PROFESSOR John Evans Atta Mills, the Presidential Candidate of the National Democratic Congress(NDC), has assured Ghanaians of his readiness to serve the nation as their next President and Head of state.

“ I am ready”, Professor Atta Mills told a cheering crowd of ecstatic NDC faithful and the media, which gathered at the his campaign centre at Kuku Hill, Osu, in Accra, last Wednesday afternoon, soon after the Chairman of the National Electoral Commission, Dr. Kwadwo Afari-Gyan announced that the results of the presidential poll held last Sunday, December 7, 2008 had ended in a stalemate.

The Electoral Commissioner had announced that none of the eight Presidential Candidates had obtained the constitutionally mandated 50 percent plus one(50%+1) vote, to be declared a winner.

He therefore announced that there would be a run off of the presidential poll on December 28, 2008, between the two leading contenders, Professor John Evans Atta Mills of the National Democratic Congress(NDC) and Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo of the New Patriotic Party(NPP), as constitutionally demanded.

Professor Mills of the NDC secured 4,056,634 of the valid votes cast, being 47.92 percent(47.93%) while Nana Akufo-Addo of the NPP garnered 4,159,439 votes being 49.13 percent(49.13%), of perhaps the most competitive presidential elections held in recent times in Ghana.

In the Parliamentary elections, the National Democratic Congress(NDC) has taken over control of the legislature winning over one hundred and fifteen(115) seats, in the process securing a working majority in Parliament and also taking control of seven of the ten administrative regions of the country.

The National Democratic Congress won majority of Parliamentary seats in Greater Accra Region, where three extra seats earlier announced to have been won by the NDC are in dispute currently. If any of these seats are declared for the NDC, the party's majority in the legislature would increase< further.

The party also won majority of seats in the Central Region, which happens to be the home region of the NDC's Presidential Candidate, Professor Atta Mills, Northern Region home of the Vice-Presidential Candidate, John Dramani Mahama, Volta Region, home of the founder of the Party, former President J. J. Rawlings, Upper East, Upper West and Western Regions.

Professor Mills, in accepting the results of last Sunday's presidential polls, also accepted the challenge of a run off, and assured Ghanaians that he was ready for the hard work and sacrifice that would transform the lives of Ghanaians.

He promised that as soon as assuming office, when elected President, one of the very first acts that he would undertake would be to take measures to reduce the price of petrol and other petroleum products due to the fact that the price of crude oil on the world market has fallen drastically from US 147 dollars per barrel, to the present level of US42 dollars.

He wondered why the government which was very quick in increasing the prices of petroleum products when the price of crude oil was high now refuses to reduce prices when crude oil is now selling at much lower price at US42 dollars per barrel.

The NDC Presidential Candidate promised Ghanaian public workers, the Armed Forces, the Police and the other security services that he would do everything in his power, as the President of the country to improve their conditions of service to enable them live better lives. He congratulated them for the good work they did in assisting the Electoral Commission to successfully conduct the elections without any major incidents.

Professor Mills invited the other political parties, particularly those which campaigned on the platform of change in last Sunday's elections, to join forces with him in the run off in order to achieve victory which would bring the change that Ghanaians so much are yearning for. “Together, we have already won about 51 percent of the votes and we only need to actualize this victory on December 28, he told the cheering crowd.”

He congratulated the Electoral Commission for doing a good job and hoped the Commission would do the same during the run off which would take place on December 7, 2008.

He also urged members, sympathizers and well-wishers of the National Democratic Congress, the supporters of the other opposition parties and all Ghanaians to psyche themselves up for more hard work so that together they would achieve resounding victory on December 28, which is less than three weeks away.

Professor Atta Mills thanked Ghanaians for the support they had given him so far and appealed to them to remain resolute until final victory is achieved on December 28, 2008. When the NDC's campaign song “ Nsesamu” (change) was struck after Professor Mills' address, the expectant crowd broke into a spontaneous dance with the change sign.

THE leadership of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) is proving too womanish, in the face of the open thievery by the New Patriotic Party (NPP), which is clandestinely retrieving the seats it lost, especially in the Greater Accra Region.

In constituencies like Weija and Ayawaso Central, where the NDC had won the elections, hands down, the NPP, with the connivance of some electoral officials and security officers, have through dubious ways, with ballot boxes, roughly handled, have managed to get their candidates declared as winners, after some kind of re-counting of votes.In the case of Weija, where NPP rogues, were caught red-handed in the process of stuffing ballot boxes, with extra stamped ballot papers in favour of their candidate, although the attention of the police and all concerned had been drawn to that electoral robbery, it has turned out that the defeated NPP candidate has been declared the winner.

At Ayawaso Central, the NPP's Sheikh I.C. Quaye, who lost, miserably, had to seek refuge in several rounds of re-counting exercise, eventually to be declared winner.

