PRESS STATEMENT BY INDEPENDENT PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE, KWESI AMOAFO-YEBOAH, TO CONGRATULATE PROF. JOHN EVANS ATTA MILLS ISSUED ON JANUARY 5, 2009

I would like to take a moment to thank Ghanaians for the support over my very short political life; for the belief and confidence reposed in me, and for allowing me the opportunity for self expression; I would also like to thank the people of Ghana for lending me their ears and allowing me to participate in discussions towards charting a course for our national development. I believe that together we have made history and contributed towards strengthening the pillars of democracy in Ghana.

For the first time in our fourth republic, an independent candidate has been able to successfully and credibly compete at the presidential level in our politics and demonstrate the relevance and importance of unbridled inclusion to our collective political maturity.

To the courageous people who voted for me, my special thanks go to you. You showed political maturity by being contrarians. You made good use of your franchise by expressing how you feel and what issues are important to you. You deserve special commendation. I promised you, and indeed the entire nation, that I would take your vote as expression of confidence and mandate and dedicate myself to the cause for job creation for the many young people in Ghana who through the efforts of President Kufuor’s administration have been cataloged as unemployed.

To my dedicated team members across the country and my running mate, Yaw Gonu. To everyone from head office operations headed by Frank Agyemang with the support of Elorm Desewu, Dixon Gboblor, Felix Anaman and others, to our Regional and District leadership including Nana Osei-Wusu, Emmanuel Atokpa, Kofi Michael Dossia and everyone who contributed. You are too numerous for me to mention by name. I thank all of you very much. Your unwavering support and tireless dedication to this cause is what brought us here. You had no doubt when we decided to adopt unconventional means of reaching the electorate when the general public was trying to force us into a disastrous strategy of holding large rallies. You had faith. May God bless you all! To my campaign contributors: You had faith in me when it was not fashionable to do so. You believed in me when the nation had written me off from the start. You demonstrated your support by opening your wallets, saying prayers and giving me words of encouragement. I thank you all very much.

Ghana has gone to the polls three times. We have finally concluded that Prof. John E. Atta Mills should lead us as the President of the Republic of Ghana for the next four years. I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate our president-elect, Prof. John E. Atta Mills and our vice president –elect, Hon. John D. Mahama. In a contest as long, difficult and tension-filled as this one has been, Prof’s success commands my respect for his hard work, tenacity and perseverance.

I would also like to congratulate Nana Addo Danquah Akufo-Addo. He fought very hard in this campaign. But, most importantly, he has fought even harder for our nation and the freedoms we all take for granted today. He has been a brave and selfless leader in many respects. And, he deserves to be commended. We live in challenging times. Times of a global credit crunch that has caused a global economic downturn that is having a serious downward impact on commodity prices including the price of the one precious resource that we were all hoping will provide economic salvation for all of us: OIL. The impact of all of this is yet to be felt by Ghanaians. Our only way to economic salvation, therefore, is for us to depend on the one resource we are sure of, the value of which will continue to appreciate if we invest properly in it: THE PEOPLE!

There are 3 to 4 million people in Ghana who are unemployed. Everywhere I went on the campaign trail, I heard Ghanaians loud and clear that they want to work. This is a huge challenge and a fantastic opportunity as well: An opportunity for economic salvation through helping our people to prosper. A time for big thinking and big actions! And we must act now! If we continue to confine ourselves in a little “pot” and continue to prune our roots and our crown, we shall remain a Bonsai tree….standing only eight inches tall at the age of 51.

I believe in the goodness of Ghanaians and Ghana. I believe a vast majority of Ghanaians agree with me that pursuing a national policy in which we focus on helping each and every Ghanaian to find work and achieve prosperity is bound to be good for Ghana and all Ghanaians. To quote the words of Zig Ziglar, “You can get everything in life you want just by helping enough other people get what they want”. This is a simple life’s truth. And living by the spirit of this simple but powerful observation necessarily requires that we align the interests of all Ghanaians in our shared prosperity and begin to understand that those of us who are in positions of leadership and power or have been otherwise blessed with prosperity have an obligation to create opportunity for others to also prosper. Not only is it the right thing to do, but our common stake in each other’s prosperity informs us that it is in everybody’s interest.

By creating employment for the 3 to 4 million unemployed, they will be able to buy goods and services. The providers of those goods and services will also be able to buy more goods and services from others leading to expansion in the economy, rising real incomes, prosperity and wealth creation for all. By creating jobs for our people, we will generate money, through fair taxation, for further investment in the economy and in our people; for infrastructure development, provision of proper healthcare, improvement of our educational system and for badly needed social programs for the very poor. These are no new challenges. These are challenges we have faced for many years. These challenges do not disappear just because we have elected a new president.

These challenges do not become NDC challenges because we have an NDC government.

These challenges remain Ghanaian and require a concerted effort from all hands from all sides of the political, tribal, economic & social, and religious divides.

The change process that began in 2006 with the election of Prof. Atta Mills as the flagbearer of the NDC is not, by any measure, complete. We have only completed the first phase of acknowledgement. The process continues. The process continues with additional acknowledgement that we cannot go back to business as usual. And, that change will not come if we go back to partisan and divisive politics that does not allow for proper and inclusive discussion of solutions to the challenges we face.

Change will not come if, in the award of contracts and opportunities for advancement, the only criteria used are the party colors we wear.

The time has come, for us to put aside our differences, and concentrate on, and harness, the power of what we have in common. Exclusion, alienation and political victimization must give way to positive inclusion and tolerance. Unity must be of utmost priority because we cannot spark a fire unless we unite and concentrate all our might and power. This, is no time for wavering! We must understand that without recognizing each other as one people with a common bond of citizenship, common ideals, common goals and aspirations, headed for a common destiny, we will spend our time on useless divisive politics and expend our energies on matters that are of less importance that can stray us away from the right path to our dream of shared prosperity.

But, we must by all means recognize our differences knowing that it is through recognition, understanding and tolerance of our differences that we can begin the pursuit of the unity we must aspire to if we are to succeed.

It is time, therefore, for all Ghanaians to rally behind our next president, Prof. John E. Atta Mills, and support him in every way with all our might and power in his vision to build a Better Ghana for all of us. May God bless us all and our mother Ghana!