Statement By NDC Forum For Setting The Records Straight On NPP’s Claims Of Being Liberal Democrats. This Forum has over the last few press conferences been on a mission to expose the pervasive lies that the NPP has been telling about virtually every segment of our national life. We have already tackled NPP’s lying claims about healthcare, education and the economy. The NPP hardly wastes any opportunity to define the NDC as a party that comes from a violent military tradition. It does not matter to the NPP that virtually all those excesses they accuse the NDC of today were committed by soldiers and policemen out on frolics of their own, taking advantage of the chaotic situations that has historically marked military or even civil revolt or revolutions. In the view of the NPP, every single one of those excesses must be placed around the neck of Jerry Rawlings and by extension the NDC. To them, it does not matter at all the fact that some of those excesses were obviously committed by soldiers who today may be members of the NPP not to mention key roles played at the time by leading current NPP leaders including Major Courage Quarshiga and President Kufuor. To the NPP, it does not matter at all that both President Rawlings and the NDC as a party, have on several occasions apologized to the people of Ghana for the excesses that took place both in 79 and the early years of the PNDC. In the view of the “Holier Than Thou” NPP, not even the fact that, from that turbulent revolutionary past, the Rawlings-led PNDC progressively, albeit imperfectly at first, became a democratic organisation that ultimately did not just give the nation the current relatively stable 4th Republican constitution, but also made Ghana a shining African example of smooth transition from one party to another, matters at all. As far as the NPP is concerned, the NDC was, is and will always remain a violent and undemocratic organisation. This would not be the first time that the Danquah/Busia to be henceforth referred to as the NPP family, has through lies and deliberate distortions almost succeeded in painting its political opponent black and in the process almost get away with the false impression that its own tradition has always been shining practitioners of democracy and good governance. What they have fervently attempted to do to the NDC today is the exact replica of what the NPP family did to Kwame Nkrumah’s CPP in the past. Why does the NPP family try so hard to demonize its opponents and use every trick to create the deceitful impression that its political tradition has always stood for liberal democratic values and principles? Ladies and gentlemen, there is no denying the fact that the upcoming election is essentially about the future and destiny of our dear nation, Ghana. It goes without saying that all competing parties must clearly grasp the challenges ahead of the nation and make clear proposals that will address these challenges. But to be able to tell the truth about one’s plans and aspirations for the nation’s future, it is critical to demonstrate a track record of being able to tell the truth about one’s past. Those who are unable to tell the truth about their past can not be trusted to tell the truth about their present and their future. The NDC has proven time and again that it is not in denial about its past. The NPP on the other hand continues to run away from its sordid past. This, in essence, accounts for NPP’s perennial inability to tell the truth. The most successful fraud, the NPP political family has foisted on especially the younger generation of our people, is the grand deception that the group has always been believers of liberal democratic principles. They constantly beat their chest about their belief in democracy, freedom of speech and of the media, and good governance. They always extol themselves as the champions of rule of law and civil liberties. The time has finally come to set the records straight. NLM/Matemeho- Genesis Of Tribal Politics & Violence In Ghana In the beginning was the NLM- and the NLM begat the UP- the UP begat the PP- and the PP eventually brought forth the NPP (the New incarnation of the old PP). Anyone who knows the true history of violence in Ghanaian politics knows that there has been no bloodier and more violent political grouping than the NPP family. The violence we see in NPP’s primaries in Bekwai, in Suhum and Ofinso South today, represents an integral part of the tradition of violence that has from time immemorial characterised the bloodline of the NPP family. Now let us proceed to unmask the truly violent face of the NPP family. It is interesting to hear the NPP label the NDC today as a party practising tribalism. The truth is that the NPP political family was founded in 1954 by Baffour Osei Akoto, chief linguist of the Asantehene. This tribal political grouping was mainly funded by the Kumasi City Council and the Akyem Abuakwa state council. NLM activities sparked off a wave of violence and mayhem of epic proportions in Ashanti in particular. CPP sympathizers or persons suspected to have CPP loyalty all became targets