rally because he (Rawlings) has been speaking against corruption and the party has failed to address the issue of corruption, with the judgment debt payments as a glaring example.

Kofi Adams, who is also the Deputy General Secretary of the NDC, noted that the absence of the Rawlingses from the rally also stems from their neglect by the party and some bizarre happenings, adding “anyone who claims not to know these happenings may be unfair.”

He explained that former President Rawlings received his invitation letter to the rally just two days before the event and said people should not overstretch why Mr. Rawlings did not attend the rally.

The Chairman of the UK/Ireland branch of the NDC, Horace Nii Ankrah, who also spoke on Dwaso Nsem appealed to the party executives to do all they can to re-establish cordial relations with the Rawlingses.

He noted that party unity is crucial for success in the December polls and asked that all factions reunite for victory.

Group to demonstrate against NDC leaders over Rawlings



Group to demonstrate against NDC leaders over Rawlings
(Library photo) President Rawlings and wife, Nana Konadu on an NDC campaign platform

A group of National Democratic Congress (NDC) supporters in the Asawase constituency in the Ashanti Region have threatened to demonstrate against the leadership of the NDC for sidelining party founder Jerry John Rawlings.

Yakubu Tony Aidoo, Asawase constituency Propaganda Secretary of the party, who spoke on Adom FM’s Dwaso Nsem on Monday, said that recent developments in the party, especially the seeming neglect of the former president in the affairs of the NDC, do not bode well for the ruling party’s chances in the December polls.

He was contributing to discussions on the decision by the Rawlingses not to attend the Greater Accra regional rally of the NDC at the weekend, attended by all national executives as well as President John Evans Atta Mills.

Citing the “beatings, threats” and other acts intimidation meted out to him and other supporters in the Ashanti region when the NDC was in opposition, and all the work done by President Rawlings to help win the 2008 elections, Yakubu Tony Aidoo said it was unthinkable for party executives to freeze out such a towering figure in the party.

He said the group would demonstrate soon to show their displeasure at the ongoing development, insisting that they will not sit down for them to destroy the party.

The propaganda secretary said despite the seeming rift in Rawlings/NDC relations, executives of the party continue to tell people at the grassroots that the NDC founder would campaign for President Mills, a situation he said was creating confusion in the minds of party supporters.

He warned that if the leadership does not stop it, he and his colleagues would go on a demonstration against them.

Also contributing, Deputy NDC General Secretary and Special Aide to the Rawlingses, Kofi Adams pointed out that Saturday’s rally was just a regional rally, and President Rawlings was not obliged to attend.

As well, the invitation to the rally was received just two days before the event, although the organizers had touted the presence of the former first couple to whip up enthusiasm.

Ghana Pundit Headline News

E-mail subscription

Enter your email address:

Delivered by FeedBurner

Pan Africa News

Graphic Ghana

MYJOYONLINE.COM

Peacefm Online - News with a vision

The Times - World News

The Times - Africa News

Pambazuka News :Emerging powers in Africa Watch

AfricaNews - RSS News

The Zimbabwe Telegraph

BBC News | Africa | World Edition

Modern Ghana

My Blog List

R.I.P.

R.I.P.

AfriGator

AfrigatorAfrigator