Maintain sanctity of elections — Rawlings

Former President Jerry John Rawlings has said that the sanctity of the electoral process must be preserved by the Electoral Commission (EC) together with the parties and the media in the 2008 general election.
He said the country had a taste of free and fair and transparent elections from 1992 to 2000 and stressed the need for the EC and all stakeholders to ensure free and fair elections to decide the country’s future.
Flt Lt Rawlings said this when he addressed a mammoth rally organised by the Greater Accra regional branch of the party at Mantse-Agbonaa in the Odododiodoo Constituency in Accra on Saturday.
As early as 10 a.m. a large crowd of supporters of the party clad in the party’s paraphernalia had gathered at the square patiently awaiting the arrival of the party’s hierarchy to address them.
While scores of the supporters were drumming and dancing to brass band music to herald the start of the programme, others took the advantage to move from house to house to convince the electorate to vote the NDC back to power to change the economic fortunes of Ghanaians.
Spontaneous cheers greeted the arrival of the former President and his entourage when they arrived and in his usual style, he charged the crowd by blowing a kiss into the air to acknowledge the cheers of the people.
He urged the electorate to vote for a real change by voting the NDC back to power, saying that the record of achievement of the NDC was far better than the eight-year administration of the New Patriotic Party (NPP).
He, therefore, called on Ghanaians to look at their standards of living, as the ruling party told them, when they were yearning for power, and vote for Prof Mills for a real change in their lives.
“There is hope, the country can still be rescued from oppressors’ rule and I believe looking at your present standards of living, you will not make the same mistake you made in 2004 by retaining the ruling party in power,” he stressed.
Flt Lt Rawlings said the wind of change blowing around the world should be an indication to all Ghanaians that there was the need for a real change of government in Ghana.
He said the current administration of the country was riddled with lies, victimisation, vindictiveness and corruption, leaving just the privileged few to harness the country’s vast resources for their own personal aggrandisement.
The General Secretary of NDC, Mr Johnson Asiedu Nketia, said though he agreed that the country’s natural and human resources were important to Ghanaians in this year’s election, he believed the credible management of these resources by a competent leader was the most important.
“The President is the one who can co-ordinate all these resources, and before the country can move forward, there is the need for a real change,” he stated and appealed to Ghanaians to vote for Prof Atta Mills.
Mr Kofi Wayo, the Chairman of the United Renaissance Party (URP), who has given his support to the NDC, said the NPP, since assuming power in 2000, had not been accountable to the people of Ghana.
He lamented the plight of the country’s security personnel, whose standard of living was nothing to talk about, and urged Ghanaians to vote for Prof Mills, who had compassion for them.
The former First Lady, Nana Konadu Agyemang Rawlings, said it was too late for the NPP to move forward now, looking at the state of corruption and injustice in the country.
“This is the time for a real change in the lives of Ghanaians, noting that there was the need for a real change before the country could move forward,” she stated and entreated all Ghanaians to look at their present living conditions and vote for a change.