“Tomorrow starts today” – Professor Akosa’s “One Ghana Message”.

With only about a month left for the CPP to elect their flag bearer for the 2008 elections, followers of Professor Agyeman Badu Akosa have started a campaign to draft him as a candidate.

Professor Akosa is seen as the champion of the working men and women, the marginalised, the youth, the old, jobless and women in his homeland of Ghana.

Professor Akosa’s philosophy is based on “opportunity, responsibility and community”.

Before returning to Ghana to serve his people, Professor Agyeman Badu Akosa served as a registrar at Hammersmith Hospital and as a consultant for five years at Whipps Hospital, UK, and president of Commonwealth Medical Association. Despite his demanding position, Prof Akosa never forgets the poor and the marginalised in his homeland of Ghana. During an HIV/AIDS conference when he was the head of Commonwealth Medical Association and Ghana Health Service, Dr Akosa stressed “the duty of the world health community to strive for parity between poor and rich countries in patient access to the panoply partially helpful treatments to prolong life”.

During his watch as the health boss in Ghana, Professor Akosa work tirelessly to ensure that every child was immunized against Polio. During a press briefing some 3 years ago Akosa said “every child born in Ghana has the right to get that protection at every available opportunity against preventable diseases”. This obviously is in line with CPP’s philosophy of bringing disease under control. Professor Akosa said polio was acquired through poor environmental sanitation and personal hygiene, pointing out that houses that were built without toilet facilities had contributed immensely to this. Dr Akosa said poor health, malnutrition, illiteracy and powerlessness among the over 80% of Ghanaians must be addressed before the country can even think of achieving middle income status in 2015. Akosa said his mission statement is to raise the incomes and living standards of his countrymen. He believes there must be a safety net to care for all in times like these as poverty is taking its toll on the poor. Professor Akosa believes this will help reduce corruption, selfishness and abuse of office and power which has been the bane of Ghana’s woes since independence.

During a tour of the North, Akosa explained that under the CPP administration, spending in health and education sector would be targeted mostly at the poorest 80% of the population. Dr Akosa said the poor; particularly women, have less access to fiscal resources directed toward enhancing their capabilities and stated that the gender dimension to inequality hinders growth and contributes to poverty.

Akosa, explaining CPP blue print for government, said the goal is to pursue sensible macroeconomic policies that would encourage growth and employment within the country which he noted are essential for any poverty reduction strategy and decried the deficiencies in the NPP administration’s poverty strategy. Akosa explained that under CPP administration, policies would be targeted to the poor and the marginalised to enhance their ability to take advantage of better employment opportunities that his administration would create. Akosa said his skills training initiate aims to improve the human capital of the country. Akosa said the aim is to reduce income poverty and to improve people’s lives.

Professor Akosa said under CPP administration, the party will increase transparency and accountability in regards to delivery of public resources through effective and efficient decentralisation. Akosa noted that macroeconomic instability hurts the poor disproportionately, because the poor have fewer strategies to cope with the consequences, such as the energy crisis and water shortages in the country. An Akosa led government will look setting beneficial targets and listen to the advice of the technocrats. It is the neglect of such technical advice that has plunge the nation into the current energy crisis which led to loses of lives, jobs, profits and obviously affecting both social and religious activities. These are major concerns that well meaning government must confront without playing the blame game. Akosa said to reduce such risks demands providing better services through well designed public works programs.

Akosa said by pursing sensible and quantifiable policies such as, basic nutrition, education and primary health care, poverty can be eradicated within one generation.

Akosa said his CPP government will invest in people to promote individual development and to equip people with the skills to escape poverty. Akosa said this requires education, primary health care and income security.

Dr Akosa universities and polytechnics in Ghana have a greater role to play in Ghana’s development. Akosa said they will be mandated to generate new ideas and knowledge through research to help solve local issues. He said the neglect of natural sciences, applied technology; business related skills and research capabilities would be reversed.

Dr Akosa cited University for Development Studies in the Northern Region and University of Mines and Technology, Tarkwa, Western Region as some of the key institutions of higher learning where the government intends to invest huge resources for them to take advantage of their unique brand of courses they offer. Akosa said with the huge discovery of oil in Ghana, University of Mines and Technology, Tarkwa, will be encouraged to offer specialist courses related to the oil industry. Akosa said University of Mines, Tarkwa is geared to become a leading seat of academic excellence in oil and mines field. Akosa did not ruled out University for Agriculture in the Volta Region.

Akosa said, “Tomorrow starts today – by focusing on those factors that have accounted for the slowdown in progress and address those policies that had held down our growth for the past 4 decades”.

Akosa said as his tour takes him round the country, one major factor that he notice affecting school performance is the health and nutrition of students. Akosa said their health and nutrition can affect their future productivity in the workforce and question the notion behind the NPP’s educational reforms. Akosa stated that ill health in the country results from infectious diseases and nutrition deficiencies and said the situation in the 3 northern regions is not acceptable. Akosa said the potential income loss from adult illness in the northern regions three times that in other regions is a national scandal and disgrace.

Akosa blame the service delivery mechanisms as inappropriate and said public institutions are relatively weak and said under the CPP government community based funds would be channelled to local joint assemblies/traditional councils. Traditional councils would be reformed to bring them into the 21st century. Akosa said “Nananom are our partners in development. Their wise advice cannot be ignored”. Professor Akosa’s message to the Ghanaian people is” Tomorrow starts today”.