By Emmanuel Mensah-Abludo
The United Cadres Front (UCF) in the Upper West Region has asked the NPP government to bring “credibility to governance” and uphold democratic principles in its stewardship to the people.
The call was made at a news conference held in Wa as part of activities to commemorate the 44th anniversary of the June 4 Uprising.
The Regional Chairman of the UCF, Michael Tietaa Naguma who addressed the media, indicated that Flt. Lt. J.J. Rawlings burst onto the scene for the greater good of the majority and his revolutionary flame is unquenchable: “Rawlings came with the idea of restructuring the Ghanaian society for the greater majority of the people to enjoy. The relevance of June 4 Revolution remains perpetual because they were ideas that were brought by J.J. Rawlings and these ideas are indelible.
They can never be erased from our conscience if we want good governance.” Mr. Naguma intimated that the economy is wobbling and people cannot get their basic needs adding that the government is aversed to critical voices. “I can see that there is no tolerance towards the Press. It looks like there is a monologue, people want us to praise NPP government always, you criticize the NPP government now, they say you are NDC as if all Ghanaians are NDC or Ghanaians are daft, they cannot think,” he observed.
Other cadres also shared their perspectives. Stephen B. Kpen who was one of them made reference to the PDS and Agyapa deals, saying transparency has been downplayed.
He stated: “There is no transparency in Ghana today as we speak, because everything that is done, is done in the darkness. There is no transparency in government today coupled with all the practices that are going on, nobody can say Ghana is safe. Situation in Ghana, even the 1979 Uprising and the Revolution in 1981.”
A former Upper West Regional Minister, Ambassador Mahmud Khalid stressed the necessity for the powers that be to work in the interest of the citizenry in keeping with the tenets of the June 4 Uprising.
“People in the helm of affairs in government should be doing things that benefit the generality of Ghanaians, but what is happening today is all about corrupt practices, where a few people taking us for a ride and nobody should speak about it. Even the military governments that we have experienced, I can tell you, in my opinion, were more democratic than the system we are going through now,” Mr. Khalid emphasized.
The members of The United Cadres Front paid tribute to Flt. Lt. J.J. Rawlings for returning the country to a constitutional rule which has survived till date and entreated all to internalize J.J.’s legacy of probity, transparency, accountability, and social justice.
