Opinions of Saturday, 21 April 2012

Columnist: Yawson, Kit

PPP The Alternative Government Of Ghana In Waiting

Dr. Paa Kwesi Nduom’s reasons for wanting to be a President of Ghana show how committed he is to lead the Progressive People’s Party (PPP)to truly transform Ghana into a world class society. He fits into the criteria or person specification of the best leader to guard and guide Ghana into a successful and highly developed nation. His determination is clearly evident from his reasons for wanting to be President of our dear country Ghana.
Ghana needs a visionary leader to bring real change into the country to render the third world stigma a thing of the past. We are a small nation of only under 30 million people, blessed with abundant natural resources capable of turning our nation into a world class society. This is the reason we the PPP want the opportunity to implement our Agenda for Change when our leader and Presidential candidate Dr. Paa Kwesi Nduom is made President of the Republic of Ghana come January, 2013. Our Agenda (2012 Political Platform) which is built on four strong Pillars, namely, Stewardship, Education, Healthcare and Jobs clearly spells out how we are going to move Ghana forward, with fellow Ghanaians, including women and the youth, irrespective of their political persuasions, and not just PPP members. Dr. Nduom himself was taken on board NPP Government administration even though he belonged to the CPP at the time.
Ghana is a rich country, considering our numerous natural resources of gold manganese, bauxite, cocoa, timber and now oil and gas. With these resources Ghana could have been a comparatively fast developing nation south of the Sahara. This is the ambition PPP government has set itself to achieve given the mandate by Ghanaians to rule at the 2012 general elections. Our policy of giving power to the People for Development shall enable us all to see a Ghana in which we can live in our own villages, towns, districts or regions to work and serve our nation rather than everyone else having had to move to Greater Accra area to look for jobs.

Our clear, simple and straightforward policies (2012 Political Platform Agenda for Change) have started to make all the differences between the PPP and the old established parties of NDC and NPP. This is now making the NDC and NPP very uncomfortable to the extent that they have devised means of avoiding us in media interviews; be they radio or television. At a time that Ghana needs to move forward if other political parties are being side lined just because the NDC and NPP are so convinced that it is either one or the other destined to rule Ghana, the Electoral Commission is called upon to step in to ensure equal exposure of all political parties on national media in the campaigns running up to the elections.
Despite the setbacks we of the PPP are not deterred as we believe that the 2012 election is going to be decided on the parties with the best and implementable policies which we do, and not the parties that have media monopolies, coupled with making the most noises, but lack the required vision to move Ghana forward.
The track record of the NDC is not helpful, neither is that of the NPP. The external and internal battles the NDC government has had to contend with; e.g. the current Woyome case and worst of all, open disagreement with the NDC founder is not doing the current government any good. The distractions are holding the government back from functioning effectively. There are more important problems for the government to tackle. Problems like school children studying under trees cannot be over-emphasized. Unfortunately none of the NDC government ministers and other parliamentarians has children studying under trees in Ghana as they mostly live in Accra. Unsurprisingly, this issue is not being addressed in the house of parliament as expected.
I have maintained in all radio interviews here in the UK that despite some improvements in the Greater Accra Area, these improvements cannot be claimed to be taking place in all other villages, and towns outside Greater Accra Area. This is why our clarion call for transformation needs to be taken seriously because we are the party with the best policies for which we are seeking the opportunity to implement same to change the way Ghana has been governed for a very long time. Ghana is not functioning as it should. Since 25th February, 1966.Both military and civilian governments that have ruled Ghana have all blurred the boundaries of effective governance; they have constantly failed to move Ghana away from mismanagement, corruption and poverty. The NDC and NPP past and present governments have done their best in the last 30 years and have quite clearly ran out of ideas for better governance. The next and only alternative is the PPP and we are ready to take over the reins of the NDC government via the ballot box to bring the necessary changes that Ghana so urgently and clearly need. I am calling on all Ghanaians to vote us in for a change and we shall never let the nation down.
All we are asking is for fellow Ghanaians to give us a chance to transform our motherland into a world class society. Train services throughout Ghana are a possibility; job creation in all regions under the PPP is a necessity; equally good hospitals in all regions and towns are a must. It must not always be Korle Bu or Okomfo Anokye hospitals alone. Existing hospitals and others to be built across the regions are going to be equipped with modern medical equipment and facilities as a matter of urgency. The usual practice of flying VIPs to the developed countries for proper medical treatment shall be discontinued and attention focused on providing better medical facilities under the PPP government.
Politics is about doing the right thing for the long term benefit of the country and the PPP endorses this idea. We are ready to take over the baton from the NDC for unprecedented governance of our dear country and we cannot achieve this aim without the support of the nation. All eligible Ghanaians are urged to register to vote before the deadline. As the government now seems to be embattled with malfunctioning of the Biometric Registration machines it may be necessary to extend the voter registration deadline until the teething problems of the registration machines are resolved. We must remember that frustration at the registration centres are creating new problems in our society leading to politics of insults, incitement to tribal warfare, unnecessary legal proceedings and waste of time for everyone else.
God bless our homeland Ghana and help us to embrace civilised political campaign.

Awake Ghana!
Kit Yawson
Chairman
PPP-UK & EIRE