If attendance at a dinner with the Vice President of Ghana, Dr Alhaji Mahamudu Bawumia was an indicator and a predictor of an election win then scenes at the Hilton Hotel in Park lane, London will indicate that the NPP has won the next presidential and parliamentary elections by afar. The beautiful scenes of the venue, decorative Ghanaian and NPP colours and the exquisite appearance and the energy of guests including his Excellency directly mimics events at an after party proceeding an election win.
The event organised as part of the NPP UK branch activities geared towards retaining power for the NPP in December 2020 was heavily attended by members of the NPP UK, Members of Parliament – Honourable Eugene Antwi – MP for Subin, Mr Patrick Boamah-MP for Okaikwei Central and Deputy Minister of Works and Housing, the Western North NPP Chairman – Mr Essuah, the Ashanti Regional Womens’ Organiser – Ama Ampomah, the Upper West Regional Womens’ Organiser, Mr Awuah Ababio, Director of Diaspora Affairs, Office of the President and Alex Dadey the Founding Chairman of the Executive Forum in the UK.
Other dignitaries, Chiefs, Queens, the Ghana Muslim Welfare Center and many from the Ghanaian community in the United Kingdom were there in their numbers to support the NPP Government and its famous policies.
The Chairman of the NPP UK Branch, Kwaku Nkansah, recounted the many projects that the Government has brought to Ghanaians, as part of its Agenda for Change, Creating Equal Opportunities for all.He continued that the Government had rolled out policies such as the Free SHS, the One district one factory, Jobs for the graduates through the Nabco scheme, the upskilling of the youth through the granting of more scholarships and the delivery of medicines and blood, through the drone delivery system. He went on to say that the NDC are bankrupted of ideas and should never ever be trusted with the destiny of Ghana and Ghanaians.
He thanked all Ghanaians and had this to say;
“On behalf of the NPP UK, let me thank you, for voting for us, for asking your friends and relations to vote for us in 2016. We appreciate your unflinching support. We would also like to thank you for your patience and understanding, as we work relentlessly and assiduously on your behalf, to make Ghana, our nation, Great and Strong. May I with plead with those of you here and yonder, that you continue to have faith in the NPP and that as we prepare to go to the polls on December 7th 2020, you would remember that it is only the NPP, that continues to work on behalf of Ghana and Ghanaians everywhere and in remembering, you would once more renew your commitment to us and ask your friends and relations to cast their vote for the NPP for continuous progress and success, to be the portion of Ghana and Ghanaians everywhere. We believe in you, believe also in us the NPP and help us to deliver on the Change, the Agenda for jobs and the Equal opportunity for all.”
Bernard Owusu of the Executive Forum, an organ of the NPP and NPP UK, who also helped and funded this event said that it takes vision, courage and leadership to implement bold policies like what the NPP government has implemented in the past 30 months such as free SHS, mobile interoperability, Ghana Post GPS, one village one dam, Ghana card, 10 year passports, reduction in the benchmark vehicle duty, abolishing the real estate as local flight taxes and the appointment of the special prosecutor.
Mr Alex Dadey, the founding chairman of the Executive Forum ( an organ of the NPP and vibrant as part of the NPP UK), reiterated that impressive records such as 1D1F, planting for food and jobs among others would tell our story, and in line with the theme of the event ‘Mobilising for 2020’ charged all present to continue to engage in effective communications and improving our public relations as this is not only the responsibility of government and appointees alone. Mr Dadey paid tribute to the Executive Forum and the entire NPP UK Branch for their support and dedicated service to the NPP Party since 1992.
The Honourable Member of Parliament for Subin and Deputy Minister of Works and Housing, Hon Eugene Boakye Antwi, himself a former NPP UK Branch Secretary, reminded those present of the guiding principles of the NPP Party and the words of the seminal Dr Joseph Boakye Danquah which states ‘’ the Party’s policy is to liberate the energies of the people for the growth of a property-owning democracy in this land, with right to life, freedom and justice, as the principles of which the Government and laws of the land should be dedicated in order specifically to enrich life, property and liberty of each and every citizen’’.
The Honourable MP charged the party hierarchy present to start by identifying and training community and local leaders to kick start the grassroot mobilisation efforts immediately.
The highlight of the day was the speech given by his Excellency Dr Alhaji Mahamudu Bawumia on the state of affairs in Ghana. He drew attention to the mess created by previous NDC government and how the current NPP has been clearing up this mess bit by bit. Dr Bawumia noted that the NDC has been running away from comparing records because they have a bad record and for this reason the NPP must talk and talk and compare records.
On the current government’s records, Dr Bawumia elucidated a long list of impressive achievements that would be hard to beat by the NDC.
Comparing like for like – 3 years of the NDC vis-à-vis that of the NPP - these included the Free SHS project which has allowed 1.2 million children access to Free education, the construction of 300 dams out of 560 in the Northern sector as part of the 1V1D initiative, 181 factories commissioned under 1D1F including two major fertilizer factories which has now replaced imports and sustains the Ghanaian Fertilizer market. This has created jobs and Ghana Cocoa Board has become one of the largest consumers of this locally manufactured fertilizer.
He also spoke about the arrears cleared at the National Health Insurance Service(NHIS), the employment of 100,000 graduates under Nation Builders Corps (NABCO), some of who are carrying out the nationwide digital address system, the creation of over 350,000 jobs in the Public Sector alone and the major reduction in port duties in Ghana.
He also mentioned that the economy was being digitised and that today in Ghana, one can apply for their passports online, transfer money from their mobile wallet to their bank account and vice versa, the digitisation of the Courts and praised the Chief Justice for helping to make that process a success.
DVLA and Land Registration also featured in his speech and to the applause of those present, added that the DVLA in Ghana serves beverages while customers wait to be served.
In addition, Police uniforms will now be sewn in Ghana. In his words, ‘’… we cannot continue to use our hard-earned currency to create employment in other countries, we must use this money to create jobs in our own country’’.
Furthermore, his Excellency pointed out that all public sector departments have been advised to patronise made in Ghana goods such as toilet rolls from the Brompton Toilet Roll factory at Nsawam.
His Excellency was also happy to announce that automobile companies such as Nissan, VW among others have started agreements to set up an assembly plant in Ghana, to create more jobs for the youth and the people of Ghana. He went onto inform all present that the first fully assembled car in Ghana is expected to be ready by the same time next year.
Kantanka cars, producing cars for the Ghanaian market, patronised by Ghanaians will also enjoy benefits to support the local industry.
Likening the building of the economy to building a house, he asked “Why would the NDC not supply references of their work, if indeed they have good references? If you claim to be a builder of houses and all your building crumbles as soon as they are built, how can you claim to be a good builder?”
He ended by Saying “the NDC does not want to compare records, we, the NPP, shall compare records”.