Nana Konadu To File Nomination Thursday

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Category: Politics

Created on Wednesday, 17 October 2012 00:00

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Nana Konadu To File Nomination Thursday

The flagbearer of the National Democratic Party, Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings has revealed that she will file her nominations forms with the Electoral Commission by close of day Thursday.

Addressing the press on the vision of the NDP, Mrs. Rawlings called on Ghanaians to vote massively for NDP to rule the country because her party has values which the country needs at the moment.

She said: “In the coming elections, we are called to re-affirm our values. Do we subscribe to our traditional political parties just for the sake of tradition or do we look to change the paradigm. I believe this question is on everybody’s mind today.”

“The National Democratic Party is a party that is no stumbling block because of our conviction to transform our nation and give our nation the best now. Not the promise of tomorrow,” she added.

She further expressed her optimism about NDP’s chances in the upcoming December elections.

Reacting to recent defections from NDP and particularly FONKAR, the former first lady indicated that she is not perturbed by the actions of such personalities.

“Some are resigning because they say that I am deviating from the cause. Actually, I would like to know their cause… So that is what I know. They are supposed to be my friends, so if they resign from FONKAR because they want to resign from the association, then I don’t know what other cause there is,” she explained.

Source: PeaceFM

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Ghanaians hail Nana-Rawlings peace effort

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Category: Politics

Created on Tuesday, 16 October 2012 00:00

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Ghanaians hail Nana-Rawlings peace effort

While many well-meaning and peace-loving Ghanaians from all walks of life have hailed the effort by Nana Akufo-Addo, Presidential Candidate of the New Patriotic Party, and former President Rawlings to reduce tension in the country in the run-up to the December polls, members of the NDC are unhappy and angry at the development.

Even though some religious and traditional leaders, as well as members of the Ghana Armed Forces, members of the Andani family in Dagbon and the floating voters are all happy about the move, NDC members like Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, Afrifa Yamoah Ponko, Alhaji Inusah Fuseini and John Jinapor, Spokesperson of President Mahama, are up in arms against Mr Rawlings for meeting Nana Akufo-Addo.

Speaking on a number of radio stations after the historic visit, John Jinapor, the man who speaks the mind of President Mahama, could not understand why Mr Rawlings should open his doors to his one-time bitterest political rival.

{sidebar id=10 align=right}Meanwhile, John Boadu, a deputy communications director of the NPP, yesterday expressed shock at the comments by John Jinapor, explaining that he had only succeeded in exposing the double standards and insincerity of the president he speaks for.

“What he has done is basically to expose his boss. It shows he is not sincere about his call for inter-party dialogue to promote peace and only sought to do PR gimmick when he said he would have regular dialogues with leaders of other parties. If the president was sincere about that assurance, I don’t think his spokesperson would hail the meeting Nana Addo had with the NDC founder,” Mr Boadu stated in an interview with the New Statesman.

Nana Akufo-Addo paid a courtesy call of former President Rawlings at his Ridge residence last Thurday, where he gave the assurance that no Ghanaian would have anything to fear under his presidency, and that the safety of all would be secured irrespective of their backgrounds.

Information available to the New Statesman indicates that Nana Akufo-Addo’s assurance has been especially hailed by members of the Ghana Armed Forces, the disgruntled foot soldiers of the ruling NDC, members of the Andani family in Dagbon, as well as the floating voters.

Beyeman Busea Gyenantwi, paramount chief of the Drobo Traditional Area in the Brong-Ahafo Region, has described last Thursday’s meeting between Mr Rawlings and Nana Akufo-Addo as a sign of maturity on the part of the two leaders.

According to the chief, the meeting between the two political leaders will serve as a launch pad for politics of cooperation and respect for one another in the country.

“I have realised that our politics has matured. I congratulate Nana Addo for the meeting with Mr Rawlings, and I urge him to do same with all the other opponents, for we are all for peace,” said Nana Busea during a courtesy call on him by the NPP leader.

He explained he initially found it difficult believing that such a meeting took place. This, he said, should remind all Ghanaians that political opponents are not enemies.

Kwabena Amankwah

Source: thestatesmanonline.com

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Nana Akufo-Addo’s free SHS and the NDC’S panic and confusion

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Created on Tuesday, 16 October 2012 00:00

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Nana Akufo-Addo’s free SHS and the NDC’S panic and confusion

Ever since Nana Akufo Addo announced his now well received and understood, election winning and agenda setting Free SHS Education Policy, which seeks to also prioritise the restructuring of Ghana’s currently failed educational system, Ghanaians have been bombarded with all kinds of laughable resistance to the policy, both from the ruling government and party, the NDC.

Before I deal with the substance of their arguments against Nana Addo’s policy, let us examine briefly, some of the problems facing the current system, hence the reasons for Nana Addo’s passionate desire for a change.

