NDC asks President Kufuor to brief candidates on economic situation

The National Democratic Congress (NDC) on Tuesday asked President John Agyekum Kufuor brief the presidential candidates about the state of the economy.
     In a statement issued in Accra by Mr Johnson Asiedu Nketiah, the NDC said the government's economic team could do the briefing if the president himself would not be available.
     "That way, he will be seen to be putting Ghana first and not the (New Patriotic Party) NPP first, which is what he has been doing ever since he became the President of the country."
     The NDC said its statement was in reaction to a statement read by the NPP presidential candidate, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, about an initiative he had taken in relation to the global financial crisis originating from the US.
     "We wish to express our disappointment at the abandonment of responsibility by President J.A. Kufuor in such an important matter.  We want to ask the question, 'who is president of Ghana today? Is it J.A. Kufuor or Nana Akufo-Addo?'
     The NDC noted that in the US where the crisis originated, President George W. Bush, with as little time left of his presidency as President Kufuor, took charge of the crisis and summoned the two leading presidential candidates to discuss and seek a non-partisan solution to the crisis. 
     "In the end, he succeeded and got both the Democratic and Republican candidates to buy into his salvage plan.
     "We of the NDC have been waiting for such a show of leadership from President Kufuor in order to respond positively to enable us all prove to the world that in the face of a common adversity, we are one country and one people instead.
     "The President has left on a state visit to (the Netherlands) and left it to Nana Akufo-Addo to attempt to respond to the crisis, unmindful of the fact that even in his absence, there is a sitting Vice President in the person of Alhaji Aliu Mahama."
     The NDC said the importance of having President Kufuor to act in a situation such as this was that nobody knew who would win the December elections and it was important to let all the presidential candidates feel like they would be part of the solution should they win the elections. 
     It said Nana Akufo-Addo's action, "in taking the lead and pretending to act presidential will only add to the shock of his defeat in December".
     "Until a new President is sworn in on January 7, 2009, the country has only one President in the person of John Agyekum Kufuor. 
     "It is high time the President showed political leadership. Leaving it to his party's Presidential candidate to try to get political mileage out of what could very well be a national calamity is tantamount to abandoning the national interest on the altar of partisan political interest."