of the NPP family’s bloody attacks and explosions. At the very height of these sadistic attacks, Ashanti became so ungovernable that it became a de facto restricted turf, dangerous for any CPP activity. So tense was the situation that not a single CPP flag could be seen in many parts of Ashanti. Many decades later, ahead of the 1992 elections, the situation in NPP’s stronghold of Ashanti region remained virtually the same- it took courage to display NDC colours in large parts of Ashanti. In all these, we want to salute the many Ashantis who throughout that period fought against these negative tribal tendencies and held aloft the torch of nationhood. This is what the London-based Daily Express of January 7, 1955 said: “No cabinet minister of Nkrumah’s Gold Coast government dares visit the cocoa and diamond territory of Ashanti where the CPP won 18 out of a total of 21 seats.” That was then. Have they changed over the years? Certainly no! Ahead of the 1996 elections, blood thirsty NPP thugs repeated the same barbaric tendency by chasing and killing Grukponi, an NDC supporter in Kumasi. Yet these people dare accuse the NDC, a party that has not displayed even an infinitesimal fraction of that mayhem, as a violent party. J.B. Danquah Ladies and gentlemen, let us now throw a little searchlight on the founding father of the NPP family, Dr J.B. Danquah. CIA declassified files establish unequivocally that J. B. Danquah, the Founding Father of the NPP, was a known paid agent of the CIA. The man, who up to date, remains the chief inspirer of the NPP and of Nana Akufo-Addo (his nephew incidentally), had no hesitation whatsoever mortgaging the destiny of this dear nation for a few American dollars. Yet today, this national betrayer, this unpatriotic Ghanaian is extolled by the NPP as an icon of democracy. Ironically and rather fraudulently, the party birthed by this nation wrecker today the name New Patriotic Party. How very strange! Clearly, JB Danquah, Akufo-Addo’s uncle, rather than being the Doyen of Ghana politics is rather the Judas of Ghana’s politics. NPP’s Opposition To Anything Progressive With a founding father who sold his nation for a few dollars, does it come as a surprise, that the NPP family right from the onset was opposed to everything that inured to the nation’s benefit? As NLM, they killed and maimed in an attempt to prevent us from being a unitary state. Yet this same group metamorphosed into a party that ironically called itself the United Party. They were opposed to our attainment of independence. They actually sent a delegation led by Busia to plead with the British authorities not to grant us independence in 1956. “We still need you in the Gold Coast. Your experiment there is not over. I wonder why you are in such a hurry to wash your hands off us?”- These are the infamous words of Dr Busia on that trip. They were opposed to the construction of the Akosombo Dam- on the 3rd of December 1962, Busia appeared before a US Senate sub committee and prayed them not to give Nkrumah any money for the construction of the Akosombo dam because he was a communist and was going to squander the money. Furthermore, they opposed the construction of the Tema Motorway and even the Bui Dam, about which they are making all kinds of noise today. Despite all this opposition to anything progressive, the NPP family in its 2nd republican incarnation dared call itself Progress Party- another contradiction by the enemies of progress. Ladies and gentlemen, do you now understand why decades later, the NPP family has persistently opposed anything progressive? They opposed the 1992 constitution, the VAT, the GetFund and the NDC piloting of the NHIS. NPP- The Bomb Throwing “Democrats” The NPP family prides itself as coming from a tradition that believes in the rule of law. The evidence however shows that far from being adherents to the rule of law, the NPP family has been the group that masterminded a wave of bomb explosions that killed and maimed innocent people including children. It is on record that the father of Jake Obetsebi Lamptey, Chairman of Akufo-Addo’s campaign committee, was a principal culprit at the time- to enable him accomplish his dastardly act, he had hired a cottage in the then village of Bawaleshie, from where he and his NPP family accomplices were distributing bombs meant to be detonated in various parts of the country. The following are some of the explosions from bombs distributed by Jake’s father. Ladies and gentlemen, on Aug 1, 1962, as Nkrumah was returning from then Upper Volta and had emerged out of his car to speak to school children who had come to greet him, a bomb, planted in a bouquet of flowers put in a hand of a 7 year old girl to be presented to Nkrumah, exploded. The little girl was blown into smithereens and Nkrumah suffered severe injuries. (Daily Graphic, August 2, 1962) Sep 9, 1962- Another bomb exploded near the flagstaff where young pioneers were entertaining an audience to modern Ghanaian music- one person was killed and several injured. Sept 18, 1962- Two bombs in Accra killing and maiming several people- one of these