At Akwatia, in the Eastern Region, a stolen ballot box was later found in an NPP chairman's house.

Although all these criminal cases have been brought to the notice of the national executive, it appears very little action is being taken to remedy the situation, as well as get the culprits, most of whom have been identified, to face the law.

We consider this act, as most unfortunate, especially so, when there is a bigger task, facing the party on December 28.

This is no time for the endless press conferences. It is time for action, or we lose our ventures! Period!!

THE National Democratic Congress(NDC) has proved its grass roots tradition and established the reputation as a truly national party with roots in every corner of the country, from Hamile to Cape three points and from Aflao to Elubo, by coming from behind to breeze away from the ruling New Patriotic Party(NPP), to capture Parliament and take control of seven regions in the country.

With that development, the NDC has proved beyond any reasonable doubts and shown clearly that it is the only ethnically diverse political party in the country that is capable of uniting the people.

The NDC won clear victories in the Volta Region one of its well known strongholds and which is the home region of the party's founder and former President Jerry John Rawlings, the Central Region where Professor John Evans Atta Mills hails from, the Northern region, home region of NDC Vice-Presidential Candidate Hon. John Dramani Mahama, Upper East and Upper West Regions as well as the Western Region which seemed to have been shared by the other parties in the race.

According to a Governance Expert of one of the governance Non-Governmental Orgainzations in the country, involved with the political parties, the NDC's majority in Parliament and the fact that seven out of ten regions voted for the party gives the NDC a better moral claim to rule the country for the next four year than any other party.

He pointed out that the New Patriotic Party(NPP) won only the Akan dominated regions of Ashanti, Eastern and Brong Ahafo and cautioned that, that development was dangerous for the cohesion of the country as it portrays the NPP as an ethnically inclined party. “ That is dangerous for the unity of the country as the country's cohesion is threatened if the governed see the ruling party as lording it over them for whatever reasons.”He said the verdict of the people in last Sunday's elections was that the New Patriotic Party government has been rejected by the largest demographic spread of the country and therefore what is needed now is for the people to give NDC the full mandate on December 28, so that there would be cohesion in the country's body politic.

Turning to the NDC's Parliamentary majority, the Governance Expert told the 'Ghana Palaver' that currently the NDC controls parliament with a working majority. He said in the peculiar circumstances where the President would need Parliament to enable him rule successfully, it would be better for the country to give the mandate to the NDC to complete the transition.

He pointed out to the 'Ghana Palaver' that he sees a real danger and complications in the country for the next four years where the NDC claims legitimacy in seven regions while the executive power resides in another party which has won in only three regions.

“That certainly would not augur well for the smooth administration of the country.” To avoid the danger, he advised Ghanaians to “ give the mandate to the Professor Mills of the NDC whose party already has majority in Parliament, so that ruling the country would not encounter difficulties.”

On whether he could conjure any reasons why the electorate had rejected the NPP in the election, he replied that the NPP government took Ghanaians for granted and did not listen to public opinion. “These people were too arrogant to come down to earth and listen to the cry of the people. While ordinary Ghanaians were suffering, the life styles of NPP government operatives were living like kings and queens.”

He advised the NDC to tell Ghanaians in concrete terms what their programmes are for solving the numerous problems facing the people, adding “In this second round, the NDC must play on its strengths as a party that had been in government before, and is ready to govern again, but with better understanding of the needs of the people.

Authentic information available to the 'Ghana Palaver' from unimpeachable sources within the Bank of Ghana(BoG) and confirmed by officials of the Auditor-General's Department, speak of a horrible mess of the Bank's accounts, relating to the Cedi Re-Denomination Exercise, carried out, last year, from July to December, 2007. According to a very Senior Management Official of the Bank of Ghana(BoG), who confided in the 'Ghana Palaver' under strict anonymity, auditing of the accounts of the Bank relating to currency re-denomination exercise, should have been completed within six months after the completion of the exercise. But since December 2007, after the exercise was over, according to the sources, strenuous efforts by officials of the Auditor-General's Department, who attempted to audit the accounts and to reconcile the currency redenomination exercise as a whole, have failed completely. In the end, the Auditors had to give up on the exercise in order to report back to their Boss at the Auditor-General's Department, for him to determine the next line of action to be taken. The Bank of Ghana Official reminded to the 'Ghana Palaver' about the developments during the currency redenomination exercise when the functions of the Vault Manager, Mr. Richard Dente, was so much interfered with, as huge amounts of money were moved away from the Bank's vaults without his knowledge, and said he was not surprised that matters have come to this extent, that the accounts could not be balanced. The 'Ghana Palaver' brings to its valued readers, reports carried out during the Cedi redenomination exercise at the time in 2007, which had finally led to this horrible development. Readers would also recall that immediately after his nomination by Nana Akufo-Addo, the Presidential Candidate of the New Patriotic Party(NPP), Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, was immediately hailed as the man who designed and supervised the Cedi Re -Denomination Exercise and a host of other monetary and economic policies carried out by the Bank of Ghana, since the NPP came to power. This report of a horrible mess created by the re-denomination exercise can only be laid at the very office of Dr. Bawumia, the Vice-Presidential Running Mate of Nana Akufo-Addo. Please read below some of the goings-on during the re-denomination exercise, as reported then by your authentic 'Ghana Palaver'.

