President John Evans Atta Mills has vented his spleen on former President John Agyekum Kufuor and opponents of his administration, accusing his predecessor of doing nothing in his eight-year rule.
“We came to meet an economy that was not strong and had difficulties. And a lot of people have complained over the past two years, we are not seeing anything. I ask them, did they see anything in the previous eight years?
We are determined that you should see something but we would have to remove all the bottlenecks and the burden that we inherited,” President Mills said at a durbar of chiefs and people of Upper East in Bolgatanga on Saturday to climax Upper East@50 celebrations.The president stated that he would not tolerate any action or comments from any one or group that sought to create a state of fear and panic in the country and among the citizenry.
“I have directed the law enforcement agencies to deal appropriately and decisively with those who have decided that peace is not what they want. My brothers and sisters, we need an atmosphere of peace. We need to let our people feel secured.”
President Mills, who spoke as though he was pointing accusing fingers at a political party in opposition for fueling and propagating an atmosphere of fear and panic in the country, and in a voice and with a facial expression that depicted severe anger, further stressed, “We may have our reasons for trying to instill fear in people, but at the end of the day, the lies will be unearthed and we will see the truth for what it is.
Who is going to invest in a nation that has a feeling of insecurity? Who is going to bring his or her resources into our dear nation if indeed our people live in fear?
People who want to create panic and fear do not want the progress of this nation, even though they are preaching from rooftops that they are interested in the development of our people. Such people are only pursuing their narrow and myopic interests.
We will not allow them to do this.”
The President expressed some misgivings at the rate of smuggling of petroleum products out of the country, especially in the Upper East region which, he said, should not be encouraged, because the practice placed a heavy production burden on the Tema Oil Refinery, whose huge debts government was still struggling to pay off.
He commended the people of Bawku Municipality for allowing some level of peace to return to the area, adding that the recent calm in the area could be as a result of a meeting he held with the Bawku Naba, Zurana Asigri Abugragu Azoka II and Alhaji Akalifa about a year ago in Bolgatanga, where the two leaders from Bawku made some promise and shook hands in his presence.
The handshake was greeted with a gun battle, with the warring factions picking up their weapons in a ferocious fight akin to guerrilla warfare.
President Mills encouraged the security personnel keeping the peace in the area to be professional in their dealings, assuring the public that government would take another look at the initiatives and security measures imposed on the area and would soon be reviewed to allow the people of Bawku to go about their activities in a free atmosphere once again.
Speaking on the theme for the celebration, ‘Development Through Education’, the President commended the human resources produced from the area.
He called on the people of the region, especially parents, not to succumb to poverty and deny their children education, stressing that it was the education that some people had in the past which had created opportunities for them today.
As the President spoke about the School Feeding Programme, the expectation was that he would mention that the region was going to get some additional schools, but Professor Mills rather hinted that his government was going to review and re-target the schools under the programme to include only children who needed the food to eat and not children who refused to eat what was served.
A member of the gathering, who spoke to DAILY GUIDE during random interviews after the programme, was impressed with the President’s speech on the security of the nation, but was furious his claim of re-targeting schools under the programme.
“I am sure government said that in an attempt to send a signal to head-teachers, who insist that their pupils eat only good and balanced diet at school under the feeding programme and have on some occasions refused to allow their pupils to eat bad food.
My brother, there is no child in this region, especially in the selected beneficiary schools, who does not need or want food to eat. They will only refuse to eat the food served them if it is unwholesome and cooked under unhygienic conditions.
“That is what government should be reviewing and not to re-target the schools under the School Feeding Programme. The President probably wants to cut down the number of schools under the programme.”
