“Our task, the task of the New Patriotic Party, in our next government, is to create prosperity for all Ghanaians so we can secure the peace and stability of our nation. That is the task we have put before ourselves. We want to construct a bright future for the Ghanaian people.”

These were the words of the 2016 presidential candidate of the New Patriotic Party, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, on Wednesday, July 6, when he addressed a mammoth gathering of party faithful, sympathisers and ordinary Ghanaians, at the campaign launch of the party’s Member of Parliament for Dome/Kwabenya constituency, Lawyer Adwoa Safo.

The NPP flagbearer indicated that the policies and programmes that have been outlined by the party so far, including the ‘1-District-1-Factory’ policy, are all geared towards returning the country onto the path of progress and prosperity, and away from the hardships and suffering Ghanaians have been plunged into by the Mahama government.

Urging Ghanaians not to be hoodwinked by the usual propaganda of ‘it cannot be done’ and ‘it is impossible’, he explained that any policy that has been introduced by the NPP, from the promise of the introduction of the National Health Insurance Scheme, the Free SHS policy, the Northern Development Authority and the recent ‘1-District-1-Factory’ policy, was initially said not to be feasible.

Posterity, he said, has proven the NPP right, as the NHIS was setup by President Kufuor, with President Mahama, after bastardising the Free SHS and Northern Development Authority policies, turned around to steal, and later try to implement them, albeit ending up in failure and corruption.

“I will not announce policies and programmes which I know I cannot fulfil. I respect Ghanaians far too much to lie to them. We are going to implement all the policies for which we have said we would, and in particular the ‘1-district-1-factory’ policy, to help bring progress and prosperity to all parts of Ghana,” the NPP flagbearer said.

He, therefore, appealed to Ghanaians to support him and “push the ‘Elephant’ into the Jubilee House”, adding that “let us use our thumbs to change Ghana. Ghana was not destined to be a poor country.

If we get proper policies, this will not be our lot. If we have a leader who has love for his country and good thoughts for his country, flanked by able men and women, it won’t be long before Ghana regains her pride of place on the continent.”

Citing the example of Cote d’Ivoire, a country which was plunged into civil war 6 years ago, leading to the deaths of some 3,000 people and the displacing of 100,000 more, many of whom found their way into Ghana, Nana Akufo-Addo noted “God gave them Alasanne Ouattara, and now Cote d’Ivoire is the envy of nations on the African continent. The number 1 investment destination in Africa today is Cote d’Ivoire.”

The NPP flagbearer’s appeal to Ghanaians, therefore, was “for the opportunity to do for Ghana what Alassane Ouattara is doing for Cote d’Ivoire. To be able to do this, I need your help. This is my third attempt. Help me go there so I can bring in a good government to institute policies that will bring progress to this country.”

Nana Akufo-Addo urged the masses gathered not to lose hope in the ability of Ghana to offer a decent livelihood to its citizens, assuring that “have hope. Something great is on the horizon for all Ghanaians.”