Nana Akufo-Addo and Dr Mahamudu Bawumia acknowledging cheers
TWO-TIME presidential candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has made an emphatic statement to buttress his preparedness and willingness to lead Ghana to the ‘promised land’ when given the mandate to steer the affairs of the country in 2016.
He has therefore appealed to the delegates of the party to elect him during the presidential primary scheduled for October this year.
Nana Addo asked a cheering crowd at Koforidua, the Eastern Regional capital, on Thursday to disregard what his rivals and others had been saying.
‘They say I am old. I am even sick. Don’t mind what they say. I am fit,’ he said amidst chanting of ‘No Nana, No vote’.
He said if voted by the NPP to lead the party for the third time, he was sure of wrestling power from the National Democratic Congress (NDC) to turn the fortunes of Ghana around.
Three things, he said, would be his priorities— transforming the economy, industrialising Ghana and ensuring free basic and secondary school education for all Ghanaians to ensure that Ghanaians have jobs.
He said President John Mahama has no clue as to how to revamp the economy.
He pleaded with the NPP faithful in the region to rally behind him for a massive victory in 2016.
He further told the people that he was not into politics because of money and that if he needed money he knew where to get it because he could do his own private business without having to embezzle state funds.
Nana Addo said it is his love for Ghana and the passion to transform the nation that had been driving him to hang on to politics.
‘We used to be called Gold Coast but now hunger and poverty have engulfed us all round.
What happened?’ he asked.
He said the 72-year-old Ivorian President, Alassane Ouattara, at his age was performing much better than Ghana’s so much acclaimed young President.
‘Go to Cote d’Ivoire and see what Alassane is doing.
He is doing ten times better than Ghana’s so-called young President. I am only two years older than him.’
Eulogy For Bawumia
Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, Nana Addo’s 2012 running mate, electrified the atmosphere when he spoke Twi to the charged crowd.
He gave a scenario of a person who employed the services of a quack mason who is a liar and thief.
He said such a mason would promise to build for his employer an unprecedented edifice, but when the storm came, it would blow the building down because he had siphoned the materials and the money given him for the work and so he could not even read the plan of the building.
Dr. Bawumia said that is the exact situation Ghana is facing, stressing that the Mahama-led government does not have a plan for Ghana.
He urged the crowd not to listen to the lies being peddled about Nana Addo by some party rivals and the NDC because Ghana is at the crossroads and in a very challenging
moment, which needs someone like Nana Addo to turn things round.
He said Nana Addo had shown much credibility and strong will to lead the NPP to grab power in 2016 to transform the economy.
According to him, Mahama’s administration had lost touch with the people because ‘times are really hard and some people cannot even have one square meal before night falls.’
‘They claim there is no money for chalk for schools; there is no money to pay teachers’ allowance; there is no money for NHIS but when it is time for Akonfem, they have money. When it is time for GYEEDA they have money,’ he noted.
Ohene-Ntow’s Plea
Dr. Bawumia noted that Nana Ohene-Ntow’s plea for Nana Addo to step down for Alan Kwadwo Kyerematen, another contender for the flagbearership race, because the latter had stepped down for Nana in an earlier contest was funny.
He laughed and said how could Alan win power for the NPP when even he has never won a party election?
He told the people that looking at the way things are going in the country, ‘this is not the time to gamble.’
OB Amoah, MP for Aburi, told the media that all over the country everyone seems to be crying for Nana and that is why party supporters have to throw their weight behind him and help him win the flagbearership race of the party to lead them in 2016, saying he was sure Nana would come out victorious.
Former first National Vice Chairman of the NPP, Stephen Ntim, said the compassion Nana Addo has for the people of Ghana and his peaceful nature are assets to the NPP.
FROM Rocklyn Antonio, Koforidua
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