<<Print>>

The New Patriotic Party (NPP) parliamentary aspirant for Ablekuma South, Ms Ursula Owusu, has urged polling station executives and members of the party in general to monitor with eagle eyes the 2012 general election from its beginning till the results were declared. She explained that the admonition formed part of the legitimate steps instituted by the party to prevent electoral malpractices because a review of the 2008 parliamentary results indicated that the NPP lost the seat mainly because the National Democratic Congress (NDC) had a free hand to perpetuated electoral fraud, including changes and increases to official figures declared at the polling stations. Ms Owusu, who was addressing members of the party at the constituency just before the inauguration of the Polling Station Executives for Bishop John Daly, Home Care one and Two, on Saturday, said the NPP had seen through the tricks of the NDC and gave the assurance that the party would place an eagle eye on the process from the polling station to the collation centres till the proper results were declared. �Come December 7, 2012, we will not relax, sleep nor blink an eye. We will ensure that every qualified voter voted once and that ballot is counted once and recorded as such at the polling station. We will follow the results from the polling station to the collation centre to ensure that what was counted and declared at the polling station was exactly what was collated and declared,� she added. Ms Owusu accused Mrs Betty Mould-Iddrisu, Minister of Education and Mr Alex Mould of the National Petroleum Authority for short changing Ghanaians. Elaborating her accusation against the two, she said Mrs Mould-Iddrisu was the one who did not put up any defence in court. Ms Owusu said when Mr Alfred Agbesi Woyome made claims that the state owed him the Minister for Justice and Attorney General went ahead to pay Mr Woyome more than what the court had agreed to be paid. On the part of Mr Mould, she explained that even when a court of competent jurisdiction had asked the National Petroleum Authority to stop certain components of the petroleum price build up because they were illegal, he had refused to heed the court directive and to make matters worse, had gone ahead to increase fuel prices. She accused the Mills administration of bringing untold hardship on the people of Ghana by increasing fuel prices during what she described as �a dry Christmas festivities�. Ms Owusu stated that there was every indication that the Mills Administration had failed Ghanaians and must be booted out for Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo to be sworn in as the next president to continue the good policies of former President Kuffuor. She said the difference between the NDC and the NPP was that former was good in making promises they could not honour and assured the gathering that just as the Kuffuor Administration implemented the National Health Insurance Scheme, Nana Akufo Addo would make SHS free for parents to have some relief. A Spokesperson for Nana Akufo Addo, Mr Abu Jinapo, indicated that the NPP Communication team had made the Woyome-Judgement Debt saga, a major campaign issue for the 2012 elections campaign message because to them, the payment amounted to a perpetuation of fraud on the people of Ghana. He said the Communication Team was worried about the illegitimate payment of such a huge amount while the ordinary Ghana continue to wallow in abject poverty and deprivation and wondered why President JEA Mills, who was touted as the epitome of probity, accountability and transparency would allow such �day light robbery� under his watch. He described as ironical the claim by the NDC that former President Kuffuor supervised corruption during his tenure of office. This was because �three years after Kuffuor had left office, not even a single messenger in the Kuffuor Administration has been convicted of corruption�. Mr Jinapo said the NPP was committed to free, fair, transparent and peaceful elections but added that if the party realised that the security agencies would stand aloof in the face of intimidation and electoral fraud, �we will defend the ballot with our life�. Inaugurating the polling station executives, a former Chief Executive of Accra and a leading member of the party, Mr Stanley Adjiri Blankson urged the members not to pride themselves in the positions they have but to move from house to house to encourage people to register when the voters register was opened. He also appealed to them to also educate the electorate about the policies and programmes of the next NPP and why they should reject the Mills Administration but cautioned the members not to use insulting language even in the face of provocation.