Akufo-Addo - "We shall be back"

Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, flagbearer of the New Patriotic Party in the 2008 Presidential Election today rekindled the spirits of party followers with assurances that the NPP will resume the reigns of power come Election 2012.

Assuring that party processes leading to election of party officers will be conducted in a manner that will facilitate reconciliation among the rank and file of the NPP and thereby reinforce its unity, he said “Ghanaians want to see a strong, united front amongst” the party, so that it can offer the nation “the vibrant, energetic and visionary leadership that they are yearning for by returning our party to government in 2012.

“We have much to do,” he said to wild cheers from enthusiastic supporters who thronged the Osu Ebenezer Presbyterian Church Hall in Accra, recapping, “We have much to do, let us be up and doing. Let us be about our nation’s business and let us move forward together. Let us keep faith with one another and in God, and he shall keep faith with us. Let us pray that the Lord will bless us and our enterprise; that our party will grow from strength to strength and move Ghana forward from one triumph to another.”

Nana Addo stressed that an NPP united across the nation, will return to power.

“I say together, with NPP members across the nation, No shaking, we shall be back! …No shaking, we shall be back!” he chanted before lunging into the party's 'Moving Forward' appellations and slogans in a couple of local languages and to the unanimous approval of the filled church hall.

But these party-building efforts had been preceded by a lashing for the President J.E.A. Mills-led government of the National Democratic Congress, lashing the administration on virtually all fronts.

Nana Akufo-Addo accused the government of derailing the peace process in Dagbon and criticized the decision of government to allow one of the two factions in the protracted chieftaincy conflict to renovate the Gbewa Palace last week.

He also condemned what he said was the atmosphere of violence, intimidation and harassment in the country and urged the government to intervene immediately before the country is set on a path of no return.

“I’m extremely concerned about the creeping threats to the peace process in Dagbon, which appear to be with the active connivance of the state machinery.”

He said under the agreed roadmap to peace in Dagbon, under the direction and leadership of the council of eminent chiefs, “none of the factions was supposed to have access to the old Gbewa Palace for any reason”.

He said on two occasions; 2004 and 2007, the then NPP government had to stop the Abudu family from entering the palace to perform certain rituals. He added that two weeks ago, unfortunately, the Andanis were assisted by state security personnel to enter the palace and perform certain rites and renovations.

“Tension in Yendi and Dagbon, predictably, is rising again. The President, the father of the nation, should show the same even-handedness, in the enforcement of the roadmap that his predecessor, President Kufuor did and showed even at the risk of jeopardizing his party’s traditional support base in Dagbon.”

Nana Addo also urged the government to better manage the economy and arrest the free fall of the Ghanaian cedi, asserting that the NDC after assuming power had told Ghanaians the economy was broke but has so far not done much apart from offering excuses and blaming the previous government.

“If you say the economy is broke, fix it,” he charged.

Joy Online, May 26th, 2009