Town Hall Meeting is an important part of the Nduom for President 08 Campaign strategy! It is no wonder therefore when the Flagbearer of CPP, Dr. Paa Kwesi Nduom was at the Eghan Community Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA on Saturday, May 17th to honor an invitation to by Ghanaian political pressure group, Citizens for a Better Ghana (CFABG ). Citizens for a Better Ghana, is a lobbying group of Ghanaians based in North America, which encouraged Dr. Nduom to run for the Presidency. He was accompanied by his wife, Yvonne and local representatives of CFABG.

In his address, Dr. Nduom stressed the need for change by doing everything differently from how we have done them in Ghana since independence. He emphasized the important message of choosing a leader who will work with a sense of urgency to solve Ghana’s myriad problems. He stressed that he was that leader and the one who represents change compared to the other presidential candidates.

Dr. Nduom made clear his intention to put in place a Homecoming Secretariat to cater for the needs of the hundreds of Ghanaians abroad to support the economy and families back home. The Secretariat he said will be staffed with competent Ghanaians some of whom have lived abroad and would understand the challenges Ghanaians abroad face at the ports, buying real estate, investing in the country, getting medical attention, etc. It would also be the link between the Government of Ghana and other governments to address difficulties faced by Ghanaians abroad including matters such as the transfer of social security/pension benefits.

He outlined his vision of creating a disciplined country with a passion for excellence and a goal of at least $5,000 per capita income within ten years after taking office. This would be achieved through a number of initiatives that he discussed in the areas of education, environmental cleanliness, application of science and technology, infrastructure development, directly supporting the Ghanaian private sector and a legislative agenda to bring government back to the people through the election of District Chief Executives and Assembly Members. Dr. Nduom was very specific about his intention to ensure the development of a petrochemicals industry in the Western Region of Ghana so that the oil and gas discovery does not lead to the continuation of just exporting the raw material.

The audience of many Ghanaians and citizens from other African countries asked more than 30 questions and were so interested that the discussion was continued at another venue well into the night. The main areas of concern included corruption, the drug trade, how to make education more relevant and practical and the difficulties encountered back home with immigration, customs and other government officials. It was the opinion of most people in the audience that Dr. Nduom was the right person for this moment in Ghanaian history to take the country to a very high level of development. Several pledged their support and promised to work with their friends and relatives back home to support the election of Dr. Nduom as the next President of the Republic of Ghana.

Dr. Nduom assured the people that the CPP is now a revived, competitive party that will field very good parliamentary candidates throughout the country to give the Party a strong chance of winning the December 2008 elections. The CPP he said was now independent and rebuilding the CPP family with the hope that the alliance announced recently with the PNC will hold to give a further boost to the chances to win the elections.

On the following day, Dr. Nduom joined the congregation at Christ Covenant Chapel led by Pastor Kingsley Ayesu where a powerful sermon was delivered on “Behaving Wisely” interestingly enough on the story in the bible of David. Dr. Nduom asked for prayers from the congregation and promised to work with his party members to ensure a peaceful, stable Ghana during and after the December 2008 elections.

Campaign Committee - Nduom for President 08 – 20 May 2008.

picture: Nduom at Minneapolis.