The New Patriotic Party's flagbearer, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia has outlined his vision to prioritize education if elected President of the country in the 2024 general elections.

The policy, according to the vice President, would involve a focus on children with special needs and early childhood development.

Dr. Bawumia made the remarks while addressing a Youth Connect town hall meeting at the Assembly Hall of the Presbyterian College of Education at Akropong in the Eastern Region as part of his ongoing campaign tour of the Region.

Additionally, the policy would pave the way for the recruitment of some 1,000 special needs teachers across the country to run the special needs facilities.

To achieve this, the vice president said special needs schools in the country would be upgraded and modernized with free tertiary education for special students.

Youth centered policies

The NPP flagbearer stressed that the party has a more sustainable youth-centred approach to development, indicating that skills development is necessary for national development.

He said the Business Employment Assistance Program under the Youth Employment Agency (YEA) is currently rolling out a program to support business owners to employ at most two people at the expense of the government. The initiative is to support the private sector in creating employment for the youth in the country.

Credit system and digitalization

Emphasizing his vision to westernize Ghana, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia announced said his administration will operationalize the credit scoring system where every Ghanaian with a Ghana card would have the opportunity to access funds for his or her business or personal purchases provided the scoring system deems him/her creditworthy.

The assessment is grounded on the individual's creditworthiness based on cash inflow or earnings.

He furthered that Ghana is the first country in Africa to commence the mobile money interoperability system which allows mobile money transfers across different networks and from banks to mobile wallets and vice versa.

The 2024 flagbearer of the NPP added that this digital drive has provided a more friendly approach to business transactions in Ghana.

Convenience in service delivery

Dr. Bawumia mentioned that Ghanaians will soon be liberated from the hustle they go through in renewing their passport.

"The new renewal regime would do away with the bureaucracy. The renewal application would be done online by entering your Ghana card number, your GPS address and payment of an approved service fee. All renewed passports will be delivered to the applicants at their designated GPS location provided in the online application," he explained.

He also promised drastic and bold solutions that would change the fortunes of Ghana.

"Merging of the Ghana Card number with individuals' TIN, SSNIT and National Health Insurance card among other national identity systems will make life very easy for Ghanaians," he added.

Sammi Awuku

On his part, the Parliamentary Candidate (PC) for Akuapem-North, Sammi Awuku extolled the leadership qualities of the NPP flagbearer.

According to Mr Awuku, Dr Bawumia has not only performed creditably as vice president but also has a vision for the future.

He placed the flagbearer in the era of the future and warned the electorate against voting for former president Mahama who he placed in the era of the past.

He charged the youth to embark on a rigorous house-to-house campaign for the NPP, adding that the party would win the elections on strategy.