The Campaign Team of the Convention People's Party's flag bearer, Dr. Paa Kwesi Nduom, has responded to comments attributed to Nana Ohene Ntow, New Patriotic Party General Secretary, imputing that Nduom cannot be the best candidate for President because he could not even complete his apprenticeship under the NPP. Read the full rebuttal. First they ignore you Then they laugh at you Then they fight you Then you win - Mahatma Ghandi The above quotation sums up the general feeling against the CPP by the other political parties today. Many attacks have come from different angles, especially from the Akufo-Addo campaign team which is fond of calling other candidates names. The latest one was when the General Secretary of the NPP is reported in The Independent newspaper of Tuesday 2nd June, 2008 to have referred to Dr. Paa Kwesi Nduom as ‘… our apprentice who ran away before he finished his apprenticeship.’ This was when he addressed the Ghanaian Community in Canada last Friday while Akufo-Addo looked on grinning with pleasure. We want to make it very clear to Nana Ohene Ntow and the Akufo-Addo campaign team that Dr. Nduom resigned of his own free will. The one who was forced to resign was Nana Akufo-Addo. Since Nduom the “apprentice ran away”, look what has happened to the Kufuor Administration and the Ghanaian economy. Who is the “apprentice”? But what an ingenious apprentice Dr. Nduom was? An apprentice without whom there would be no HIPC, no debt relief, no economic stabilisation, no National Identification System, no public sector reform, no reform at VRA, no Osagyefo Power Barge at Effasu to encourage oil and gas exploration, no MCA $547 million , no GPRS. And talking about the MCA, Nana Akufo-Addo the other “apprentice” (along with other “apprentices” Vice President Aliu Mahama, Osafo-Maafo, Baah-Wiredu, Konadu Apraku etc.) was a mere spectator at the signing! We have always said that we want a campaign of ideas and solutions that will help solve the country’s problems and not the politics of acrimony. Our flag bearer has put a number of ideas out there about how to effectively clean our environment, how to ensure food security, how to get uninterrupted electricity supply among others. Inflation is heading for 20% and people cannot transport themselves to work, let alone feed themselves. What will Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo do differently? Will he do the same things that are making Ghanaians suffer today or will he bring new ideas? What did he accomplish as a minister that Ghanaians will cite as an example to vote for him? In the interest of their own campaign the Akufo-Addo team should stop calling Nduom names. We know that Akufo-Addo’s only claim to fame is human rights campaigner and a member of the NPP. We are sure the about 42 Ghanaians who died in Gambia have no rights at all. He was the Foreign Minister then and we are sure he is very happy with his handling of the situation. Liberians were trampled upon by his administration, Zimbabwe is heading towards a stage of non-existence and the least said about Darfur, the better. Are these human rights issues? Why has Nana Akufo-Addo the human rights commando kept silent? Or is it a case of selective Human ‘Rightism’? Ghanaians would want to know because they will not leave this country in the hands of someone who will pay selective attention to our many problems. We know that your party is perceived of being an “elitist” one that does not care for the ordinary man or woman. Gabby Otchere Darko, not too long ago, referred to Dr. Nduom as a ‘mere assembly man’ in one of his usual unguided attacks. Ghanaians are watching, assemblymen are listening, the ordinary Ghanaian men and women are paying attention to who is saying what. The day of reckoning, December 7, will come and the people you are debasing today will vote for the one who represents the ideals of the “common people” that Akufo-Addo people love to put down at every opportunity – Paa Kwesi Nduom. Source: GHP