Once again nature has drawn down her curtain on another year. The New Patriotic Party (NPP) and I, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, are grateful to the Almighty God for His perpetual protection over Ghana and her people. He continues to show that His Love for us is boundless and bountiful.
As we welcome 2011, the stage is set once more for a new cycle of challenges and opportunities. Being the first full year for oil production, it is understandable for Ghanaians to enter 2011 with a special sense of national optimism. The expectations of Ghanaians may be high, varied and many.
However, much of what is expected of leadership is doable: good governance, good schools, good health, good security, good transportation system, skills for good jobs and good pay.
Like the year before it, 2011 presents another challenge for the Ghanaian to reaffirm his or her enduring spirit. For as the Good Book says in Mathew 10:22, “He that endureth to the end shall be saved”.
As we demand of those in power competent, honest and inspiring leadership, we should all, as Ghanaians, play our individual and collective roles to help move our beloved country forward.
There is hope for Ghana. There is a brighter future for you and I and for our children.
The NPP’s prayer for the New Year is for peace, freedom, security, tolerance, jobs, better pay, fairness and economic relief for the mass of Ghanaians. In short, promises made, fulfilled.
The NPP will remain firm in resisting any attempt to roll back the social, economic and democratic gains made before 2009. We will continue to support policies that will move Ghana forward. We will show to Ghanaians that in us they have an alternative government that can actually get the job done.
Our programme for this year is to build on the enviable unity of our party and prepare ourselves for the crucial task of winning power in 2012 in order to put in place appropriate programmes to bring back hope and deliver solutions for a brighter future.
Together with the Electoral Commission, all of us should work hard to ensure that we have a good and fair electoral system that will produce electoral results acceptable to all and sundry.
We believe that besides confidence in the electoral system, the ultimate test for our democracy is winning the seemingly worsening war against mass poverty.
It is the conviction of the NPP that Ghana can only win the war against poverty by building a New Society of Opportunities. We want to build a society where everyone has a fair opportunity to better him- or herself, that is why the NPP is committed to making it possible for you, no matter your background, to be able to create prosperity for yourself and your family in an ever-expanding Ghanaian economy.
Stronger individuals build stronger families; stronger families build stronger communities and stronger communities build stronger nations.
We pledge to make Ghana a safe, peaceful, united and truly democratic country to live in, where the rule of law, human rights, and the principles of democratic accountability are respected.
We are determined to bring back to Ghana, a strong, decisive and compassionate leadership of competence, fairness and integrity. We pray to God that His will be done.
In pursuit of our agenda to create a new society of opportunities for every Ghanaian, we will continue with all the progressive programmes that the NPP administration initiated. Ours is to build a new Ghana, where fairness, freedom and fraternity are supreme.
We will, therefore, not relent in our established efforts to provide affordable, quality healthcare for all and to give free, quality education and skills for jobs to every Ghanaian child or youth, regardless of the circumstances of birth. We are the party that can fix it. We are the NPP.
There is hope for Ghana. There is a brighter future ahead of us all. Victory is, indeed, promised to those who persevere. Ghana is destined to succeed. You can trust us to make Ghana succeed. We are the NPP.
We wish you all a Happy New Year and a brighter future!
May God bless us all and Mother Ghana, where freedom and justice reign.