JJ�s Boy Lashes Mills

The on-going proxy battle in the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC), spearheaded by former President Rawlings, seems to be generating a rippling effect, as more party members join the fray on a daily basis. Arch anti-Mills campaigner in the 2008 presidential race, Michael Teye Nyaunu, MP for Lower Manya Krobo Constituency in the Greater Accra region, is the latest NDC member to vent his spleen on the governance style of President John Evans Atta Mills. Nyaunu, a prot�g� of former President Jerry John Rawlings who consistently expressed his lack of confidence in Mills long before the man was elected President, yesterday told Joy FM that the new NDC administration is behaving as if the party has never run the affairs of the country before. Expressing his disappointment, the MP, popularly called Maradona, said: �Things are not going well in our party. When we came to power, I thought we would hit the ground running, but that is not the case�. In a rather proverbial language, the MP said he is yet to be convinced about the commitment of the government to develop the country, and insinuated that there is no hope in the 2010 budget. �For you to see that a market day on Wednesday will be very thriving, you can see it on Tuesday evening. We are not moving fast, as if we are new in government; we have been in government before�How long do you take your time, how long do you take time; we are 11 months old now, pretty one year old� what time do you have to take? A woman gives birth by nine months�. When reminded that the new government still has three more years to prove its mettle, he said that notion is wrong. According to him, the government has in actual fact two more years to do whatever it has up it sleeves since the fourth year is an election year. �This is the time you have to prove your mettle. But I have not seen it yet,� he stressed. On 1st February 2008, Hon. Nyaunu, it would be recalled, took the then Candidate Mills to the cleaners and cast doubts on his physical fitness to run a successful campaign. He warned the party of a looming crisis if Mills was allowed to run, and called for an emergency congress to pick another presidential candidate. The current friction in the NDC has, however, allowed more MPs from the ruling party to express their displeasure with the President. Alfred Kwame Agbesi, MP for Ashaiman, on Monday blasted the Mills Administration over its inability to fulfill promises in the 2009 budget, including the provision of offices for MPs. His colleague MP for Nabdam, Moses Asaga, also accused the government of giving him what he described as �cock and bull stories� over how to manage the oil and gas resources in the country. He too said he is getting frustrated over the absence of transparency in oil deals. Even Majority Leader, Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin, MP for Nadowli North, has not hidden his displeasure with President Mills. He told the media last Friday the President has surrounded himself with sycophants, bootlickers and oppressors, who are recklessly dissipating the nation�s resources. The criticism galore took a fever pitch two months ago when Ekwow Spio-Garbrah, CEO of the London-based Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation (CTO), described the Mills Administration as a Team-B government.He also cast doubts at the ability of the cabinet to meet the aspirations of the people, let alone be retained in power come 2012. And as if that is not enough, the founder of the party, Jerry John Rawlings, said the 11-month-old government is packed with �greedy bastards�, some of whom are trying to kill him.�We have brought people into our midst who are unknown to the party; people we do not know. If we do not wake up to correct the mistakes, I will not have anything to do with the party. I have died so many times for the party, been humiliated both locally and internationally. I cannot die for the greedy bastards who have wormed their way into government,� he said. It is not clear what exactly is happening in the NDC, which regained power after eight years in opposition, but a party insider, Alhaji Bature, told the media that President Mills and his vice, John Mahama, may have no option but to bow out if things continue the way they are.