blasts occurred in Lucas house in Accra where 9 children fell dead on the spot (Documented by Tetteh, 1999) January 11, 1963- bomb exploded at CPP rally- over 20 people killed and more than 400 people injured including children and members of young pioneer (Mcfarlan & Owusu Ansah) January 1, 1964, an NPP family hired police officer, Seth Ameterwey, who was posted on guard duty at the flagstaff house fired five times at Nkrumah but missed. Nkrumah’s personal security, Sgt Salifu Dagarthi was not so fortunate- he was killed on the spot. In 1965, another bomb, exploded at the Accra Sports stadium meant to assassinate Nkrumah. Nkrumah again escaped narrowly but many sustained sever injuries including a little girl, Elizabeth Asantewa, who had one of her legs amputated while the other one rotted away. She lives in Dansoman as we speak. In addition to Jake Obetsebi Lamptey’s father, Dr Busia, at a press conference in Accra after the 66 coup openly admitted that he financed the purchase of most of the bombs used in the bombing campaign. How this NPP family, co-founded by Danquah, a man who had no qualm selling his country for a few dollars and Busia, a man who was financing bombs to kill and maim children, can even dare boast about democratic traditions remains truly difficult to fathom. Since bomb throwing is virtually second nature to the NPP family, is it any surprise that in the year 2001, the NPP reminded the nation that, decades on, the leopard has still not shed its spots, when NPP members in Ho “petrol bombed” the house of their Volta regional organiser, Johnson Avulete? And still on the issue of Bombing, we can confirm to you that just this dawn our party office at Berekum, has been “shitbombed”, that is smeared with heaps of human excreta. NPP & Military Dictatorship Ladies and gentlemen, the NPP pretends that it abhors coup d’etats. Yet, the NPP family was the first group to introduce coups into the body politic of Sub Saharan Africa. Indeed the first ever coup attempt in Ghana occurred in 1958. Specifically, on the 19th December, 1958, Mr R.R. Amponsah, currently a top guru and member of the NPP Council of Elders, was caught at the Labadi T junction together with Modesto K. Apaloo and Maj Benjamin Ahwaitey, “plotting to assassinate Nkrumah and overthrow the democratically elected CPP government. Indeed, earlier in the year, J.B. Danquah was overheard assuring the ambassador of a western nation, hostile to the government of Nkrumah that by plans were far advanced to overthrow Nkrumah’s government by Christmas of 1958. Things that truly make you go hmmmmm... Additionally, Dr Busia is on record to have consulted and held several meetings with General Afrifa whilst the latter was studying at the Sandhurst Military academy in the UK. Subsequently, on the 24th February 1966, Afrifa and others overthrew the CPP government. After the 66 coup, the BBC reported after an interview with Dr Busia “that he (Busia was too much of a politician to admit that he was involved in the 1966 coup. But he tried hard to make it clear that he plotted the coup with others”. After the coup by the NLC junta, the NPP family that had masterminded in cooperation with the CIA, served in various capacities in the military junta. The political committee of the NLC military junta was chaired by Edward Akufo-Addo, (father of Nana Akufo-Addo). William Ofori Atta (another relative of Akufo-Addo) was a key member of that group that became the national advisory committee of the military junta. Busia was the Vice Chairman and later Chairman when Akufo-Addo’s father was rewarded by the military junta by being elevated to the position of Chief Justice. Victor Owusu, president Kufuor’s political mentor, incidentally was the Attorney General at the time. Ladies and gentlemen, is it not amusing in the light of all the above to hear the NPP today pretending to be against military coups? That they have not changed after all these many years can be seen in the ease with which President Kufuor quickly moved to Togo just a week after his inauguration, to celebrate the bloody coup that saw the assassination of Togo’s first democratic president, Sylvanus Olympio. We have not even mentioned the fact that the NPP family had no qualm asking President Kufuor to take up a position in the military PNDC government. Yet the NPP claims it is opposed to non democratic rule. Violence Unleashed By NPP Sponsored NLC Junta The soldiers who were out on frolics and committed excesses in 1979 and 1982 did so purely as soldiers. However in the 1966 coup, the wave of violence that was unleashed was, as earlier said, with the full blessings of gurus of the NPP family, like Nana Akufo-Addo’s father, Dr Busia and President Kufuor’s mentor, Victor Owusu. It is recorded that in the immediate aftermath of the 1966 coup, over three hundred people were killed including a minister of state, Dowuona and his family. The human rights violations that occurred during that period under the approving gaze of the “NPP family democrats” will easily rival and in many instances surpass violations committed by some of the most