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NDC to champion national cohesion and
reconciliation
Accra, June 18, Ghanadot/GNA- Professor John Evans Attah
Mills, Flagbearer of the main opposition National Democratic
Congress (NDC), said on Wednesday that if his party
recaptured political power in the December 7, General
Election, it would make national reconciliation and cohesion
a foremost priority.
“Atta Mills would be the President of all Ghanaians and not
a political party,” was the general theme that permeated 25
minutes of his interaction with various social groups and
stakeholders of the Presidential and Parliamentary elections
at a live political platform provided by the Institute of
Economic Affairs (IEA) in Accra.
The Ghana Political Parties Programme, dubbed: An Evening
Encounter with Professor Evans Atta Mills, provided the
former Vice President the opportunity to answer questions
that span his personal views on the Death Penalty and his
health.
The programme was the second in a series to be organised by
the IEA in collaboration with Ghana Broadcasting Corporation
(GBC) and Joy FM, an Accra radio station to enable the
various presidential aspirants to educate the electorate on
their visions and plans and how they intend to govern the
country.
Dr. Paa Kwesi Nduom, Presidential Candidate of the
Convention Peoples Party was the first to appear. Prof. Atta
Mills would be followed by Nana Addo Dankwa Akuffo-Addo,
Flagbearer of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP).
Prof. Mills dedicated his lecture to Tsatsu Tsikata, former
Chief Executive of the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation
(GNPC) who has been sentenced to five years’ imprisonment
for wilfully causing financial loss to the State and
misapplying public property.
He noted that partisan politics had polarised the country,
leading to a broken trust between elected officials and the
governed.
Prof. Mills said political vindictiveness was stalling the
development of the country, explaining that, Ghana was not
short of the blueprints to facilitate accelerated
development.
He said most often, political leaders developed cold feet to
continue with the projects of their predecessors.
Prof. Mills said if he was voted into power, his
Administration would develop a pragmatic approach that would
include all political parties in vital decisions that would
improve on the fortunes of the State.
He said the effectiveness of a good policy depended on
public acceptance and not how much noise or propaganda
politicians make about it, even at its inception.
Touching on the social vision of the NDC, he said the social
democratic principle of the party would come to bear to
better the lot of the under- privileged and marginalised in
society.
“Those at the other side believe in the survival of the
fittest. Fairness is being gradually lost in society.”
Prof. Mills expressed dissatisfaction about the upsurge of
violent crime, which, he said were related to the use of
Ghana as transit point for drug trafficking.
He said the government of the NDC would bring experts from
all the political shades to deal with the problem.
The NDC would also revive Regional initiatives to share
intelligence to check the drug menace.
Prof. Mills said he would restore the moral of the Ghana
Police Service and other agencies to fight the problem,
which, he said, was denting the image of the country, which
is signatory to the international convention on narcotics
control.
He also elaborated on plans to expand the National School
Feeding Programme and facilities for teaching and learning
from the basic to the tertiary schools.
Focusing on economics, he said the NDC would initiate
policies to ensure high economic growth through the
promotion of domestic savings and the improvement of revenue
generation.
Prof. Mills said the party would cut down on frivolous
government expenditure in order to save money for needed
development projects.
He said the various institutions established to check
corruption must be given adequate budget and the teeth to
bite.
Other projects he outlined included renaissance in the
agricultural sector to reduce the cost of food.
He said the flagship would include the irrigation of 178,000
acres of farm lands at the Accra plains in line with the
Volta River Project of the First President, Osagyefo Dr.
Kwame Nkrumah.
Fertiliser would also be manufactured locally in the Western
Region.
The NDC would also impose tariffs and duties on imported
poultry products to revive the local industry in line with
the rules of the World Trade Organisation.
Prof. Mills said the NDC would provide three modern district
hospitals for Koforidua, Wa and Bolgatanga.
The party would also improve on the energy stock of the
country from 1,600 megawatts to 5,000 megawatts through
innovations in gas and hydro-electric power in order to
exploit bauxite and other mineral deposits.
Prof. Mills said an NDC government would establish an
independent body that would include all the political
parties to oversee the judicious use of revenue that would
be generated from the oil find to develop Ghana.
During the interactive session, he said the Law on Causing
Financial Loss to the State should be in the statutory
books.
He however, said the mode by which the NPP was implementing
it was leading to miscarriage of justice.
Prof. Mills said his cabinet would constitute 40 per cent
women in order to tap the abundant human resources of the
country.
His administration would revise the National Health
Insurance Scheme and the Educational Reform Programme
through broad consultations.
Commenting on his health, he said as far as he was
concerned, he was fit to run for president and it was only
God who can decide if he should die or live long.
“Nobody can sign a bond to be alive next week.”
Prof. Mills said he personally had nothing against the death
sentence remaining in the statutory books, although there
was a worldwide agitation against it.
He admitted that he made some few mistakes as a Vice
President, but hindsight had taught him that nobody was a
repository of wisdom.
He said any political leader who thinks he or she knows it
all is a charlatan.
Mr William Ampem Darko, Director General of GBC said
personal attacks by politicians would not earn them votes
and called for issue-centred politics.
Mrs Jean Mensah, Administrator of IEA observed that over the
years Ghana had operated a colonial economy where raw
materials are sent to the developed economies to process
hence the need for change.
GNA
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