In what can be described as the launch of his campaign for this year’s presidential election, the flag bearer of the People’s National Convention (PNC), Dr Edward Nasigre Mahama, has stated that the party’s campaign on the theme: “New beginnings, new deal, new force”, will help change the direction of the November 7 elections.
He said the party’s manifesto was being worked around that theme, indicating that ‘new beginnings’ referred to a shake-up in all the sectors of the economy to ensure accountability, while the ‘new deal’ spoke to new programmes for groups such as farmers and teachers.
‘New force’, he said, represented the alternative the party offered Ghanaians.
Announcing his intention to contest and win the elections, Dr Mahama, who led a high-powered delegation on a visit to the Daily Graphic yesterday, said, “President John Mahama is looking for a job, Nana is looking for a job; we are all looking for a job.”
New beginnings
At a meeting with the Managing Director of the Graphic Communications Group Limited (GCGL), Mr Kenneth Ashigbey, Dr Mahama said “the new beginnings is in relation to my frustration with the government machinery”.
He said the intention was to look at the ministries to see how to revitalise them to make them responsive.
“We need to start afresh because Ghana used to have the best Civil Service in Africa, but today you can’t say that,” he said.
He said the civil, public, education and health services needed restructuring in such a way that there would be accountability and responsibility, values which a government under him would ensure.
New deal
Touching on the ‘new deal’ in the theme, he said it would look at new programmes to help unemployed youth, farmers and teachers.
Dr Mahama lamented that although Ghana was the world’s leading producer of cocoa for a long time, the situation was not so currently.
He said the new deal would involve cutting out the middlemen in the cocoa sector who contributed to the smuggling of the crop to neighbouring countries and diverted fertiliser meant for farmers.
He also stated that he would ensure that rice was produced locally to feed the country by reducing the
rice import bill of $800 million by 50 per cent, so that $400 million would go into Ghanaian pockets.
Dr Mahama also said the 100 benefits of coconut, the symbol of the PNC, would be championed through a coconut festival, for which he asked the support of the media.
New force
He said the PNC was not seeking to be a third force in Ghana’s democracy but a new force, which was the answer to the problems of Ghana.
He commended the Daily Graphic for striving to give a fair chance of coverage to all political parties in the country.
While expressing confidence in the Ghanaian to turn around the fortunes of the country, Dr Mahama said “it is that can-do spirit that I bring to this nation. I believe I can do it. I believe I can be a good President for this country”.
Mr Ashigbey commended Dr Mahama for his perseverance and commitment to Ghana, saying: “I admire your resilience and commitment to Ghana and it is something that we all need to bring to our politics.”
Touching on the success story of the GCGL, he said the achievements of the company had been made possible because of the commitment of the workers and its autonomy to do things independently.
Mr Ransford Tetteh, the Editor of the Daily Graphic, asked whether the PNC saw in the youth the readiness to go into farming, to which Dr Mahama said, “What is lacking in Ghana are opportunities for the people. You can’t force young people, but making farming lucrative will attract them.”
Mr Kobby Asmah, the Political Editor of the Daily Graphic, commended the PNC for being the first political party to visit the GCGL in this election year and pledged that the paper would strive to give all parties adequate coverage.
He asked the party to be ready to respond quickly to issues when they were called on and also to take advantage of trending national issues to remain relevant in the media.
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