Education will be key in next NPP administration – Akufo-Addo
The New Patriotic Party (NPP) next government would make education the foundation of its administration, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, the 2012 NPP Presidential Candidate, has stated.
He said his government would provide free basic school to the Junior High School (JHS) level to enable the mass of the people to have basic education.
Nana Akufo-Addo was speaking at the maiden lecture of the “Liberty Lecture” series organized by the Danquah Institute (DI), a political think-tank in Accra on Wednesday.
The lecture on the theme: “Building a society of opportunities” was attended by many NPP bigwigs including former President John Agyekum Kufuor.
The lecture has been instituted to be an annual affair to celebrate and recognize the contributions of people and events that led to Ghana’s independence on March 6, 1957 in order to let the present generation appreciate the cost of liberty and to contribute to the kind of learning that would ensure constant liberty.
Nana Akufu-Addo proposed the setting up of an Economic Development Authority (EDA), which would be a one stop-shop to spearhead the economic development of the country.
He said the new entity would integrate the salt and petrol chemical industry, the bauxite and aluminium industry, and the plastic industry to lead the country in its industrialization drive.
The NPP Flagbearer said the next NPP administration would put in place measures to empower small businesses to expand their activities and to provide employment opportunities for the unemployed youth.
He said the NPP would also provide active support for the private sector, which continues to play crucial role in the socio-economic development of the country.
Former President John Agyekum Kufuor said the vision of the fore-bearers of the NPP tradition had been vindicated by the current global economic development where the development of the individual and liberties had become paramount.
He pleaded with Ghanaians to listen to the NPP and give the party the opportunity to serve the country with dedicated service.
“Our mission is to put Ghana on a sound pedestal and not play fanciful politics” he added.
Professor A.K.P. Kludze, a retired Supreme Court Judge, who spoke on the significance of “August 4” in the political annals of Ghana, noted that on August 4, 1897, the Aborigines Rights Protection Society (ARPS) was formed by a group of Gold coasters to protest the Crown Lands Bill of 1896 and the Lands Bill of 1897 that threatened the traditional land tenure system.
He said the ARPS became the main political organization that led organized and sustained opposition against the colonial government, laying the foundation for political action that would ultimately lead to Ghana’s independence.
Prof. Kludze named the co-founders of the ARPS as John W. Sey, John P. Brown, John Casely Hayford and John Mensah Sarbah whiles some of the earliest members included William Essuman Pietersen, H. Van Hien, Kobina Sekyi, Attoh Ahuma and Joseph William Egyanka Appiah.
He said 50 years down the road on August 4, 1947; the United Gold Coast Convention (UGCC) was formed at Saltpond in the Central region.
He said the UGCC became the organized political unit fighting for national freedom and independence. Out of the UGCC, came the Convention Peoples Party (CPP) led by Dr Kwame Nkrumah who was careful to maintain the link with the Convention by appropriating the word “convention” to the name of his new party.
“It should be possible then for all to find our common ancestry in the events of August 4, which set the stage formally for the liberty of the Ghanaian” he said.
Source: GNA