As NPP launches manifesto, Akufu-Addo taps into religion
Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, the Flagbearer of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) for Election 2016, has launched the party’s manifesto for the December polls, with a conviction that God would ensure the victory of the party.
He said this would be done in spite of the scanty resources of the party compared to the main governing National Democratic Congress (NDC).
In a Biblical anecdote, the leader of the NPP said: “So let me speak the words of David to our Goliath…
“You come to me with a sword, with a spear, and with a javelin. But I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel (Ghana), whom you have defied. This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel (Ghana). Then all this assembly shall know that the Lord does not save with sword and spear; for the battle is the Lord’s, and He will give you into our hands.” 1 Samuel 17:45–47
“Ladies and gentlemen, the battle is the Lord’s… They have more money than us, but the battle is the Lord’s,” Nana Akufo Addo re-echoed at the launch, at the Trade Fair, La, in Accra to party faithful and supporters, as he outlined the aspects of the manifesto.
“They have more outboard motors, more roofing sheets, more laptops, more sewing machines to give away, but the battle is the Lord’s. They have more giant-sized billboards than us, but the battle is the Lord’s.
“In truth, however, fellow Ghanaians, we are many and they are few and the battle remains the Lord’s,” he said.
The manifesto is focused on creating jobs for the teeming unemployed youth as well as wealth creation and providing equal opportunities for all Ghanaians.
Nana Alkufpo Addo said the NPP’s manifesto represented a solemn social contract between the party and the electorate and this would help the electorate distinguish between the various political parties because the plans and programmes they set out would be influenced by the ideologies and beliefs.
“By offering the NPP Manifesto to the Ghanaian public today means, I, as the presidential candidate of our party, sign my part of the contract. Your vote would constitute your signature on the contract and your mandate for me to implement the ideas in the Manifesto.”
The NPP Flagbearer, spotting a simple long-sleeved whiter shirt emblossened with the party’s colours of red, blue and white told the launching, presided over by former President John Agyekum Kufuor, that there was never an identity crisis in the party.
“Right from our UGCC roots through the various incarnations to the present day NPP, we have held firm in our belief in multi-party democracy and free market economics; even when these were not the fashionable ideologies on this continent of ours.
“We were never tempted during the many years we spent in opposition to compromise on our beliefs and when at last we had the opportunity to govern this country under President J.A. Kufuor in 2001 through to 2008, our performance demonstrated we were comfortable in our skins.
“The private sector flourished and businesses thrived. I do not propose to speak about what the NDC stands for, save to make the point that the Party had been in power for eight years and it was when they had lost power and were in opposition that they met and decided they were Social Democrats. One would hope, therefore, that our Manifesto would show us for what we are and stand for.
Nana Akufo Addo pledged the party’s commitment to renew and enhance social protection programmes began under former president Kufuor’s administration, blaming the Mahama administration for collapsing most of them and plunging Ghanaians into social and economic problems.
The launch was used to explain the NPP’s programme of one district, one factory, as other party members highlighted on programmes for trade and industry, Agriculture, the private sector, women, the youth, the elderly and the disabled.
Dr Mahamudu Bawamia, running mate to the NPP Flag bearer who highlighted parts of the manifesto, said that the party would broaden the tax base with the formalisation of the economy, abolish the taxes on kayayei placed on them by the NDC government and introduce tax benefits for organisations that hire fresh graduates.
Furthermore, the NPP would abolish the 17.5 per cent VAT on domestic airline tickets and shift the focus from taxation to production by reducing corporate tax rate from 25 percent to 20 percent.
The former deputy Governor of the Bank of Ghana said the NPP would issue National Identification cards in its first year and set up a financial stability council to revive the struggling financial sector.
He said the next NPP Government would broaden the tax base with the formalisation of the economy and pass a fiscal responsibility law to address the current level of debt
It would also undertake an urgent and comprehensive review of Social Security and National Insurance Trust SSNIT to ensure that pensioners get equity for their investment.
Former President Kufour urged party members and faithful to go to the nook and cranny of the country with the NPP’s message of renewal for Ghanaians to give the party the nod at the next general polls.
Source: GNA