The former Senior Minister Mr. John Henry Mensah has stated that former President Rawlings has no moral right to accuse the NPP government of corruption when he and the PNDC government did worse things. "If the former President is not corrupt, then how come a whooping sum of $7 million went missing under his supervision," he asked. According to him, Mr. Rawlings owes Ghanaians an explanation as to how $7 million cash got missing from a total of $10 million, secured by the government of Ghana for the refurbishment of Tema Food Processing Factory. Speaking at an NPP rally in honour of President Kufuor last Saturday at Abuakwa, near Kumasi, and later with journalists in Sunyani, Mr. J.H Mensah disclosed that the former President, during the Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC) regime, took a $10 million loan from two International banks, dubbed the OPECBADEA loan. The loan was meant for the refurbishment of the Tema Food Complex Corporation (TFCC), which was established by Dr. Kwarne Nkrumah. According to J.H. Mensah, after securing the loan, the PNDC government led by Mr. Rawlings used only $3million on the project and then divested the company to SSNIT and IBN, a German group. The Chairman of the National Development Planning Commission (NDPC), said, the deal was exposed by KPMG, an international audit firm, which was contracted by the Auditor General to audit the transaction. He said, up to date, Mr. Rawlings and his PNDC government have not accounted for the remaining $7 million of the money. "There are certain things my in-law (referring to President Kufuor) cannot say but I am not afraid to voice it out. If Rawlings says he is not corrupt, he should tell us the whereabouts of that money," he dared. Mr. Mensah urged Ghanaians to ignore the lies and propaganda being peddled around by the opposition National Democratic Congress. According to him, the opposition NDC's campaign was characterized by deceit, insults and misinformation rather than focusing on issues affecting the good people of this country. He said it would be very suicidal for Ghanaians to hand over the destiny of this country back to the NDC, who according to him, had shown little indication of their readiness to rule this country. The National Chairman of the party, Peter Mac Manu, on his part urged disgruntled members of the NPP who have chosen to go independent after losing primaries to reconsider their decision. Mac Manu noted that with the fresh wind of victory blowing in the camp of the NPP, it would be in the interest of the defeated candidates who have decided to go independent, to rescind their decision and rally behind the party in order to save their political careers. The National Chairman noted that it would not be politically prudent and beneficial on the part of any party member to rival with the party at the constituency level, because according to him "the party is too strong to lose to an independent candidate". The National Chairman's call, which was re-echoed by the President, comes in the wake of the decision by some disgruntled party members and activists, who feel embittered after losing in the primaries held some few months ago, to pursue their political dreams by contesting their various constituency seats as independent candidates. According to Mr. Mac Manu, the party's tremendous achievements in the last seven and half years of its administration have made it so attractive that Ghanaians are ready to renew the mandate of the ruling party and vote massively for the NPP. Mac Manu noted that with the massive support shown at rallies held at Kasoa and Takoradi in the Central and Western Regions respectively, and the enthusiasm shown to the party's presidential running mate, Dr. Maharnudu Bawurnia, are enough indications that the party is on the verge of achieving a resounding victory, come the December elections. "I would therefore urge the prodigal sons and daughters of our dear party to think over their decision in order to secure their political future, because there is no way they can succeed as independent candidates" he stated. Source: The Chronicle