Akufo-Addo launches bid to lead NPP

Accra, Aug. 28, GNA - Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, former Minister of Foreign Affairs and NEPAD, on Tuesday launched his campaign to be the flag bearer of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) for the 2008 Elections.

"I left office in order to contest to win the NPP presidential nomination for the singular opportunity to serve the people of Ghana as their next leader.

"I come from a background where public service is considered a duty and where privilege and good fortune demand even greater commitment to the common good.

"Generations of my forefathers and relations established this rich tradition of public service, of which I am proud and which has been the source of constant inspiration," Nana Akufo-Addo declared at a news conference in Accra.

The over 2000 delegates who would be attending the Special National Delegates Congress of the NPP scheduled for December 22, this year would select a flag bearer from about 17 presidential aspirants. Nana Akufo-Addo described the Congress as "unique" in the Party's history, saying "for it will be the first time that the selection of the leader will be taking place when the Party is in power with a sitting President".

He commended the National Council of the party for working out clear modalities aimed at binding all the aspirants, leading members, activists, supporters and other actors to ensure that the Party maintained its sovereignty in the choice of a leader and does not become an appendage of the Executive.

He said: "This is the best way of safeguarding the Party's democratic culture and heritage."

The Former Minister of Foreign Affairs and Member of Parliament for the Abuakwa Constituency said after 15 years of democratic politicking under the Fourth Republican Constitution, what the country needed was a political economy that served its people through the building a strong bridge from the times when government did everything, to a future when people are entrusted with self-governance.

"We need to follow the wisdom of our forefathers; we need to mould our economic system to our particular instincts for individual freedom and social justice," he said.

He emphasised that there were no shortcuts for Ghana, saying, only hard work; creativity and a sense of enterprise could produce the accelerated economic development that would bring the basic deliverables Ghanaians deserved from their Government.

The very best of public services, including an effective, humane healthcare system, access to a secure and reliable justice system and access to quality education in Ghana.

Nana Akufo-Addo acknowledged the need to harness sufficient financial resources from Ghana and among Ghanaians in the Diaspora than we had in the past.

"We need to develop and pursue a clear policy of Ghanaian Economic Empowerment. To do so, we should not be shy of introducing policies that look, first and foremost, after our own people at every level of our economy.

"We must pursue a proactive but pragmatic agenda by picking, stimulating and increasing the number of Ghanaian winners in all sectors and build champions of industry who can compete anywhere in the world. "We do so not by turning our backs on the process of globalisation, but by making use of its rules and regulations in such a way as to enhance our capability and capacity," he stated.

He said Ghana should be bold, devise and push an agenda that got people out of the cycle of subsistence wages and informal ad hoc economic activities, into the formal sector.