JJ was visionless - Addo-Kufuor

The former Minister of Defence and an aspiring ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) presidential candidate, Dr Kwame Addo-Kufuor, has described ex-President Jerry John Rawlings as a visionless leader who had no foresight to develop the country during his 19-year reign as Ghana’s leader.

Showing a slide of military facilities provided under his reign as Defence Minister, Dr Addo-Kufuor said Rawlings lacked vision to expand the bequeathed colonial military edifices such as the Burma Hall, the Defence Ministry building, 37 Military Hospital Expansion Phase Two (2) and accommodation for army officers.

He therefore described Jerry Rawlings and his cabinet as visionless people who ruled the country for 19 years.

Dr Addo-Kufuor launched the political blitz at the University of Cape Coast (UCC) Auditorium on Sunday at a forum organized by the UCC Tertiary Students Confederacy (TESCON) of the NPP as preparation grounds for his bid to succeed his brother, President John Agyekum Kufuor.

He said Africa lacked leaders with vision and Ghana was no exception indicating that, that had contributed to the under-development of the continent.

Addo-Kufuor, who resigned from the NPP administration almost two months ago, stirred up the NPP students when he showed slide pictures of Burma Hall, Beijing Barracks and the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Centre, which he said, was the good work of the NPP government and urged the students to carry the achievements across the country. He admitted that the National Democratic Congress (NDC) initiated the Kofi Annan Peace Keeping Centre but could not implement it and it took his efforts to secure €1.9 million to construct the project.

He added that the NDC had started the first phase of the 37 Military Hospital and the NPP had continued with various expansion works that would ensure effective disaster management upon completion.

Dr Addo-Kufuor challenged the other aspirants to make their credentials public so as to enable delegates pick a better candidate among them and said he possessed the qualities to lead the party to victory in 2008.

But Dr Addo Kufuor failed to impress the students when a level 400 biological science student, Dennis Kwakwa, posed a question as to whether he was comfortable with the rumour that his brother, President Kufuor, was supporting a particular candidate and how he felt about it.

He also answered a question posed by a level 500 student referring to whether there was a coup attempt as was being speculated in some newspapers. He indicated that he put in place mechanisms to check any coup attempt.

On the proposed sale of Bank of Ghana (BoG) shares in Agricultural Development Bank (ADB), he said the Governor of BoG should consider the concerns of the people because the bank is for Ghanaians and does not see why Stanbic Bank cannot buy ADB shares on the stock market but wants to take over the bank totally and called for a review of that decision.

On his vision for the country when given the nod, Dr Addo-Kufuor said he would ensure that the prime and interest rates would be reduced altogether so as to increase access to liquidity in the economy.

He promised to build more dams in the Western Region because of the favourable rainfall pattern to help address the energy problem.

Dr Addo Kufuor said he would also provide accommodation and relevant distance learning education for teachers to help improve their lot.

Dr Addo-Kufuor assured the students that he would ensure that 80% of cocoa was processed locally to create employment for the youth.

He again assured that he would openly declare his assets if he wins power and added that he would review the judicial vacation, which was a colonial remnant, so that judges would go on leave in different months to ensure effective justice delivery.

The President of TESCON, Sampson Owusu Frempong appealed to his fellow Tesconians to ensure that the NPP stayed in power in 2008 claiming that the return of the NDC would reverse the nation’s clock of development.

He appealed to the aspiring presidential candidates to conduct their campaigns with civility, maturity and decorum to prevent giving the opposition campaign tools to use against them after the December Congress.

The MP for Abura-Asebu-Kwamankese (AAK) Constituency, Hon. Andrew Mensah, openly appealed to the students to give the nod to Dr Addo-Kufuor, describing him as man of action and indicated, " Kufuor Out, Kufuor In".