President J.A Kufuor on Saturday opened the delegate’s conference of the New Patriotic Party with a stern warning to the party’s presidential aspirants who hold ministerial portfolios that he will not hesitate to deal with them if they neglect their duties as ministers of state. He said he had on many occasions warned them not to “peak” before time but in a benign manner he had over looked the activities while keeping a close watch on their respective ministries to ensure that they perform their duties as expected. “Government has not been derelict in its duties. I shall watch and act,” he warned. The three day conference under the theme, “Moving Forward in Unity,” ended on Sunday. It aimed at evaluating the performance of the party and charting a new course for the future. President Kufuor noted that “parties” do not choose presidents; it is the nation at large that does” and he therefore urged the delegates to choose a person who would be acceptable to a sizeable portion of the majority of the citizenry. He said the delegates were expected to select a leader who would appreciate the party’s time tested traditions and values, adding that the leader should be a person who could hold all sections of the party together and one who was humble enough to hold himself accountable to the party and the nation. According to the Ghanaian Times, the President stated that since the NPP assumed power, it had done a lot for the nation but it was unfortunate that it had not been able to tell its success story to the electorate of Ghana, he stated. The Heavily Indebted Poor Country Initiative, he said, resulted in 4 billion dollars of debt forgiveness from the country’s bilateral donors while this year’s inflows from multi lateral donors will be over 317 million dollars. For the first time in decades, he said the national reserves have exceeded 2 billion dollars. President Kufuor said despite all these positive ratings, opponents of the government were deliberately taking undue advantage of the fact that full economic recovery cannot occur overnight. They continue to sing “no money in our pockets,” to distract the focus and added that support should be given to the electorate for the quality service being rendered. He said it was sad that some of the rank and file of the party had joined in the chorus, even though most Ghanaians believed in the success story of the party and the government. “So let none of us give comfort to our opponents with their negative propaganda,” he said. The chairman of the NPP, Peter Mac Manu asked members of the party to be guided by the spirit of unity and close their ranks in order to concentrate on its development. He admitted that there were minor conflicts in the party but said members should not use any extra judicial means to resolve them but should go by the laid down procedures. Source: The Ghanaian Times