An activist of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Mr Osei Yaw Nketiah, aka Dr. Asem Fafro, has challenged members of the party to be bold and courageous to defend government policies and actions. He said challenges facing the economy were enormous which required the government's communication machinery to be up and doing in explaining pragmatic measures being adopted to overcome the problems. Mr Nketiah told the Daily Graphic Tuesday that he was not happy about the inability of the government's communication machinery to explain issues on the shortage of petrol, premix fuel and the rising cost of cement, among others. He expressed concern about the regular negative comments being made against the party by some members of the opposition parties. According to him, if realistic measures were not adopted to counteract the lies being peddled by opponents of the NDC in the newspapers and on the air, they would negatively affect the party's fortunes in the 2012 general election. Mr Nketiah said when the New Patriotic Party (NPP) was in power, its politicians like Messrs Yaw Osafo-Maafo, Dan Botwe, Albert Kan Dapaa and Kwabena Agyapong took pains to react to allegations made against the party by explaining issues clearly to the satisfaction of the masses. "I am very much worried about the way the Finance and Economic Planning Minister, Dr Kwabena Duffuor, the Energy Minister, Dr Oteng Adjei and the Government Spokesperson, Mr Mahama Ayariga sit down unconcerned for the rumour mongers to have a field day, by not counteracting their lies with tangible explanation," he stressed. He said when Nana Akufo-Addo was leading during the first round of the 2008 general election and the NDC had the large number of parliamentarians, Mr Johnson Asiedu Nketiah took pains to explain to Ghanaians that once the NDC had the majority of the Members of Parliament (MPs), if they voted for the NPP, the party could not get their policies through as they would be rejected by the NDC. Mr Nketiah said the explanation by Mr Asiedu Nketiah helped the NDC to win the election. He noted with regret that when the NDC was in opposition, Fiifi Kwetey held a series of news conferences accusing the NPP of being insensitive to the plight of Ghanaians that was why it increased fuel prices arbitrarily, but now that he was comfortable with his position as a deputy minister, he was sitting aloof for people to embarrass his party. He appealed to the government to reduce the price of cement to make it affordable to the ordinary Ghanaian. Mr. Nketiah also enjoined the government t to increase the producer price of cocoa, the mainstay of the economy to encourage farmers to maximize their output to increase the country’s foreign exchange earnings. Touching on the three-year duration of the Senior High School proposed by the NDC government, he said it must be backed by a law in Parliament so that no future government could reverse the period. Mr Nketiah condemned the recent pronouncements by Dr Ekwow Spio-Garbrah, and implored the top hierarchy of the NDC to sit down with Dr Spio-Garbrah and tell him in his face that he should discontinue with his unnecessary attacks on the NDC government as they could have negative repercussions on the party. On the Mabey & Johnson case, he urged the government to conduct thorough investigations into it and punish those found guilty of the allegations. He stressed that he was still a loyal member of the NDC despite the differences he had with some party members recently. Source: Daily Graphic