NDC Group Answers Young Patriots

A group calling itself Coalition for Responsible Leadership (CRL) which is aligned to the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) has served notice to the New Patriotic Party�s (NPP) Young Patriots to desist from what it calls �politics of insults and distortions of facts� or face their wrath. The group has therefore fixed September 20, 2011 as a day that �we mobilize and demonstrate against the NPP and Young Patriots who have made the use of violent and provocative language their stock-in-trade in a demonstration we have termed �Stop The Ntoa Toa�.� At a news briefing in Accra yesterday to address what it called �Unfounded claims and allegations made by the Young Patriots and other youth groups of the NPP against the NDC government�, Jacob Adongo, a member of the coalition, said it believed that the NPP youth were being encouraged by the Akufo-Addo/Jake Obetsebi Lamptey leadership �to conduct a form of slash and burn politics in Ghana, regardless of the negative effect on the peace and stability we enjoy�. According to Mr. Adongo, �The attitude of the splinter groups within the NPP masquerading as defenders of accountability and good governance is not remotely new to the politics of this country. They have always pretended to know everything than any other group of people.� �They seem to think they understand politics than any other political party in this country. They know how to rule, how to govern and therefore must rule at all times and that any other party democratically elected to govern the country must be maligned�. Mr. Adongo said the recent attacks on President Mills by the Young Patriots, whom he described as �frustrated� and �disgruntled�, were part of �a campaign by a desperate and frustrated political party to win political power by any means �all die be die�. He claimed that the NPP had adopted a strategy to put out �blatant lies� because they knew that any strategy that was going to be based on logic, reasoning and decency would not help their course. He boasted that the NDC government had been able to bring inflation down and stabilized the economy and had also embarked on what he called �massive infrastructural development including the construction of storage facility in Tema to address the perennial shortage of gas, which started under NPP�. He also claimed that the $3billion Chinese loan approved by parliament for infrastructural development and job creation was the �biggest worry of the NPP�. Mr. Adongo also claimed the NDC government had eliminated over 1000 schools under trees and replaced them with well-structured classrooms blocks, while 175 six-unit classroom blocks had been provided for senior high schools, coupled with the distribution of free textbooks, uniforms and 60,000 computers. He said President Mills had upgraded facilities of the health sector and built more clinics and also increased the producer price of cocoa. Ibrahim Murtala Mohammed, a deputy Coordinator of National Youth Employment Programme (NYEP) in charge of communications, who is also a member of the coalition, warned civil society organizations in the country not to dare comment on the actions of the NDC because �they have failed to criticize the NPP whenever they make statements that create tension in the country�. He claimed that the NPP, when in office, �recklessly implemented policies� and should not have any right to criticize the NDC, adding, �In as much as we will not endorse politics of insults, nobody should dare equate Nana Akufo-Addo to President Mills. Thomas Ashong, NDC regional youth organizer, said the intended demonstration was in response to what he called �the noise that the NPP is making�, adding, �They are covering up their deeds and pretending to be innocent�.