Rift Between Rawlings And Mills Will Hurt NDC - John Mahama

Vice-President John Dramani Mahama has bemoaned the rift between President Mills and former President Rawlings stating that if this fissure is not corrected, the National Democratic Congress will bear the brunt of voters at the polls in 2012. The Vice-President who was speaking in an interview with Radio Ghana believes “it is an issue that creates a difficulty for us [the NDC] because it gives the impression of a party that is not united and solid and often that can affect your chances electorally.“ Vice-President Mahama indicated that the NDC needs to take a careful look at the phenomenon and deal with it with the needed urgency.The Vice-President waded into the argument on why government was not spending enough insisting that the economic gains that have been achieved by the government are being eroded by the debt incurred by the Kufuor administration. He said the opposition’s criticism that government has cut spending to achieve single digit inflation is unfounded because even though the government is spending more, a large chunk of it goes into servicing debt that has piled up. “In 2008, government spent far into deficit, and so contractors got jobs, everybody was happy but there was no money in the kitty to pay for those jobs. So in 2009 it caught up with us. People had done jobs [and] they had presented certificates for payment but where was the money to pay them?” he queried. Vice-President Mahama said government’s expenditure has been geared towards servicing the debts that was generated in the past while some new programmes, which form 30 per cent of the overall government expenditure, are being implemented. Responding to accusations of government’s neglect of flood victims after torrential rains and flood waters from the Bagre Dam displaced thousands in the north and other areas, Mr. Mahama explained that government has been working to find a lasting solution to the crisis. He said government would utilise part of the Savannah Accelerated Development Authority (SADA) fund to provide relief items and rebuild settlements for displaced victims. “We have some money in the SADA fund. I have written a memo to the President to see if we can release some money from the SADA fund to combine with what the World Food Programme and the World Bank will give us and then we can use it to provide food and then some money for the reconstruction of the houses” he added.