The office of the President has expressed sympathy for the National Democratic Congress (NDC) saying the party needs spiritual deliverance and the Grace of God to overcome its failures. “We wish to conclude that what the NDC needs is GRACE and this, no man can give them. The earlier they confronted the truth squarely, the better for them”. Andrew Awuni, Press Secretary to the President made this statement on Thursday in response to a litany of insults and invectives heaped on President J.A. Kufuor on Thursday by the NDC at a press conference over the country’s recent oil find. The statement was read to the media by Dr. Kwame Ampofo, South Dayi MP, who recently failed in his bid to represent his constituency again in the December elections. The conference, according to him, was in response to President Kufuor’s recent platform utterances when the New Patriotic Party (NPP) held a mammoth rally at Kasoa in the Central Region. The Press Secretary expressed regret that the NDC-organised press conference turned out to be an occasion to lavishly insult the President. “We cannot repeat here the insults that Dr. Ampofo poured on our President and I don’t intend to pay him in his own coin,” he said. Mr. Awuni observed that NDC was plagued with a litany of failures in the energy sector when it was in government “and particularly in the search for oil in Ghana”. Although he endorsed the claim by the NDC that the search for oil featured in the policies of various governments including the Rawlings-led one, he pointed out emphatically: “But we also know that all these efforts were to no avail.” Giving a spiritual touch to the find, the Castle spokesman added that after all the years of searching for the black gold “it pleased God to bring forth to us this otherwise hidden treasure during President Kufuor’s tenure in office”. He said President Kufuor played his role in the oil find as did the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) “but the Grace of God played the greater role and President Kufuor acknowledges this everyday”. He explained that by the close of the year 2000 when the NDC was leaving office, oil had certainly not been found in commercial quantities. But by June 2007 Tullow and Cosmos Energy which began oil exploration at the Jubilee Field in 2004 struck the black gold, which was duly announced to the whole world. Mr. Awuni said the NDC cannot blame President Kufuor and the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) for its failure to strike oil in commercial quantities when it held power, but added that, “we can understand the frustration that comes when failure attends to all your efforts. “It is common knowledge that oil exploration in Ghana began as far back as 1893. We all know that from the colonial governments up until now under President Kufuor, every government has endeavored to explore for oil in this country. We are aware of the efforts the PNDC/NDC made in this area over their 19 long years in office. But we also know that all these efforts were to no avail.” Taunting the NDC and its Kwame Ampofo, the Presidency referred the party to what it described as “missing out on every good thing that has happened to this country, including the National Health Insurance Scheme, the School Feeding Programme, the Capitation Grant, Ghana’s participation in the World Cup, the hosting of the AU Summit, debt cancellation, the construction of the Bui Dam and the several other epoch-making initiatives of this government”. Source Daily Guide