Below is the full statement of PPP’s National Youth Organiser, Divine Nkrumah after he staged a one-man demonstration in Accra.

Good morning Ladies and Gentlemen of the Press

I offer you “Awake greetings” from the leadership of the Progressive People’s Party and its teeming members as well as well-wishers who look to the PPP for the Redemption. Thank you for honouring the invitation to cover this ‘One-man Demo’ engineered by the Youth Wing of the Progressive People’s Party.

The main purpose of today’s demonstration is to protest against recent happenings in the country. Following recent unstable developments in the country with reference to the fact that polytechnic teachers are on strike; there is fuel shortage in the country; monies owed the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFUND) have not been paid; government subventions given to public universities have been removed; academic user fees have been increased in all public Tertiary Institutions among a host of thousand others. These problems have taken a toll on well-meaning Ghanaians and therefore someone ought stand up and send a clear message to government that times are hard. A statement ought to be made to tell the government that they can’t continue to take Ghanaians for granted. The sloppiness of the Mahama-led government without taking into consideration the wellbeing of the people who are the custodians of their mandate is so disgusting.

We in the PPP wish to announce to Ghanaians, that the recent developments do not give any hope of peace and safety in this country. The question I ask is, did Ghanaians vote for the NDC to witness this unprecedented mediocrity? The current hardships that Ghanaians are facing depict the deplorable state of the economy and it is an indication of the failure of the NDC government to live up to its promises. President Mahama has failed to provide the kind of leadership that is needed to improve the conditions of the people. The afore-mentioned problems are an indication of the fact there is no clear leadership in this country of ours. Where is our President? Is he really in charge?

The level of corruption that has characterized the entire government machinery has been revealed over and over again; yet, failed government appointees are only transferred to other sectors to perpetuate more failures. If the president truly has the interest of the nation at heart and do believe in the better Ghana agenda, then I believe this is the right time for President Mahama to hand over the affairs of this nation to a more competent fellow since there is high evidence of economic challenges.

If the President should as such continue occupying the highest seat of the land, then he is clearly telling Ghanaians that he cares less about their sensitivity because he has shown that the cross is too huge for him to carry. The sycophants at the office of the presidency and government appointees are dancing to the same tune and are all guilty of the incompetence of the government. They all lack regard for the needs and concerns of the ordinary Ghanaian. “God bless our homeland Ghana and make our nation great and strong”. Frankly, the next time the president hears the national anthem and sees the flag of Ghana, he should be the first person to consider a change, which must start right from the top and now!

NDC government keeps increasing tariffs by heart as if that is the only panacea to our woes. If tariffs are increased indiscriminately without regard for the welfare of workers, then we can only expect that corruption will deepen in all sectors of the economy. Sincerely, we can no longer sit and watch, as the very government that we pay taxes to, turns its back on us while we wallow in poverty and despair at the high cost of living. Frequent power cuts are discouraging entrepreneurship from creating new businesses, yet we complain that unemployed graduates are lazy. WHERE ARE THE JOBS?

Ghana has witnessed enough of these challenges and as such, Ghanaians must collectively show concern and the drive to push away bad leaders. It is needless to just highlight the wrongs in the system, which is already staring us in the face without taken the necessary action to elect a competent leader like Dr. Papa Kwesi Nduom.

Ghana has come a long way, expected to have politicians who are national interest thinkers and not otherwise. People in all parts of the country are going through indescribable suffering which appears to be surfacing as a threat to the security and stability of our country Ghana. The intended and ultimate goal of the politics of a state must ensure the continuous provision for the public’s good, security and an enabling environment for prosperity. The preamble of our constitution 1992, reads in part that we intended to “establish a framework of government, which shall secure for ourselves, and posterity the BLESSINGS of liberty, EQUALITY of opportunity and PROSPERITY. Today where are the blessings of liberty for POTAG members, where is the equality of opportunity for the university and polytechnic students and where is the prosperity for my nation Ghana? What are we seeing of the NDC government? Enough is enough.

We should in Ghana work to remove the NDCs ineffective, business as usual, slow-moving leaders from power and put a transformational, fast-moving, hardworking new set of leaders from the PPP in power. We should encourage the collective heart of Ghanaians to embrace real change so that this country can make a great leap forward.

I ask Ghanaians to reject the deep seated acrimonious politics that threatens to consume us, and rather make way for that fresh alternative politics and good governance, that will deliver an incorruptible government, evidenced in stewardship, health care, education and jobs for all Ghanaians.

Long live Ghana,

Long live PPP,

God bless us all. I thank you.

Divine Nkrumah

National Youth Coordinator

Progressive People’s Party