{sidebar id=10 align=right}Ghana currently has an education system where out of every 100 kindergarten starters, only 71 students get into primary school, only 65 then go on to JHS and of this only 35 get to SHS, where only a lowly 3 students end up in the university. Over half of Ghanaian children who sit the BECE do not progress to secondary school (46.93% in 2011, GES).

This situation where over 150,000 Ghanaian children are thrown out of the educational system onto the streets due principally to lack of funds, to become instant mothers and fathers themselves, while also supporting their parents without any functional skills or relevant training gained, is not acceptable.

All these students sadly left out by the current system are not able to lead any meaningful lives, hence the rise in crime and prostitution rings, the high unemployment rate and the pressures on the incomes of families, as their children who have left school can’t find relevant work or lack the ability to even create any by themselves.

Nana Akufo Addo and the NPP aim to bring a fundamental shift in Ghana’s educational policy, in structure, quality by resourcing the sector, and giving it a fee free access, that has the functional training of every Ghanaian child that leaves school, to be competitive to the needs of a globally changing educational and job market, as leaving/dropping out would no longer be due to lack of fees.

Let us now examine the excuses from the NDC;

The NDC huffed and puffed so much about the free SHS policy as being definitely impossible to implement that they called Nana Addo all kinds of names, they doubted the nation’s resource readiness while they shared the loot, and questioned where the funds would come from for such an ambitious policy from the NPP. Their noises were soon to die when leading civil society groups and think tanks like IMANI came out to prove that indeed the policy was feasible if the rot in our public sector and figures were worked out well.

Having been shamed and silenced by the reception the policy garnered among the Ghanaian populace, the REAL VOTERS, to whom school fees payment at the SHS had become such a burden, and with many questioning why they the NDC were against something they should be the party championing, the panic stricken and confused NDC then jumped onto how expensive the policy would be to Ghanaians as a reason why they should disregard Nana Addo and the NPP.

To this charge I refer the NDC and all well meaning Ghanaians to this statement by Hon. Martin Amidu, the anti corruption crusader from amongst them, particularly the last parts, that “Structural violence is an activity which deprives the State of resources it otherwise would have used to take care of the welfare of the people of the State. Structural violence is an invisible violence. It kills without being seen. Acts of bribery, corruption and the white collar crime affect a State’s ability to execute its responsibilities to its people. People should not suffer unnecessarily when the State has the means but fails to steward its responsibilities”.

When the blatant abuse and rape of our resources by the NDC government and their cronies come to an end, there would be so much left for this great nation of ours.

Then came in Opanyin Lee Ocran with his twisted logic about why he thinks even Dr Kwame Nkrumah couldn’t do a free education policy in the late 1950s and 60s, as if that reason was eternally binding on Ghana.

Yes, the same Lee Ocran who said there was no oil any where in this country on the floor of Parliament when ex-President Kufour said there was oil.

“Lee Ocran, who was then a Member of Parliament, told the House that it was not true, he came with a bottle of palm kennel oil to the House that the country has no oil”.

Opanyin Lee Ocran said; Nkrumah could not implement a free education policy then because of the cost and that it was impossible.

Thank God he didn’t say that such a policy was useless and detrimental to the people of Ghana, but puts it to a supposed lack of funds, a condition that has, in the face of recent revelations of giant corruptions in government coupled with our God blessed oil resource, changed the game, and only require a visionary, non-corruptible, tried and tested, decisive and focused leadership to fulfill.

The middle class in Ghana are educated men and women who are supposed to be discerning, rational, and objective due to their socialization and training. Is the middle class and the rest of Ghana being told by Hon. Lee Ocran that, in spite of our education and experience, (his own included) we should believe that any developmental initiative that President Nkrumah did not find expedient in his time for whatever the reasons, should never again be thought about let alone be implemented, even when the ground in terms of global advancement in every sphere of human existence has clearly shifted from what pertained in Nkrumah’s day?.

When the very bad logic of his first thoughts caught up with Opanyin Lee Ocran, he tried correcting it by saying again that because we did not have the resources as a state, (his own self indulgent opinion), Ghana should wait till 2032, twenty (20) more years from now before implementing the free shs policy. What is it then in 20 years, that would make him happy and accept a good policy such as Nana’s Free SHS for the suffering Ghanaian student? When he is presidential candidate of the NDC?, that he can spare us for another 20 years, but not the lives of our school going brothers and sisters.

Then comes in Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, also a deputy minister and a leading speaker of the party, in expressing his own personal and the government’s fear and frustration at Nana Addo’s winning policy, by recently vowed to resist the free SHS policy from being ever implemented. Hear him in the Daily Guide of 24th Sept., 2012. “ The NDC, Okudzeto promised, would fiercely resist the free SHS policy of the NPP at every platform, pointing out that the NPP’s proposal was a scam”.

