President Mills asks pressure group to listen to Ghana@50
commission
By Masahudu Ankiilu Kunateh, Ghanadot
President of Ghana, Professor John Evans Atta Mills has
asked members of the Alliance for Accountable Governance (AFAG)
that instead of demonstrating, they should find time to
listen to the proceedings of the ongoing Ghana@50
Presidential Commission.
This, the President said would enable them to determine
whether it was Atta Mills or the previous New Patriotic
Party (NPP) government which had deceived Ghanaians.
On the allegation by AFAG that he had deceived Ghanaians,
the President smiled and answered, "I was given a mandate
for four years, so if at the end of seven months, people
have come to the unfortunate conclusion that I am deceiving
Ghanaians, I do not know what the basis is.
I believe that there are many good reasons
for our inability to proceed at the pace that we had
anticipated. We met empty coffers, nothing was left for us.
It's now that we are trying to get something started.
The World Bank and the IMF have come
through; we came into office with empty foreign reserves.
The previous government left us a huge debt, over US$1
billion they owed all over."
President Mills gave further reasons, "if we go to the
various District Assemblies, they owe all over the place. On
my recent visit to the Brong-Ahafo Region, I found out that
one District Assembly owed ¢ 17 billion (GH¢ 17 million)! If
a District Assembly is saddled with such debt, what can they
do; even in the four years? And it is 'not the Assemblies
alone, the debts are all over the place. I have asked that
al the District Assemblies should be audited. At least, this
is where development is supposed to take place and if they
are saddled with debts, who incurred those debts, Atta
Mills? No. The debts were incurred by those who went on the
demonstration”.
Ghanadot