brutal African military despots like Iddi Amin and Eyadema. Many young people might find it difficult to believe that the NPP family gleefully goaded on the military junta to the extent that Boye Moses, a member of the security detail of Nkrumah, was paraded in the streets of Accra chained and locked in a cage like a wild beast. It was also under their appreciative watch, that the first ever executions took place in the history of Ghana. With the tacit counsel of the NPP family composed Advisory Committee, Arthur and Yeboah were executed for attempting to overthrow the Danquah-Busia/CIA sponsored military junta. Many people today hardly remember that the Gbewaa palace in Yendi was also attacked under the NPP sponsored military junta in 1969 and nearly 70 people were killed at the time. Against that background, perhaps the people of Ghana may have to heave a sigh that during the recent 2002 mayhem under the NPP, in the same Gbewaa palace, only about 40 people were killed in addition to the Ya Na. Despite all these, the NPP family continue to attack the NDC because of the killing in 1982 of three judges and one military officer. Not even the fact that a serving member of the then ruling council together with his accomplices were arrested, tried and executed at the time, would placate the “Holier than thou NPP”. The NPP, through all this forgets that in 1969 and again in 2002, at least over 100 people including the Ya Na have were killed and to date not even a chicken has been arrested. NPP & Multiparty Democracy Many unsuspecting people today have been conned by NPP’s claims that its tradition has always believed in multi party democracy. Let’s examine the evidence. In 1968, a prominent member of the NPP family, Edward Akufo-Addo, the father of the NPP candidate, Nana Akufo-Addo, chaired the constitutional committee that recommended to the NLC that a long term ban be placed on the CPP to prevent the party and its functionaries from contesting elections in Ghana. As a result of this, NLC decree 223 was passed. Is it therefore any surprise that to date, the 1969 elections remains the most bogus election in the history of our country? Is it any wonder that, 33 years later, when the NPP family won power after decades in the wilderness, one of the first things they set into motion was how to use every means to destroy its main opponent the NDC, just as it did to CPP in the past. JH Mensah, who was instrumental in that previous incarnation of the NPP, revealed the agenda when he unwittingly declared: “By the time the NPP government finishes with the fast track court trial and imprisonment of former NDC Ministers and functionaries, the NDC will be no more.” Yet these haters of multi party democracy go today about creating the false impression that they are the champions thereof. NPP & Good Governance The NPP political family has time and again declared that when it comes to good governance, it is second to none in the history of Ghana. Let us for a moment forget about how they introduced violent tribal politics into our body politics. Let us pretend that they are not bomb throwing democrats, and neither are they sponsors of military coups or haters of multi party democracy. Let us examine just a few other records of their rule then and now. In 1971, after students of the University of Ghana had called for amnesty to be granted to the founder of the nation, Dr Nkrumah who was then in exile, the NPP family responded by pushing through parliament, under a certificate of emergency, a bill that banned the holding of any photograph of Nkrumah, the mentioning of his name and the professing of his ideology. Incidentally, President J.A. Kufuor was a member of that parliament; and Akufo-Addo’s father was the President during that administration. In the second republic, Mr J.A. Kufuor, as Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister, was an integral part of the team that cruelly refused to allow an ailing Nkrumah to return to Ghana and die in the country he fathered, loved and toiled incessantly for. Between 2001 to date, there are too many instances that show that the NPP family, despite loud proclamations to the contrary, has still not changed. Ghanaians can remember with shock how a former Auditor General, Mr Osei Prempeh, was arrested in church. They did not stop there, they went further to attempt to arrest Mr Tsatsu Tsikata also in church and would have succeeded but for the intervention of church officials. On January 31, 2002, while Prof Mills was away in Canada, eight fully armed BNI officials stormed his house, menacingly threatened his wife an ordered her to surrender all the keys to the vehicles in the house. Even vehicles which had been allocated to Prof Mills as part of transitional package arrangements, were forcibly seized and driven away. Not satisfied, Mrs Mills was summoned to the BNI regional office where she was detained for a time before being made to give a statement. Let us spare you the details of the trauma she suffered, causing her to end up at the SSNIT hospital. Lord Commey, the National Organiser of the NPP was caught on