In any case, if these hue and cries of other things being put in place before such a policy from Lee Ocran and the likes are well intentioned, why all the resistance and this desperate attempt to vilify an otherwise good thing, which H.E. John Mahama having now been converted by Nana Akufo Addo, wants to do in 2016. Is any body even taking Lee Ocran, Ablakwa and likes serious in their own party at all, when their candidate John Mahama would defy Ablakwa and Lee Ocran in 2016?. Confusion galore!!!

The NDC’s obvious panic and confusion has now been made even more desperate by none other than the party’s flag bearer; H.E. John Dramani Mahama when he called Nana Addo a populist politician saying what he could not do on his campaigns.

Yet candidate Mahama failed to proffer any sound reason to discredit Nana Addo’s ability to implement the FREE SHS Policy nor was he able to tell Ghanaians what his own party’s policy alternative is on the educational debate going on, which Nana Akufo Addo, thanks to his foresight, has made the agenda for election 2012.

Perhaps, as a result of an over zealousness to kill Nana Addo’s policy, they forgot they had to sit down and propose their own education policy.

Candidate Mahama later made an impromptu, incoherent and unimpressively winding talk during the NDC’s manifesto launch about providing 200 more schools, (talk of who is being a populist, when these promises cannot be found in the very manifesto being launched) and a prompting by Haruna Iddrisu to imply that the Eastern Region, which already had a university, did not have any. A low punch at Nana Addo.

The NDC campaign team now virtually sits back waiting for the NPP to set the agenda and then they pounce on it, but you see, one only had to watch candidate Mahama at that manifesto launch in Ho, to see and know how disorganised they can even be at pinching from the NPP.

Come December 7th , let all Ghanaians, be encouraged that a vote for the NPP and Nana Akufo Addo, is a vote against incompetence, the rape of Ghana’s resources, and MASSIVE CORRUPTION perpetrated by a few “same old evil dwarfs” and “babies with HARD teeth”

From: Korshie Quashigah/NPP - UK.

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I've Chosen To Become Bolder And Braver - Konadu

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Category: Politics

Created on Monday, 15 October 2012 00:00

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I've Chosen To Become Bolder And Braver - Konadu

Former First lady, Nana Konadu Agyemang Rawlings has pledged to prosecute a campaign based on issues rather than personal attacks following her endorsement as the flag bearer of the National Democratic Party (NDP) for the December 7 elections.

After the close of nominations only Mrs Rawlings had filed to contest for the position and in accordance with the party’s constitution, the National Executive Committee accordingly endorsed her candidature.

{sidebar id=10 align=right}Last Thursday, Mrs Rawlings resigned from the National Democratic Congress (NDC) of which his husband is the founder, to contest for the flag bearer position of the NDP.

The former First lady, who lost the NDC flag bearer contest with the late President Mills last year, entered the Baba Yara Stadium, the venue for the NDP congress with her husband Flt Lt Rawlings, in one vehicle.

She was in an all white attire with a headgear to match and beaming with smiles she waved to the enthusiastic supporters at the stadium (the 45,000 capacity stadium was about a quarter full) while Mr Rawlings did the victory sign before the two were led to take their seats,

In her acceptance speech, Mrs Rawlings said her election represented the dawn of a new era to transform the nation for a brighter future.

She stated that she was not born to be a failure even though she had faced many challenges in life.

“Failure is staying down when you trip or stumble. It’s giving up when your confidence is shaken. It’s shutting down when your character is tested.”

The former first lady said she had chosen to become bolder and braver to fight to improve the lives of the people of Ghana.

She said she had taken tough decisions and difficult choices in life when there were easier ones available because of her quest to work at improving the lives of the down trodden.

“In the face of criticisms and personal attacks, I have taken on unpopular issues that always put the concern of people first because I am, and always will be guided by moral obligation to support the needs of the people over the interest of politics,” she said.

The flag bearer promised equal access to education, and healthcare as well as massive job creation if she wins the elections.

She mentioned that the NDP was built on the ideals of former President Rawlings “who transformed the political paradigm of Ghana through the creation of governance that involves all levels of society.”

She accused the NDC government of turning the country into a place of restlessness, poverty, and unemployment and discontent and said only the transformative change, which she espoused, could turn things round.

The national chairman of the NDP, Dr Nii Armah Josiah Aryeh, said with Mrs Rawlings in the seat, the party was prepared to fight to win the elections.

A good party, he said, needs a good captain, but was quick to admonish party supporters to work hard to make victory a reality.

Dr Aryeh was happy about what he described as “the cracking atmosphere in the party and the combustible energy of the membership” and said that was what was putting fear in the NDC.

Source: Daily Graphic

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