Addressing all 220 parliamentary candidates of the party so far chosen, the NPP flag bearer said the party did not want to win power only to find out at that it is not ready for office.
“We want to come to office not with promises but with programmes.”
To achieve this, he disclosed that the first team that he put in place, as flag bearer, was a think tank; in order to ensure that his administration would begin from day one on a slate of competence, commitment and with confidence.
“Thus since my election on August 7, 2010, I have put together a Policy Unit, headed by Albert Osei (a retired senior World bank official) and a Manifesto Committee headed by Prof. Yaw Twumasi (distinguished political scientist) who are consulting with various stakeholders to ensure that, with God’s blessing, we win power in 2012, ready for office.” he said.
Explaining, he said the NPP would pursue “programmes that address the little things that matter to Ghanaians in their communities, like safe neighbourhoods, clean gutters, hygienic food, streets with names, flowing tap water, reducing road traffic, and making sure that rules and regulations are obeyed.”
Besides making access to quality education for every Ghanaian child his priority, Nana Addo has identified youth unemployment as a major issue requiring urgent action.
In outlining the NPP’s programme for office, Nana Addo added that the NPP had “programmes that address the fundamental issues of our time, the urgent need to tackle widespread youth unemployment, good skills, good jobs and good pay.”
He reiterated his bold vision which is to transform Ghana’s economy, using the transformational pillars of “industrialised economy, modernised agriculture, a modern, integrated public transport system that links every corner of our nation and our country to our neighbours.”
He also said the NPP would introduce “programmes that will enhance the quality of life, like universal access to quality education and quality health care.”
The NPP flag bearer recognised that his programme for transformation would not succeed without reforming the machinery of government to serve citizens better.
He stressed that “what the people need are programmes that will establish a public sector that serves them with efficiency, respect and at value for money.”
Nana Akufo Addo said Ghana needed to mould her “economic system to our particular instincts for individual freedom and social justice.”
Therefore, “the NPP seeks to create a political economy consistent with basic individual liberties, provide substantially equal opportunities to all citizens, tackle inequalities but not by a centralised state socialism but by a private-sector-led economy that is allowed to create wealth and the tax revenues that the state can accrue from such free entrepreneurship shall be then invested in the social sectors to create greater opportunities for the less well off,” he said.
Nana Akufo Addo said his party would follow the wisdom of the founding fathers of Ghana who were determined to develop Ghana into a modern state and in freedom.
“Dankwa,” Nana Akufo Addo said, “believed that the Ghanaian was capable of managing what the socialists called at the time, ‘the commanding heights’ of the economy. We must be bold and intelligent in making this happen. To do so, we should not be shy of introducing policies that look, first and foremost, after our own people at every level of our economy.”
According to Nana Akufo Addo, his government would not be shy about discriminating in favour of Ghanaian entrepreneurs or any other entrepreneur operating in Ghana for the benefit of the economy.
He explained, “we must pursue a proactive but pragmatic agenda by picking, stimulating and increasing the number of Ghanaian winners in all sectors and build champions of industry who can compete anywhere in the world. We do so not by turning our backs on the process of globalisation, but by making use of its rules and regulations in such a way as to enhance our capability and capacity.”
He added, “we should be bold and devise and push an agenda that gets people out of the cycle of subsistence wages and informal, ad hoc economic activities, into the formal sector. We must rebuild the confidence of the Ghanaian entrepreneur. We must not shy away from picking local winners and supporting them deliberately to become regional and continental winners.”
Touching on his vision of creating a new society of opportunities, Nana Akufo Addo said it “means establishing a system of governance that provides the very best of public services for every citizen, including an effective, humane public health-care system, access to a secure and reliable justice system and unfettered access by all and sundry to a quality education in Ghana that rivals any in the world.
It means also a governance system that helps unleash the energies of its citizens so that enterprise is appreciated and duly rewarded, not vilified and made the object of envy.”
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