The 2012 Presidential Candidate of the New Patriotic Party, Nana Addo Danquah Akufo-Addo, has stated under an Akufo-Addo administration, education will be his first priority most because the important property the Ghanaian society can bequeath to its citizens is intellectual property.

He made this known when he addressed NPP Members of Parliament, national executives and spokespersons at a seminar organized by the leadership of the party and held at the Alisa Hotel on Monday, 23rd May 2011.

According to Nana Addo, Africa’s 20th century history has shown that a nation may be endowed with all the riches of nature, namely gold, diamond, bauxite, oil, platinum, timber, manganese and uranium, and still remain poor. Therefore, in his opinion, the most important resource Ghanaians have to prioritise in building is the human resource, the mind.

He stated that the situation where some 180,000 or more school leavers are thrown onto the streets every year without any employable basic skills must stop as this is contributing to building a future of hopelessness for the country. This, according to Nana Addo, is too dangerous for Ghana’s security.

Nana Addo reaffirmed his commitment to making Senior High School free and also the first exit point for education in Ghana. According to Nana Addo, the next NPP administration will focus on quality education built on an education policy which will put the“TEACHER FIRST”.

“We have to offer real hope for the youth of this country. They need education, skills and jobs. It is our task to device programmes that can offer them just that. If we can build the intellectual property of the Ghanaian, offer the best of public services and create an environment that promotes private enterprise, we will surely free up the Ghanaian to climb the ladder of prosperity and enhance the dignity of our people,Nana Addo said.

He continued “We need to focus not only on sharing the cake but on how to expand the grain fields, so we can grow more, mill more flour to bake more and more cake (and other pastries) for everyone to enjoy. That is what we stand for and that is what we are fighting for and, by the grace of God, we shall succeed.”

Touching on the NPP’s philosophy, Nana Addo stated that the philosophy of the NPP, which has been adopted by Ghana’s Fourth Republican Constitution,remains the most formidable proposition in the political market of our country and one that has the capacity to allow its citizens to create and spread wealth in freedom and with responsibility.

He added that the NPP’s philosophy which views civil liberties and human rights as conducive to economic growth and intrinsic to the objective of development is the philosophy which is dominant in the world today. “We believe in empowering the individual to use his or her entrepreneurial initiative to create legitimate wealth and to enjoy security of person and private property. We believe through freedom we can encourage upward mobility for everyone in society”, Nana Addo explained.

He further added that the NPP chose as its motto, ‘Development in Freedom’ because of the unyielding belief that political and social freedoms are both inherently desirable by the citizenry of our dear country

The seminar is part of an ongoing process by the leadership of the NPP to further deepen the unity within the entire membership of the party as well as creating a platform for the party to strategise towards election 2012 and beyond.

The seminar was organised to acquaint parliamentary candidates with the philosophy of the party, the vision of the Presidential Candidate, Campaign strategy and the role of parliamentarians in ensuring a total victory for the NPP in 2012.

Speakers at the seminar included Prof GyanBaffour, MP for Wenchi, who spoke on the social economy; the Minority Leader, OseiKyei-Mensa-Bonsu, who appraised participants on the work of parliamentarians; and Kofi Bentil of IMANI who gave a presentation on property owning democracy.

The seminars, instituted by the new leadership of the NPP, are set to be a constant feature as members of parliament, together with newly elected parliamentary candidates and the party’s leadership will meet before parliament goes on recess and also immediately after parliament returns from recess.

Last week, Nana Akufo-Addo met and had dinner with current NPP Members of Parliament who decided not to contest their seats in last month’s parliamentary primaries. The MPs pledged their commitment and unwavering desire towards campaigning for the newly elected parliamentary candidates to ensure the NPP retained these seats.

Nana Addo, the following day, also met and had dinner with current NPP MPs who lost their seats during last month’s primaries. The MPs reiterated their commitment to working with the newly elected parliamentary candidates in their respective constituencies to ensure the NPP kept a hold of these constituencies in the 2012 general elections.