June 12:– The 2008 Presidential Candidate of the New Patriotic Party has finally broken his silence on an issue that has caused some controversy in the nation over the past few weeks – the nomination of Prof John Evans Atta Mills to receive the highest honour of the land from President John Agyekum Kufuor.
Speaking to top African and black media personnel in London yesterday, including Cameron Duodo and Komla Dumor, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo was asked if choosing to honour Prof Mills this election year was improper.
He said he had no problem with that and in fact welcomes signals from government that there is a determination to deepen Ghana’s democratic culture.
He was, nevertheless, acutely aware of the propaganda value of the award’s timing to an opposition party that had very little of substantial value to offer to Ghanaians.
“The opposition has stretched every sinew of propaganda to suggest that this award is an endorsement. That’s just politics and I have no problem with that. There’s nothing particularly clever about that,” he said.
“But, I don’t believe this award, if given, would distort the issues” or shift focus from the pertinent things that are occupying the minds of the electorate. “They are looking for the kind of leadership that they can trust to deliver and enhance the quality of their lives.”
Nana Akufo-Addo said, Ghanaians should see the award system and the non-partisan way that President Kufuor has moved it to as another example of efforts by the NPP to enhance confidence in the democratic governance of Ghana and not worry too much over how the NDC would exploit it.
However, no award could shield the leadership of the NDC from having the substance of their record in office properly scrutinised and duly compared to that of the NPP, he stated.
He also said that no award would stop Ghanaians from demanding to know the details of programmes the competing political parties have to offer for the future.
Preferred Candidate
Taking questions here from the UK black media personnel at the Novotel Hotel, Lambeth Road, London, Nana Akufo-Addo was asked what would make him the preferred candidate.
His response was that Ghanaians were not prepared to see the gains within the last decade being rolled back after December 2008. They want a leader who has the record and programmes that could inspire confidence for the big task ahead, which included fighting poverty and expanding the fields of prosperity.
He said Ghanaians were looking for a strong leadership that could be trusted to fight vigorously against crime, corruption, inefficiency and demand a greater quality of service from the public sector.
Ghanaians would vote for the kind of leadership that the private sector could trust to protect and promote it.
Ghanaians would vote for the kind of leadership that would protect the vulnerable, and expand access to free education and free healthcare, Nana Akufo-Addo said.
He argued that President Kufuor had built a solid foundation but it required a solid, confident, incorruptible, responsible, compassionate, trustworthy and bold leadership to translate the macro-economic gains into transforming the economy, ensuring that the laws of the land worked and that a modern society could be built where every Ghanaian felt free to participate and excel.
“It is important to make sure that Ghana is irreversibly a democracy,” where the government can trust the people to freely engage in activities that enhance their lives and benefit society in general, the 2008 NPP Presidential Candidate stated.
Source: GhanaWeb
