Re – CPP must not peddle lies about NPP – Bugri

Dear Sir,

RE – CPP MUST NOT PEDDLE LIES ABOUT NPP-BUGRI

I write in response to your article published in the Daily Graphic of Thursday June 16, 2011, under the headline: “CPP MUST NOT PEDDLE LIES ABOUT NPP-BUGRI”.

1. I wish to reiterate that Mr. Seibik Bugri, a former Deputy Coordinator of the National Youth Employment Programme (NYEP) who was sacked soon after the NDC took over from the NPP in 2009, is himself a victim of the bad NDC/NPP political governance system that the CPP and other progressive civil society groups are trying to change.

2. The CPP’s claim that the National Youth Employment Programme (NYEP), Microfinance and Small Loan Centres (MASLOC) scheme and the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP), among others have been operated and continue to be operated to benefit party activist who turn the monies round to buy votes remains a cold matter of fact and a typical example of bad socio-economic governance.

3. If the NYEP had been operated in an equitable and fair manner, Mr. Bugri would not have lost his job as Deputy Coordinator when the NDC came into power. If NYEP was not operated as a party scheme to benefit party activists the Yellow shirts the NYEP employees wore under the NPP regime would not have been changed to Blue. If the MASLOC scheme was operated in a fair manner, NPP delegates in Obuasi would not have been given MASLOC cash to vote for the incumbent Member of Parliament at their 2008 primaries. If MASLOC was not operated to benefit political functionaries, how would a General Secretary of a ruling party compete with small business operators for MASLOC facility when there is not sufficient to go round those who genuinely need the money? Are these the lies, Mr. Bugri claims CPP is peddling about the NPP?

4. Are Mr. Bugri’s complaints genuine or a cover up of his guilt for operating a system that has “eaten him alive” and truncated his career as a Youth Development Officer? The CPP’s call for a fairer operation of the social intervention schemes was not a selfish demand. It is part of the genuine campaign to change the political infrastructure built by the NDC and NPP which benefits party activists to the neglect of other citizens.

5. If Mr. Bugri knows what is good for him and the young people of Ghana, he would come off the unnecessary defence of the system that has victimized him because of his political inclinations, to give his fullest support to the CPP in the fight to change Ghana for the best.

6. As Ghanaians remain in need of the basics of life, our goal as a Party are clear: “…to establish in Ghana a strong and progressive society in which no one will have any anxiety about the basic means of life, about work, food and shelter; where poverty and illiteracy no longer exist and disease is brought under control; and where our educational facilities provide all the children with the best possibilities for the development of their potentialities.”

7. This goal inspired the CPP Cabinet in the First Republic to work with a sense of urgency. It still provides us with enough motivation to move our country through a path that is very different from that which the NDC and the NPP have offered so far in the Fourth Republic. Advances in science and technology bring in their wake new abilities to bridge geographical and developmental gaps. What the CPP will do is use these advances to bring about social transformation, fairness, justice and increased prosperity for all our people.

8. The CPP’s key objective is to “bring the economy back home”. This unique signature is captured in the official manifestos of the Party since 2004. The objective is consistent with the Party’s principle of self determination. It means that the CPP’s economic policy will be felt and as a result, known in every village, town and municipality in all corners of our country. Our economic objective is different from what has been offered by NDC 1 & 2 and NPP 1 Administrations.

9. In practical terms it means that the CPP will take an aggressive posture to wean the economy away from the IMF, the World Bank and other international finance institutions. It means that the CPP will not mortgage the future of our children and our natural resources to our detriment and the benefit of other nations as we believe the STX Korea agreement and existing oil and gas agreements will do.

10. It means that the CPP will not even dream of selling the Agricultural Development Bank or the Ghana Railways Company but will rather develop and modernize them to serve the national interest. It means that we will bring back to life the Jute factory to provide the essential sacks to carry the cocoa we produce not only to factories abroad but to our own indigenous value-adding processing plants at home.

11. It means that we will re-design agreements for the exploration of natural resources such as gold, diamond, bauxite and oil and gas to ensure that Ghanaian entrepreneurs, investors, professionals and workers become the main players and the people of Ghana the main beneficiaries. It means that we will achieve this by changing the laws that govern our extractive industries to allow Ghanaians full participation through financial and technical support to local companies. It also means that we will use the right of the state to tax to discourage unbridled importation of everything under the earth and use the revenues to promote the development of our own enterprises.

12. It means the Finance & Economic Planning Ministry under a CPP Administration will launch in January 2013, an aggressive crusade to buy locally produced goods and services. The CPP believes that the State matters and that the State has an important role to play in the economy. We believe that it is the job of government to prepare its people and give them the necessary opportunities to overcome inexperience and inadequate capital. This is what the CPP will do.

13. Quite often reference is made to the progress made by some of the countries who were at par or behind Ghana in terms of per capita income at the time of our independence on 6th March 1957. Specific reference is made to Singapore, Malaysia and South Korea in suggesting that comparatively, Ghana has not lived up to expectations. Many of the analysts or commentators fail to appreciate the positive role played by the State in Singapore, South Korea and Malaysia to directly assist their private sectors to grow and prosper. It must be stated that when these countries were off and running in the 1970s and 1980s, Ghana was labouring under the weight of military intervention. Too often, the NDC and the NPP people repeat “…the private sector is the engine of growth” and leave the domestic private sector alone to fend for itself. The CPP will not make this same mistake.

14. What the CPP will do is inject a heavy dose of the state’s participation to support domestic industries and job creation. We will act with a sense of urgency to “stimulate” the development and growth of domestic industries, the type that creates well-paying jobs that will put real money in the pockets of Ghanaian men and women.

15. Mr. Bugri must come again and show compelling evidence of CPP peddling lies to win political power. Our invitation to Mr. Bugri and other victims of the NDC/NPP political system remain open. The system we are bent on changing for the benefit of all Ghanaians is dangerous to the very survival of victims like Mr. Bugri. There is therefore no justification whatsoever to maintain it. Ghana needs real change and it is only the CPP that will deliver that change.

Signed:
William Dowokpor,
Director of Communications CPP.