The arrival of former President Rawlings in Tamale on Monday attracted the largest crowd ever seen in the metropolis in recent years.
The former President, who described the milling crowd who had gathered all day at the Tamale Police Jubilee Park as overwhelming, affirmed his party’s readiness to ensure peaceful, fair and transparent elections in December.
‘‘Peace shall reign in the country if we all go to the polls with open hearts and minds; and anybody who might want to disrupt the elections would face the wrath of the people,” he added.
The former President stated that ‘‘those calling for peace should know that we know peace, we understand peace; they should rather tell our opponents to behave’’, adding that ‘‘nobody should make the mistake of tampering with the sanctity of the electoral system”.
He further urged the people to be vigilant on election day and to protect the polls just as they would their homes and families.
According to former President Rawlings,the NDC government, which he said performed creditably, had laid a solid foundation for the accelerated development of the country and that if the present government had continued from where the former left off, Ghanaians would have been in ‘‘paradise’’ and not what now pertained in the country.
The rally, which followed that of the NPP in Tamale a couple of days earlier, saw party faithful come from all parts of the metropolis, clad in party paraphernalia and singing and dancing to party songs.
Business activities were paralysed, while the beautifully designed roads were taken over by the ecstatic crowd, compelling vehicles to meander through the human traffic at the time former President was yet to arrive.
When he finally arrived around 4 p.m., the enthusiastic supporters yelled out his name, waved and craned their necks to catch a glimpse of him. Others ran after his vehicle, making it difficult for the security personnel to operate.
At the Police Park, where the masses had gathered since morning, people jostled one another to see and listen to the former President when the rally started.
Former President Rawlings advised them to make the election incident-free by being cautious to avoid accidents because ‘‘Ghana needs all of you alive”.
In a related development Alhandu Abdul-Hamid reports from Navrongo that Flt. Lt. Rawlings, who is also the Founder of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), has rounded off his campaign tour of the Upper East Region, with a call on the people never to make the mistake of retaining the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in power.
He was addressing teeming supporters of the NDC at Navrongo as part of the tour.
He said conditions were so bad that the average Ghanaian could not educate his child to the university level which was not the case when the NDC was in power.
He added that civil and public servants could not even save their monthly salary to take care of their children’s school fees.
He noted that people did not appreciate the conditions under which they lived prior to the revolution but they now knew how far the Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC) and the NDC had contributed to the development of the country.
He said, during his rule, the NDC was able to extend electricity from 20 per cent to 95 per cent access throughout the country.
He added that the NDC was also able to provide potable water to rural communities and also managed to reduce the rate of guinea worm infection, but said it was sad that Ghana was now recording large increases in guinea worm cases.
The former President said President John Agyekum Kufuor was mismanaging the country and alleged that government officials were corrupt.
“During our time nobody could do this and get away with it because we were accountable to the people, and I left office without taking a pesewa from the national coffers,” he stated.
He observed that in the 37 years of public service of Prof Atta Mills, not a single case of corruption had been cited against him and challenged anybody with a contrary record to come out.
He emphasised that Ministers and District Chief Executives who served under his regime were men of integrity, who served with distinction. He asked the people to compare this with the current Ministers who had joined in the looting spree.
Former President Rawlings said a wind of change was blowing all over the country and that Ghanaians were on the verge of restoring the freedom and justice that had been taken away from them over the past eight years.
He elaborated that this freedom could only be realised, if Ghanaians could come out and vote massively for the NDC. He called on the party faithful to religiously guard the ballot boxes on election day.
He expressed regret at the way the University for Development Studies (UDS), which was very dear to him, had been neglected and said the NDC would continue with all development projects that had been neglected, including those the current government had initiated.
The National Chairman of the party, Dr Kwabena Adjei, urged the youth not to relax but to intensify their campaign and that even though Upper East was a safe region for the party, they wanted to increase the percentage to 90.
Other personalities who addressed the rally were the Special Aide to the Former President, Mr Kofi Adams, the NDC parliamentary candidate (MP) for Navrongo Central, Mr Mark Woyongo and the MP for Chiana-Page , Mr Abuga Pele.
No comments:
Post a Comment