Statement on Co-operation towards Ghana's Development in the 21st Century

1. The National Reform Party and the United Ghana Movement wish to announce that our two parties have embarked on a programme of co-operation towards Election 2000 and beyond.

2. The basis for this joint initiative is our shared belief that the search for alternative policies and programmes is the paramount task of the political leadership in Ghana today.

3. We believe the Ghana must as a matter of urgency move away from the dangerous politics of personal patronage that is breeding so much conflict and strife. We must move towards politics that openly create a strong and popular vision of our common future. For it is only such politics that can build unity in the face of our immediate and future challenges. It is only such a common vision that can bring about badly needed national reconciliation.

4. Specifically, we believe that Ghana needs a clear national development vision. The cumulative local impact of structural adjustment is a deep and a growing sense of despair and failure. We believe that the intellectual and technocratic resources required to build this new vision are available here in Ghana. We believe it is our responsibility as political leaders to tap it and give it pride of place in our development process.

5. Henceforth, we will work together to establish development priorities, evolve policy positions, develop programmes and popularise ideas about education, health, housing, transport, employment, agriculture, local government, rural development, etc.

6. Both our parties have done considerable work in these areas and have come to some broadly similar conclusions. We believe that this co-operation will make our efforts more effective.

7. This initiative signals substantive co-operation that goes beyond the scope of the Joint Action Committee launched by 5-minority parties late last year. However, it does also provide a framework for strengthening all of JAC=s initiatives aimed at creating a level playing field for Election 2000. We will conduct our cooperation in a frank and transparent manner. Where we do not achieve consensus on specific policies, the process will, at least, draw the public into constructive policy debate and set the agenda for the 2000 election campaign and beyond. It ensures that the issues and their consequences will be clearly thought out and understood by the Ghanaian people. We believe that it points the way forward for Ghanaian politics in the 21st century.

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Peter Kpordugbe Nii Armar Tagoe

Interim Chairman, NRP Chairman,

UGM

ISSUED IN ACCRA, 10 FEBRUARY 2000