We need inclusiveness instead of one party taking total control — Nduom
Dr Papa Kwesi Nduom, an economist and entrepreneur, who was acclaimed the 2016 presidential candidate of the Progressive People’s Party (PPP) on Saturday, has challenged Ghanaians to apply the right talent to the right job for the country to benefit.
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“Ghana's problem today is not about law, neither is it about communication. It is about the economy and job creation. We need economic independence, so this is the time to vote for Papa Kwesi Nduom, the one who has the demonstrated talent to manage money and create jobs and lead our people to economic independence,” he said.
Speaking after his introduction as the flag bearer of the PPP at its third national convention in Accra last Saturday, which also saw the launch of the party’s policy statement/manifesto, Dr Nduom gave the broadest hint of the formation of a government of national unity when elected President of Ghana.
In line with that, he gave the strongest indication that a government under his leadership would not make appointments along party lines but based on the ability and the potential of those appointed to make the needed impact on the nation.
“The right man with the right talent for Ghana at this time is Papa Kwesi Nduom,” he told the cheering PPP delegates and stressed that he was not just a talker but a doer and not a promiser but a deliverer.
Theme for convention
The theme for the event was: “Jobs for all through competent and incorruptible leadership” and brought together more than 3,000 delegates, excluding party faithful and sympathisers from across the country.
The changing face of politics at the national level, Dr Nduom said, ought to pave way for a unified political culture where there would be more inclusiveness, rather than one party taking total control, to the neglect of other competing political interests.
In his view, the winner-takes-all policy of the governance system was not helping the nation to achieve its development aims and aspirations.
He said if proactive and concrete steps were not taken away from that political culture, the country would remain a nation made poor by selfish and greedy political leaders.
Maximisation of national abilities and talents
Dr Nduom said the focus of the PPP was towards the maximisation of the abilities and talents that abound in Ghana and their utilisation towards development ends, regardless of political affiliation.
He said there were a lot of idle talents in the country but the political colouration of issues had given rise to the situation where talents that were capable of helping the economic transformation of the country were idling and not making their potential output known.
A change under a PPP leadership, he said, would see the government tapping into the diverse and incorruptible rich human resource of the country for accelerated growth and development.
According to him, even though previous governments had done their best, unfortunately their best had not been enough because poverty, diseases, high tariffs on utilities had eroded the gains made by the people.
Dr Nduom said while he acknowledged the infrastructure gains made by the government, there was more room for improvement for the betterment of Ghanaians.
Some supporters of the Progressive People's Party at the congress in Accra. Pictures: SAMUEL TEI ADANO
A betterment of lives
He promised to strengthen state institutions to enable them to become independent and competent to deal with national issues.
He asked, “Are you better off today than you were some years back?” to which the crowd replied resoundingly: “No!”
He said if the people were tired of promises, then they should vote for a change.
Governments over the period of the country’s democratic era, he said, had tended to make a lot of promises but they delivered little.
One of the major challenges facing the country, he said, was job creation and that the majority of the country’s youth with employable competencies were jobless because those at the helm of national affairs lacked the skills required for job creation.
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Proven track record
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 was emphatic that among all the contestants for this year’s presidency, he was the only one with the proven track record of creating jobs that were providing livelihoods for a good number of people.