tape confessing having under him a group of armed bandits, called Action Troopers, who forcibly snatch ballots boxes etc. Time and space will not permit us to mention so many other such cases including the detention of E.T Mensah in mosquito infected BNI cells well beyond the 48 hours prescribed by the constitution and the way NPP’s Hackman Owusu Agyemang’s bodyguard mercilessly brutalized Mavis, a housemaid in the minister’s residence into a state of virtual coma. The shocking photos of the hapless maid while on drip at the 37 Military Hospital are still available for viewing by anyone interested. The NPP loves to taunt the NDC for presiding over a situation where military men at the Castle gave an identification haircut to a certain Selasi Dzentu. Under the so called champions of democracy, drivers were recently arrested and forcibly sent into the mortuary of the 37 Military Hospital and forced to kiss and fondle breasts of corpses. NPP & The Judiciary In the second republic, Dr Busia, Prime Minister at the time exposed the hollowness of the NPP family’s claims about respect for rule of law and the judiciary, when he defiantly declared following a court’s reversal of his dismissal of Sallah, that no court can force him to employ anyone the government did not want to employ. Let’s fast forward to the case of Hodare Okai in 2001, who was unlawfully dismissed from his position as Deputy Immigration officer, upon the instigation of Asamoah Boateng, then an errand boy in the castle, on suspicion that he was an NDC sympathiser. As if this was not bad enough, even after a court of competent jurisdiction had ruled that the dismissal was illegal and he should therefore be reinstated, President Kufuor flouted the court order with contempt and impunity. The NPP accuses Rawlings of being a dictator, yet that “dictator” refrained from immorally packing the court just to overturn the Supreme Court decision after the latter had passed a 5-4 verdict declaring June 4 holidays non constitutional. What did the so called champions of democracy do when the Supreme Court by the same 5-4 majority declared the fast track court unconstitutional? They swiftly and shamelessly packed the court and ensured that the decision was overturned- a practice that has evoked condemnation at the level of NEPAD. NPP & Press Freedom Another area they boast about a lot is press freedom. How tolerant is the NPP family towards the critical media? In 1971, Kofi Badu editor of Spokesman newspaper was jailed by the NPP family. The offices of the newspaper were raided and the newspaper’s license withdrawn. Victor Owusu, as AG in the 2nd Republic, got 28 lecturers, all of whom were board members of the Legon Observer newspaper, jailed because their newspaper was deemed to be critical of government. Now under the Kufuor led NPP, there is the claim that the freedom being enjoyed by the Press today is unprecedented. The NPP cites the repeal of the criminal libel law as proof of its great commitment to greater press freedom. The truth however is that Prof Mills of the NDC, at his Meet the Press interaction back in September 2000, had amply indicated that he was fully committed to starting a new chapter with the media by having more regular interactions with the press. The repeal of the criminal libel law, was therefore just a matter of months if he had won the election in the year 2000 since in the view of Prof Mills, the time had arrived to launch an era of greater co-operation between government and media. Let’s take the example of GTV Breakfast show for example. Under the NDC, the program used to feature critical voices like Audrey Gadzekpo, Margaret Amoakohene, Nana Yaa Ofori Atta among others. Today, leading opposition voices such Dr Tony Aidoo, Kwesi Pratt, Elvis Afriyie Ankrah and Fifi Kwetey are not allowed to feature on the program. How free is the media when we can have TV Africa crew detained and traumatised at the president’s private residence today? When the editor of Insight newspaper, can be beaten up at the instruction of NPP Chairman Haruna Esseku at the NPP headquarters? We cannot also forget how bodyguards of Dr Richard Anane hotly pursued and threatened to brutalize journalists, Raymond Archer, David Tamakloe and Rowland Acquah Stephens, who had to run all the way from the office of CHRAJ to the Ministries police Station before they were safe. What about how Joe Baidoo Ansah, then Minister of Trade, who stormed a live TV program and verbally abused CPP’s Nii Moi Thompson who was being critical of the NPP government on the program? NPP & Right of free Speech During the second republic, Ebo Hutchful, then a student at the University of Ghana, who criticized Busia and his government for living ostentatious lives, was arrested and detained at the Legon police station. This is no different at all from the fate that befell Kwabena Kusi, a mechanic in Kumasi who was also arrested for criticizing the frequent travels of President Kufuor. NPP & Selective Justice Under the PNDC, Chairman Rawlings had no hesitation allowing his best friend Kojo Lee and his own nephew, face execution when