A letter written by the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning, dated December 12, 2008, with reference No.B 740/MOFA/08/03 and addressed to the Accountant-General reveals that the NPP government, even at this very late hour in their term, still withdrawing various huge sums of money from the coffers of the state for payment of questionable projects that one would find difficult to verify. The letter in question, written and signed by Hon. Professor G. Gyan-Baafour, Deputy Minister in charge of the Ministry of Finance authorized the Controller and Accountant-General, to pay to the Ministry of Fisheries an amount of GH¢2,500,000.00 (Two Million, Five Hundred Thousand Ghana Cedis) or Two Billion Five Hundred Million Cedis in the old cedi currency. The contents of the letter indicated that a certain company-- M/s. Rural Waste Limited, was to be paid the amount of GH¢2,500,000 for merely clearing sites for fish landing projects. According to a Project Consultant that the 'Ghana Palaver' spoke to, in connection with this payment, site clearing cannot be given as a separate contract to a different company, while another company does the real construction. He told the 'Ghana Palaver' that site preparation or clearing must be part of the main contract and Contractors are paid what he called 'mobilization' money for that aspect of the contract. Another very disturbing fact is that the amount being used in this questionable payment is part of a Canadian Government grant to Ghana in support of the Agricultural sector to help feed the good people of Ghana. We publish below, the letter to the Controller and Accountant-General , for the verification of Ghanaians:

DESPERATION has set into the New Patriotic Party(NPP) presidential Candidate, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, President Kufuor and the entire New Patriotic Party(NPP) leadership. They have now resorted to Akyem and Ashanti tribal politics, cajoling and begging their tribesmen who rejected their Presidential Candidate in the December 7 elections, to vote for him, during the re-run of the presidential poll on Sunday December 28, 2008, just a week and a half away. Since the events of elections 2008, on December 7, 2008, in which the truly national, National Democratic Congress(NDC) and the minority parties handed down a totally humiliating defeat in both the Presidential and Parliamentary elections, with the NDC winning the majority of the parliamentary seats in the seven out of the ten administrative regions, in the country, and the combined opposition defeating the ruling NPP by 51 percent of the valid votes cast, the leadership of the NPP have now fanned out into the Akan dominated regions of Eastern, Ashanti and parts of Brong Ahafo, impressing upon their kinsmen to vote for the NPP Presidential Candidate Nana Akufo-Addo. They are offering public apologies for their cruelty while in government over the past eight years, while in private, they are said to be offering large amounts of bribe money to Chiefs, and opinion leaders in various communities in those regions to influence their subjects to vote in the favour of their party the NPP in the presidential run-off on Sunday December 28, 2008. In Kumasi, Koforidua, Kyebi, Tafo, Sunyani, Mampong in Ashanti, Kade, Akwatia and many other towns and villages across those three regions, large amounts of money are changing hands in a desperate move to buy votes. Also being shared are food items including cartons of sardines, milk, beverages, coned beef, rice, cooking oil, and other food items. Large quantities of contraband goods, particularly wax prints seized at the country's borders at Aflao and Elubo have been released to the Akufo-Addo campaign team for free distribution to the electorate across the country to bribe them into voting for the NPP Presidential Candidate. They have not stopped at these malpractices, President Kufuor held a press conference last Monday in Kumasi, the Ashanti Regional capital, apologizing and begging his tribesmen to forgive him and to vote for the Presidential Candidate of his party. In an unprecedented development, the NPP government has drastically reduced the price of petrol and other petroleum products after their defeat in the first round voting. In Kumasi, petrol was distributed free of charge to Taxi Drivers by the highly indebted Tema Oil Refinery through the Metropolitan Chief Executive, Ms. Patricia Appiagyei. In another desperate move, over 500 drivers and motor traffic offenders imprisoned under a draconian law introduced in 2004 under the NPP government are being released unconditionally from prison and compensation paid to them, while Civil Servants who owe the government are to stop repayment of their indebtedness to the state. It is said that the extent to which the NPP government is desperate, there is nothing that they would not do if that would secure them votes. For example, the NPP is said to be sharing fishing nets, outboard motors and free pre-mix fuel and money to Fishermen along the Volta Lake and the country's coasts free of charge, all in a bid to influence them to vote for Nana Akufo-Addo in the run off. The list of the actions and inactions of the NPP in these matters is indeed endless. But it is hoped that the NDC would quickly see through these tricks and mount the necessary counter checks, if they are to win the December 28 run-off.