All set for PPP’s third National Convention today
All is set for the third national Convention of the Progressive People’s Party (PPP) at the Ghana International Trade Fair Centre, La, Accra, today.
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The 2016 Convention starts at 9 a.m. Late last night, delegates from the northern part of the country started arriving but majority of the expected 3000 delegates will converge on the venue grounds this morning.
Speakers at the convention include the party’s national women’s coordinator, the national youth coordinator, national secretary, national treasurer and the national chairman. Invited political parties and civil society organisations will make solidarity statements.
High points of the convention include the unveiling of the 2016 presidential candidate, Dr Papa Kwesi Nduom, and the PPP’s parliamentary candidates from all over the country.
Delegates will also adopt the policy statement/election manifesto and the presidential candidate’s speech, which is expected to cover a wide range of policy visions offering solutions to the nation’s numerous problems, and send a clear signal to the people of Ghana and the international community that the PPP is capable and ready to form the next government.
Brief history
The PPP was formed in February 2012 and has since been offering alternative policy visions and seeking the opportunity to implement an efficient agenda for accelerated change that is built on incorruptible leadership, education, health care and jobs. It will implement the agenda in the spirit of inclusiveness that will use the best Ghanaian brains; full participation of women, youth and people living with disabilities; and above all a leadership that is incorruptible.
On the theme ‘Jobs for Every Ghanaian through Competent and Incorruptible Leadership’, the national convention will be attended by 3000 delegates and serve as the launchpad for the party’s 2016 presidential and parliamentary election campaigns.
Nduom tours Accra Ahead of Convention
Meanwhile, the presidential candidate, who is yet to be unveiled, hit the ground running when he toured the capital, Accra, yesterday visiting chiefs, market centres and opinion leaders.
Throughout his interaction, Dr Nduom raised a critical criterion for this year’s campaign for the presidency, saying Ghanaians ought to vote for candidates that had tangible personal life accomplishments.
He said job creation had become one of the dire challenges facing the country with the majority of the country’s youth still jobless even after completing reputable institutions of higher learning.
The key to providing solutions to the unemployment challenge of the country, he said, lay with someone who had a demonstrated reputation for creating jobs that employed a good number of Ghanaians.
Dr Nduom said this when he interacted with the people of Ashaiman as a prelude to his being presented as the flag bearer of the PPP at the Trade Fair Centre in Accra later today. The occasion was also used to introduce the parliamentary candidate for the Ashaiman Constituency, Mr Atta Ayetey.
Real change needed
He said it was a general consensus among Ghanaians that a change, and for that matter a real change, was needed for the betterment of the lives of Ghanaians but that kind of change could only be brought about by someone with a demonstrated ability such as himself.
“It’s not just about any change we want. We want change that will improve our lives. Change that will let our children have decent education. Change that will put food on every table in every home,” he stressed.
According to him, experiences from past presidents had shown that demonstrated competency in the life of the individual who stood for elections, ought to be a significant factor in determining a person’s ability to meet the expectations of Ghanaians.
“If someone is sick with a tumour in the brain, you do not go for a footballer to provide medical care, else the sick person will die. The same way, if job creation is our major challenge as a country, we don’t need a communicator or a lawyer to tackle it because they cannot. What we need is someone who has a track record of creating jobs for the people of Ghana,” he said.
‘Promisors and doers’
He described his other contenders as “promisors” and that he was the only “doer”.
Dr Nduom was mobbed by a large number of residents as he entered the town, with the market women leaving their wares in an attempt to see him and to shout the slogan “pre papa preko (PPP)” which is translated to mean ‘strive for the best at once’, a slogan that has become affectionately identified with the party’s name.
He said questions had been asked as to why other candidates were busily campaigning but he had been out of action for some time now, and said he had not been absent but was travelling across the country to ensure that the good number of people who were employed in his companies were faring well and that business was progressing.
Ministers are servants
Dr Nduom also hinted that a government under his leadership would neither buy vehicles nor provide accommodation and fuel for ministers of state since the position they occupied was one of service and not prestige.
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“You cannot be driving in comfortable vehicles fuelled from the sweat of the people while the people whom you serve wallow in poverty,” he said with a loud shout and applause from the gathering.
The parliamentary candidate of the party, Mr Atta Ayetey, said due to the high level of unemployment in Ashaiman, some young persons had resorted to unconventional means of making livelihood for which reason the town had been tagged for the wrong reasons.
“It is not just about politics but about a new Ashaiman that befits the status of its people. A new Ashaiman that has a status of a modern city with modern facilities for the comfort of all,” he said, adding that those aspirations could only be achieved under a government of the PPP.
The national chairman of the party, Nii Allotey Brew Hammond, asked Ghanaians not to waste their vote by voting for any other party but the PPP, and that the history of past administrations had shown that voting for some parties over the years had brought nothing but under-development and hardship.
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