4 Political party reps call for unity
There was a show of camaraderie at the Daily Graphic Town Hall meeting in Accra yesterday when representatives of the four political parties that participated in the meeting openly embraced one another at the end of the event.
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Participants applauded the representatives of the political parties, made up of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC), the Progressive People’s Party (PPP), the National Democratic Party (NDP) and the New Patriotic Party (NPP), when, in a show of peace and unity, they exchanged pleasantries and congratulated one another after their presentations.
The party representatives were Mr Ametor Quarmyne for the NDC, Mr Kofi Asamoah-Siaw for the PPP, Mr David Annang for the NPP and Mrs Peace Aryee for the NDP.
It all began when the Chairman for the occasion, Professor Kwame Boafo Omane-Antwi, who is the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Graphic Communications Group Limited (GCGL), asked the party representatives to, as a symbol of solidarity, wish one another well.
At the Accra version of the Graphic Town Hall Meeting, the representatives spoke on five thematic areas, namely, energy, infrastructure, job creation, agriculture and education.
Their presentations were done in such a civil manner that left the participants from a cross-section of civil society groups pleasantly suprised at the spectacle because supporters of the NPP and NDC had clashed on a number of occassions.
Key highlights
One of the key highlights that came up was development, with the party representatives underscoring the need for infrastructural development as a means of boosting national development and growth.
However, they differed in the approach and means of implementation towards the realisation of such an objective, with some questioning the use of infrastructure to the people when they were hungry.
While the parties agreed that infrastructural development was important and necessary, they maintained that it should be matched with job creation and not to be executed to impoverish the people.\
Party representatives
Mr Annang of the NPP in particular asked: “What use will it be when you have all the infrastructure but the people are hungry?”
In his view, when the people were hungry, the provision of infrastructure without job creation could worsen their living conditions.
He, therefore, advocated the need for a balance between infrastructure development and meeting the immediate needs of the people.
The representative of the NDC, Mr Ametor Quarmyne, who listed a number of infrastructure projects undertaken by the Mahama administration, ranging from roads, transport, water, health, the massive expansion of the ports and airports, among other facilities, defended the NDC for prioritising infrastructure development and its socio-economic benefits to the people.
He said the government intended to launch a major infrastructure development with about US$13 million from 2017 to 2021 which, he said, included expansion of water and dualisation of all major roads in the country.
He said the Accra-Tema Motorway was to be expanded into six lanes, with four interchanges, while the Eastern rail system would also be rehabilitated.
Mr Asamoah-Siaw said a PPP government would not engage in what he called ‘showcase project’ at the expense of meeting the needs of the ordinary citizen.
He asked, for instance, whether the recently inaugurated Kwame Nkrumah Interchange in Accra created permanent jobs for the people or it rather provided jobs and incomes for foreign companies.
A future PPP government, he stressed, would always factor the needs of the people in the award of contract to share the benefits.
He said a PPP government would embark on infrastructure development that would engender growth by constructing first-class highways to link all the 10 regions.
Mr Asamoah-Siaw said a PPP government would also build a rail line from Tema to Paga to take heavy-duty trucks off the roads to ensure safety on the roads.
Female candidate
Mrs Aryee said the NDP, as the first in the history of the country to present a female presidential candidate, had the overall aim to bring wealth and prosperity to all Ghanaians through meaningful policies and job creation.
She said the NDP, through its presidential candidate, Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings, had the track record of providing jobs for the people.
She indicated that through the 31st December Women’s Movement, Nana Konadu was able to empower many women to be productive and take care of larger families.
“The NDP is ready to roll out a number of initiatives that will accelerate the country’s growth and provide the needed jobs for the teeming youth,” she said.
Agriculture
On agriculture, the representatives agreed that much should be done to mechanise the country’s agriculture, while providing the necessary support in terms of inputs and the back-up equipment and machinery to boost production.
The PPP representative, in particular, was of the view that the purchasing power of the state should be used to boost the country’s development agenda, more expecially agriculture, its produce and marketing.
On energy, the representatives agreed that more needed to be done to fix the energy requirements of the country by employing the best alternatives and solutions.
While they agreed that education was important, they differed as to the level where it should be free.
Launch of web page
At the event, the GCGL also launched a unique web page which signaled the company’s readiness for Election 2016.
The web page will provide historic election results, maps that provide ready constituency results, the means to track skirt-and-blouse voting and battlegrounds of the 2016 elections.
