Ghana cannot afford to do things the old way, Mr John Dramani Mahama, standard-bearer, National Democratic Congress (NDC), has said.

He said survival and success for today and future generations require a much more urgent and, in many cases, substantial change to prevailing economic and social relations.

He said Ghana needed a new era of Social Justice; adding that “it is time for renewal and gathering, it is time for greater self-reliance, it is time to close the wealth gap that divides our society.

“It is time to finally end intolerance and social discrimination against ethnic groups, religious groups, gender and age groups, it is time to end repression of the media, it is time to unite and create opportunities for all – not just for a privileged few and it is time to do this democratically – with the full involvement of our people.”

“With this in mind, we set out to develop the People’s Manifesto, a social contract between the NDC and the people of Ghana. To make our manifesto-writing process widely consultative and popular, we adopted a bottom-up approach,” Mr Mahama stated at the NDC’s People’s Manifesto launch in Accra on the theme “Changing Lives: Transforming Ghana.”

He said in addition to internal consultations within the NDC, the grassroots organs engaged their communities and forwarded the expectations for inclusion.

“I hope you will identify with the ideals of our People’s Manifesto, vote for me, John Dramani Mahama, and for the great NDC team, and engage us to improve our programme delivery,” he said.

“I believe that there are great times ahead for our people. All of us, myself included, learned a lot of valuable lessons during the period of preparing this manifesto.

“The most important was the growing and humbling understanding of the fact that the December election will be unlike any other election in our recent history.”

He said this year’s election would be about the very soul of the New Ghana; declaring that “our historic mission right now is to provide our fellow Ghanaians with the opportunity to become a part of tomorrow’s world.

“And offer our beloved country a clear chance to spread prosperity to all our people and move into the status of an advanced middle-income country within the next five years. It is possible together. We can do it with the right and dedicated leadership.”

He said the next NDC administration “owed it to the wonderful people of Ghana to create new job opportunities, to bring new skills, and to provide better chances for everyone; so that all of us will be able to live a dignified and prosperous life”.

“……We must prepare Ghana to cope with the current global changes. We must open new horizons and new hopes, to instil a new sense of purpose in our people, catching up on what we have missed while taking steps to enhance our growth,” he said.

He noted that to achieve this, there was a need to build a knowledge-based economy and move faster into the new world of smart manufacturing and digital services.

“We will create not only jobs but sustainable and decent jobs so that people can live dignified lives. We must put Ghanaian businesses at the centre of our economic growth. It is only when Ghanaian businesses thrive that our economy can grow and create jobs and prosperity,” he said.

“We must create equal opportunities for Ghanaian businesses and not deal with them based on the political colour or family affiliation of their owners.”