both committed murders. Indeed in the case of his nephew, a court initially freed him but the PNDC saw to it that the case was revisited and Rawlings’ nephew was made to face the ultimate penalty. Compare these cases to the several cases of killings that have gone on unpunished under the NPP today. Killers of Issa Mobila are still walking around free today four years on. Jahinfo and Sugri, who were seen in Yendi parading with parts of the body of the Ya Na are still walking free today after Akufo-Addo, as Attorney General, superintended a situation where wrongful charges were deliberately preferred against them. The cases of Bashiru Red and Baba Nkabo in Tamale are other cases in point. Let’s see what the NPP government will do to the NPP who recently were behind the mayhem in Gushiegu. NPP’s Violence Against Its Own Members The NPP has tried hard to label the NDC as violent and quickly cite the isolated incidents at NDC’s 2005 Koforidua Congress as proof. But how can the NPP even compare those cases to: The manner Paul Afoko, was wickedly set up by Akufo Addo’s supporters and was nearly lynched at the NPP presidential Congress but for the swift intervention of the police. The mayhem and bloody confrontations that have characterised the party’s primaries in places like Suhum, Bekwai, Ofinso South among others. In addition to these, there is an unending list of violent confrontations that over the last years have marked NPP’s intra party affairs. Space and time will not allow us to list them all. NPP’s Violence Against Its Opponents With the level of violence the NPP is visiting upon its own members, is it difficult to imagine the scale of the barbarity it is capable of meting out to its opponents? The burning in 1992 of the NDC Effia Kwesimintim Chairman comes to mind. We had earlier cited the cold blooded killing of NDC’s Grukponi. The recent killing and mayhem visited on NDC supporters in Gushiegu are tokens of the inordinately violent nature of the NPP- a nature that flows through the bloodline from the NLM through UP to the current situation. NPP & Political Double Standards Today, Ghanaians marvel at the shocking manner in which NPP is doing exactly the very opposite of almost everything it spoke against yesterday when the party was screaming “We want power, we want power” in opposition. The current political double standards of the NPP dates back to the 60s. The NPP family criticized Nkrumah for passing the PDA yet as soon they successfully got their NLC Junta to overthrow the CPP, they teleguided the passing of the Protective Custody Act. The NPP family criticized Nkrumah for taking a fat salary. But when Busia became Prime Minister he paid himself a significantly higher amount than Nkrumah. Additionally, he immorally paid himself two years salary advance and later devalued the currency. Ladies and gentlemen, Busia refused to live in the official presidential residence and used public funds to renovate his private property and lived there. Years later, in line with the tradition’s personal property owning philosophy, president Kufuor also refused to live in the Castle and used some public fund to complete works on his private residence. In 1969, the NPP family had no problem making use of the votes of people in the Zongos and others they believed to be non Ghanaians to ride into power. But as soon as they won power, the NPP family showed their xenophobic tendency by passing the wicked Aliens Compliance Order that saw the driving out of Ghana, of hundreds of thousands of people who had been born and bred in Ghana for several generations. The trauma, deaths, massive economic suffering and sheer dislocation of families cum loss of property is well documented. Our brothers in the zongos even today continue to face such traumas whenever it is time for registration with NPP agents branding them as aliens. Akufo Addo’s So Called Democratic Bloodline We have established how Nana Akufo Addo’s uncle J.B. Danquah had no hesitation selling this country for a few American dollars. We have also stated how Nana Akufo Addo’s father played a critical role in the NLC military junta. He chaired the constitutional committee that recommended the banning of the CPP and its officials from contesting elections in 1968. We have equally mentioned the key role played by William Ofori Atta, another relative of Akufo-Addo, in that military junta. Given the questionable commitment of these three individuals to democracy, does it come as a surprise that Nana Akufo-Addo would swiftly strip the former president of his privileges for simply exercising his right of free speech? Does it come as a surprise that Nana Akufo-Addo would quickly resort to the packing of the Supreme Court to ensure the reversal of a Supreme Court verdict that had not gone in the favour of the NPP government? No! Like they say, the apple does not fall far from the tree. We would subsequently discuss this in greater detail when we finally come to the small matter of Nana Akufo-Addo after we have finished tackling the bigger issues. Once again thank you very much for coming and God bless you all.