Prez Mills moves to iron out differences

Page 16, Dec 10, 2009
Story: Emmanuel Adu-Gyamerah

President John Evans Atta Mills has made a move to eliminate the bad blood existing between him and some senior members of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC).
Majority Leader in Parliament, Mr Alban Bagbin, told the Daily Graphic in an interview that President Mills had held a series of meetings with the NDC’s hierarchy to eliminate the mounting tension within the party, as a result of criticisms against his administration by his own henchmen.
The President has come under fire from NDC’s stalwarts such as the Majority Leader in Parliament, Mr Alban Bagbin, Mr Ekow Spio-Garbrah, the Member of Parliament for Lower Manya, Mr Teye Nyaunu, and the former President and Founder of the party, Flt Lt Jerry John Rawlings.
Among the accusations levelled against the President by these critics were the style of his administration and the type of people he had surrounded himself with.
However, Mr Bagbin disclosed that the President had already met chairmen of the various constituencies of the party in the Greater Accra Region to discuss matters agitating their minds.
That meeting, according to Mr Bagbin, was held before the President left for Trinidad and Tobago to attend the Commonwealth meeting.
The Majority Leader added that another meeting had also been arranged to enable the President to meet with party functionaries, ministers, leadership of the party in Parliament and senior party members who did not belong to these identifiable groups.
“The President’s posture after our criticisms shows that he is a listening President,” he noted.
Mr Bagbin stated that by accepting criticisms by his own people in good faith, President Mills had also demonstrated his political maturity and preparedness to ensure party cohesion.