The flagbearer of the National Democratic Congress, Prof. Evans Atta-Mills on Monday returned salvoes he says President Kufuor fired at the NDC and said the country needs a unifying leader. Prof. Mills was speaking at a news conference to respond to what the party called attacks by President Kufuor on the NDC at this year’s People’s Assembly held in the Brong Ahafo regional capital, Sunyani. Prof. Mills cited achievements chalked by the NDC during its tenure, including the Aveyime Rice Project to counteract what he described as false allegations by President Kufuor that the NPP inherited a messy economy from the NDC. “In any case, at the end of January 2001, the very first month that President Kufuor assumed office, all public and civil servants were duly paid. Some contractors were also paid. That was the very month in which President Kufuor and his Ministers started the very expensive renovations to his residence, the State House, the Castle and to the ministerial and other official bungalows. “If the NPP Government inherited empty coffers, where did the NPP Government get money from to cover all that expenditure?” Prof. Mills said as Ghana got ready to celebrate her 50th Independence Anniversary, the occasion ought to bring all Ghanaians together in a celebration of hope and unity. He said it was ironic that the NPP, being an offshoot of the Busia-Danquah tradition that opposed the ‘Motion of Destiny’ proposed by Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah in 1956 and which paved the way for independence, who were today the political leaders of Ghana. “And so I had wished President Kufuor was sincere when in his New Year address to the nation he described the Golden Jubilee as an opportunity to demonstrate our unity as a nation, going on to say that we should find in our hearts to engage in positive thoughts that recognize the value in each one of us and which encourages us to be each other’s keeper. “Fine words, but did President Kufuor really mean the words he spoke? Apparently, he did not.” Prof. Mills said only days after the ‘fine words’ in a New Year’s broadcast, President Kufuor told his Ministers, District Chief Executives and other appointees something quite the opposite; “That they must know on which side their bread is buttered when it comes to giving jobs and awarding contracts.” “The full meaning of the President’s directive became evident when it emerged a week later that a considerable number of stalls constructed for hawkers at the Accra Hawkers Market have been earmarked as ‘protocol allocation’, obviously for the benefit of NPP hirelings.” Prof. Mills catalogued a number of ills in the society, including “poverty on the increase, school fees rising, drug trafficking of unprecedented magnitude, rising crime wave, scandal and corruption in the government, power cuts, water shortages, widening gap between rich and poor and many more.” On corruption, he said President Kufuor “repeated his swan song” at the People’s Assembly in Sunyani “that anyone who has evidence of corruption against any NPP appointee must present it for action to be taken.” “I hope somebody would advise President Kufuor to stop belittling the profession to which he belongs by insisting on evidence before investigation. Every first year Law student knows that you investigate an allegation to gather evidence for prosecution; not the other way round. If you already have the evidence, then there is no need for investigation. You go to trial. He said “The President has made it obvious that he does not have what it takes to deal with corruption in his own backyard. ” He said Ghanaians everywhere wanted a leader who would speak to their hopes for a better future and act on them. “I will restore truth and trust between the government and people. And I want to make sure Ghanaians eat, and eat well for less. So food production will be number one on my priority list.”