JJ Lands In Kumasi With NDP Gurus

Published in Daily Guide on August 30, 2012

By Charles Takyi-Boadu 

Jerry John Rawlings

Barring any unforeseen hitch, former President Jerry John Rawlings is expected to arrive in the Ashanti regional capital Kumasi this morning to participate in today’s special national delegates’ congress of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC).
Spokesman for the former president and NDC founder, Kofi Adams confirmed this to DAILY GUIDE yesterday but fell short of saying whether Mrs. Rawlings and other persons would accompany him to the event which is expected to acclaim and endorse President John Dramani Mahama as the NDC’s flagbearer for the December 7 general elections.
The congress, which would take place at the Baba Yara Sports Stadium, became necessary following the demise of President Atta Mills who until his death was the presidential candidate of the party.
But DAILY GUIDE sources hinted that Mr. Rawlings, who is not just the founder of the NDC but also the Chairman of the Council of Elders of the party, would be accompanied by persons including former NDC General Secretary Dr Nii Armah Josiah Aryeh and Dr Joseph Mamboa Rockson as well as his aide, Kofi Adams.
It was not clear whether he would be accompanied by other people since an invitation purported to have been extended to Mr. Rawlings and signed by party General Secretary Johnson Asiedu-Nketia was reported to have asked the NDC founder to attend the event as an observer, with not more than 20 people.
Apart from his observer status, the NDC founder, noted for his long and boom speeches, would be allowed to speak for not more than 10 minutes.
Party General Secretary Asiedu-Nketia was reported to have served notice that since he would be the time keeper at the event, he would not allow anybody to speak beyond the allotted time.

Dr Josiah Aryeh

It was therefore not clear whether he issued this caveat because of Mr. Rawlings who is fond of making long and controversial speeches.
Ben Ephson, editor of the Daily Dispatch, had said that Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings was influencing her husband not to attend the congress.
Ben Ephson, who spoke on Joy FM, claimed that he had picked up information that Mrs Rawlings, who challenged ex-president Mills for the flag-bearership of the party, did not want Mr Rawlings to attend the congress and was scheming to stop him from going to Kumasi.
But Mr. Adams, who also spoke on Joy FM last night, said, “Nobody… will attempt to put a wedge between our former President and founder, His Excellency Jerry John Rawlings and her Excellency Konadu.”
This, he said, was because “they are one; they may agree and disagree on issues. That is how they have always been but they will continue to be one and we’ll move on.”
According to him, Mr. Rawlings’ decision to attend the congress was in view of the fact that he was the founder of the NDC, insisting that “the issues he’s had with the executives are still there and must be dealt with hereafter for whatever that it is to follow to follow.”
If those issues were not dealt with, Mr. Adams said, “we would find a way of moving forward”.
Kofi Adams said Mr Rawlings would as usual raise his concerns to the party leaders and hope they address them.
If they fail to address those concerns, he said, the founder would take any decision he deemed appropriate.
By Charles Takyi-Boadu 

NPP Fired Up – Launches Critical Manifesto

Published in Daily Guide on August 30, 2012

By Charles Takyi-Boadu 

Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo displays the 90-page manifesto

The opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) has rolled up its sleeves to do battle for the December 2012 general elections with the launch of its manifesto yesterday, promising to tackle the fundamental problems that have retarded the progress of the nation.
The document titled, ‘Transforming Lives, Transforming Ghana’, made audacious projections and policy proposals that promised to move the country forward when the NPP was voted into power.
The manifesto entailed six thematic areas, namely, building the foundations of a free and fair society; economic transformation for prosperity and job creation; public investment to provide basic amenities to support job creation; a disciplined and safe society; creating opportunities and promoting enterprise and Ghana in a wider world.
The various themes were presented by leading members of the party who explained how those aims would be achieved.
Speaking at the well-attended manifesto launch at the Ghana International Press Centre in Accra, NPP Presidential Candidate Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo stressed the belief that once these structures were put in place, the country would be ready for a massive take-off.
Present were key and influential members of the party including running mate Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, national executives, former ministers of state, Members of Parliament and members and supporters of the party.
With the unveiling of the policy statement, Nana Addo was optimistic the argument would now move from whether the country should have free and compulsory education from kindergarten to senior high school, since “this nation has no other choice if we are to make meaningful progress”.
He believed education held the key to the achievement of all these targets and for which reason the NPP would channel much of its efforts in the area of education. This decision, he said, would mean “we will have a competitive workforce, we will have a confident and dynamic population and nothing will stand in our way in the pursuit of progress.”
Commitment
Whilst admitting that the figures might look expensive for the party’s ability to achieve its goals in education, Nana Addo said, “I am the chairman and we cannot shirk the responsibility; we cannot postpone taking this decision one more year.”
He pledged a personal commitment to lead the campaign for society to accord the teaching profession the prestige it deserved since, in his own words, “teachers will play a critical role in what we hope to do”.
He said, “The success of an Akufo-Addo administration would depend on teachers and I promise to make the lot of teachers a happy one.”
Apart from that, the NPP Presidential Candidate indicated that an NPP administration would restructure Ghana’s economy for the private sector to play a central role, with the belief that “a strong private sector holds the key to prosperity. If we want different results, we have to do things differently”.
With a team of people he described as “enthusiastic, dynamic and competent” in place, Nana Addo was confident of achieving his vision for the country when voted into power since he had no illusions about the task ahead.
“I give you my pledge; I will fight corruption and I will want you all to be in this fight,” he noted.
He was of the firm conviction that Ghana had a brighter future than what the Mills-Mahama administration bequeathed to Ghanaians and what was now being offered by Mahama-Amissah-Arthur government.
For him, the ruling NDC administration had nothing good to offer the good people of Ghana and therefore urged Ghanaians to “vote them out and move Ghana forward”.
Nana Akufo-Addo said he would champion the fight against corruption by engaging in leadership by example.
Professor George Gyan Baffour, a former deputy Finance Minister who presented the NPP’s policy on education, said, “The goal of our educational policy is to transform education so that it will produce a capable, confident, skilled, educated human resource base to feed and support an expanding economy.”
He also touched on the much-talked-about Free SHS Policy, saying government would bear the cost of boarding, SRC dues, admission fees, exam fees, dining fees, utilities, and other costs in addition to the tuition, which was already free, to relieve the burden on parents.
Prof. Gyan-Baffour said an Akufo-Addo-Bawumia government would rather finance the Free SHS policy than pay dubious liability debts.
MP for Bimbilla Dominic Nitiwul spoke on infrastructure, while Adwoa Safo, NPP parliamentary candidate for Dome Kwabenya, spoke on the youth, with Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh taking Health, Isaac Osei Trade and Industry and Agriculture, and Cecilia Abena Dapaah speaking on Housing.
Former Deputy Attorney General Gloria Akuffo spoke on NPP agenda for Governance, with MP for Weija Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey explaining the party’s policy on Foreign Affairs and Diplomatic Relations.
Age Card
Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia rubbished the NDC’s claim that President John Mahama’s youthfulness would give him an advantage over Nana Akufo-Addo.
“What matters is policy, vision and integrity in this year’s elections, not age. I am honoured to be partnering Nana Akufo-Addo because he is full of vision and brilliant ideas for Ghana.
Nana has the energy and vision to deliver for Ghanaians so whether someone is aged or young, it doesn’t matter because Ghanaians will surely vote for the one with ideas,” he told Asempa FM in a follow-up interview.
According to Dr Bawumia, NDC’s argument about age was flawed because Ghanaians would not vote for a young candidate who had driven the economy into an abyss.
Dr. Bawumia urged Ghanaians to vote massively for Nana Addo and the NPP to transform their lives.

JJ Storms NDC Congress

Published in Daily Guide on August 29, 2012

By Charles Takyi-Boadu & I.F Joe Awuah 

Jerry John Rawlings

General Secretary of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC), Johnson Asiedu-Nketia, yesterday dropped hints of the possibility of the party’s founder and former President Jerry Rawlings attending the national delegates congress scheduled for tomorrow.
At a programme to receive the nominations of President John Mahama as NDC flagbearer for the December polls at the party’s Kokomlemle headquarters in Accra yesterday, he said, “We expect the arrival of His Excellency Flt. Lt Jerry John Rawlings, the founder of the party.”
Mr. Mahama is expected to be acclaimed and endorsed as flagbearer of the NDC at the congress scheduled for the Kumasi Sports Stadium.
In spite of the frosty relations between Mr. Rawlings and the current leadership of the party including Asiedu-Nketia himself, the general secretary claimed the former president would address the delegates and therefore expected all delegates to be seated by 8:50am tomorrow.
He said the NDC founder would have 10 minutes to address the delegates if he so desired, warning that if the former president exceeded the time, he would stop him.
However, information picked up by DAILY GUIDE indicated that Mr. Rawlings would likely not turn up for the event.
This, according to sources, was partly due to his strained relations with the leadership of the party and the fact that he had virtually been left out of all decision-making processes in the NDC, especially after the death of President Mills.
In spite of the fact that Mr. Rawlings was the founder and Chairman of Council of elders of the NDC, sources close to the party said he was not consulted over the decision to make Paa Kwesi Bekoe Amissah-Arthur the Vice President and possible running mate for President John Dramani Mahama.
Apart from that, he was said to have been left out of the decision to make President Mahama the automatic presidential candidate of the party following the demise of President Mills.
The old man, according to DAILY GUIDE’s source, was also not too happy with the contents of an invitation letter extended to him for participation in Thursday’s congress, since it sort of placed some restrictions on him and the tone of the letter addressed to him by Asiedu Nketia was not the best.
Sources also said the question of Mr. Rawlings attending the event would largely depend on whether or not he had any scheduled appointments outside the country this week, especially in Somalia, where he is the Special Envoy.
DAILY GUIDE learnt he had an intended trip to that country this week, a situation that might coincide with the NDC congress.

Rawlings Fever
Supporters of the NDC in Kumasi, the Ashanti regional capital, were said to have gone into wild jubilation over news that Mr Rawlings would be attending the congress.
There had been concerns among NDC supporters as to whether the NDC founder and his wife Nana Konadu, would be attending the event.
But information got to the region that Mr. Rawlings had agreed to attend the event where President Mahama is expected to be endorsed by party delegates as the NDC flagbearer.
Ashanti Regional Secretary of the party Joseph Yammin said, “So far it is 95% sure that that he will be coming for the congress.”
Yammin disclosed that they had even arranged for accommodation for the party founder, insisting that a befitting welcome had been arranged for Mr. Rawlings.
He said the NDC founder’s decision to attend the big event was an indication that the NDC was united and poised to inflict a painful defeat on the other political parties, especially the NPP.