Dr. Papa Kwesi Nduom, presidential aspirant of the Progressive People’s Party (PPP), says the party’s message of incorruptible administration for quality education, healthcare and job creation, is the ‘most believable and attainable agenda’ any political party can offer to the people of Ghana in the 2012 polls.
In a speech read on his behalf by William Dowokpor, PPP parliamentary aspirant for the Ayawaso West Wuogon constituency, on Thursday night at the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA) Students’ Representative Council (SRC) encounter with presidential aspirants and candidates of leading political parties in Ghana, Dr. Nduom, said Ghanaians had a crucial choice to make between change they can feel in their lives and pockets, or stagnation and frustration for the next four years.
The encounter, which forms part of activities marking the on-going GIMPA SRC Week Celebrations, offered political parties the platform “to share with students their development plans for Ghana, which will form largely their political campaign messages in the upcoming elections.”
Although all the leading political parties were invited, only three parties namely; PPP, NPP and CPP participated in the encounter.
The PPP presidential aspirant said while the party did not intend to produce “any huge book of promises and call it a manifesto,” it is pleased to present the PPP Political Platform for elections 2012, which contains its ten-point agenda for ‘believable’ change guided by the Directive Principles of State Policy in the 1992 Constitution of Ghana.
“The PPP wants the opportunity to implement an Agenda for Change that is built on Stewardship, Education, Healthcare and Jobs. We will implement the Agenda using the spirit of inclusiveness that will enable us to use the best Ghanaians; full participation of women and the youth; and above all a leadership that is incorruptible. By dealing with corruption, we can double government revenue which we will use to pay for our transformational initiatives in education, healthcare and job creation,” he declared.
Dr. Nduom said Ghana needed some fundamental institutional reforms to make it a capable state. To that end, he revealed that the PPP administration will reform state institutions, make government efficient and raise revenue to be able to pay public servants well to motivate them to facilitate the work of the private sector and Ghanaian society in general.
Justifying the need for constitutional amendments, the PPP presidential aspirant said “we will work to change portions of the constitution to enable the election of all District Assembly Members and District/Municipal/Metropolitan Chief Executives to ensure local accountability and rapid development in our first term of office”.
“Again, we will work to change portions of the Constitution to abolish the provision that allows Ministers of State to also serve as Members of Parliament. We believe that this move will make available for governance a large pool of qualified, experienced Ghanaian talent whose expertise is currently unused and therefore lost to Ghana. This we will aim to complete in one term of office. Concurrent with this objective will be a solid determination to give Parliament the facilities and resources needed to pass good laws and scrutinize the proposals submitted by the Executive effectively,” he stressed.
On education, Dr. Nduom, said the PPP will provide Quality Education for Every Ghanaian Child. “We will standardize school facilities from kindergarten to Senior High School with libraries, toilets, classrooms, kitchen, housing for teachers, playground, etc: and Ensure free and compulsory education in public schools from kindergarten to Senior High School (including computer training). We will deploy an “Education Police” or “School Tankassi” to enforce the compulsory aspect of our policy.
An integral part of this objective will be an objective to significantly increase vocational training so that all school leavers gain employable skills. This will include a comprehensive sports programme to instil discipline and promote better health” he explained.
Hinting on how the PPP will manage the energy sector, the party said it will provide Energy for Industrialisation and Rapid Development. “We will implement solutions with a sense of urgency to meet domestic needs for industry and domestic use and make Ghana a net exporter of power again in four years. To enable us achieve this objective, we will provide tax incentives to enable development of alternative sources of fuel and power – bio fuels and solar. We aim to ensure that the contribution from alternative sources of energy reaches a minimum of 10% of what we need in a decade. Harness our natural resources (particularly oil and gas) to ensure maximum benefit and prosperity for all Ghanaians” it assured.
Shedding light on how the PPP intends to grow the economy of Ghana, the party said it will use government’s purchasing power to ensure that we eat what we grow and use what we produce in Ghana. “We will improve Ghana’s business climate to enable investment in job creation so that our people will stay at home to help develop the country and its economy. We will be relentless in providing support to Ghanaian industry and our farmers and fishermen using low interest loans, technical assistance, tax incentives and priority access to the Ghanaian market. To accelerate job creation nationally, an inter-region highway will be built with the same high quality throughout the country to open up the country for investment and development” it said.
The party urged all who think and believe that Ghana deserves better leadership and the best government possible to register to become members. “If you have supported the NDC, NPP and the other political parties and you now feel the need for an alternative, join us now” went, the appealed.
