GNP Press Conference

Press Conference At The Ghana’s Electoral Commission Office

Mr. Chairman, members of the Press, ladies and gentlemen, I am highly privileged to address you on this special occasion. Today marks the beginning of a new dawn in Ghana’s Political history. I therefore on behalf of the founders of Ghana National Party thank you all for your presence.

The Electoral Commission has just recognized Ghana National Party with the Presentation of a Final Certificate as a full fledged Political Party and we are grateful to all those who made this occasion Possible.

Osagyefo Dr.Kwame Nkrumah over fifty years ago demanded ‘‘Self government now’’, and further added that “we prefer self government with danger to servitude in tranquility”.

Fifty (50) years ago, Ghana was granted Political independence by the colonial masters. Osagyefo Dr.Kwame Nkrumah then began vigorous transformation of Ghana from agriculture based economy to an industrial based economy, but his CPP Government was short lived through a bloody military intervention in 1966. All the vision to make the people of Ghana live in a society of fairness applying our endowed resources has since been characterized by Political greed and selfishness. Our people have therefore not witnessed or enjoyed the true significance of political independence.

Instead of politicians seeking the welfare of the masses of the people, they use their offices to enrich themselves at the expense of those who vote them into office. Those who want to be multi millionaires do not belong to politics; they should be business entrepreneurs, create jobs for the unemployed, pay their business taxes and make their millions and nobody will have a problem; instead, politics is seen as a gold mine in our part of the world, unfortunately. Ghana National Party wants to change this chronic mind set for once in Ghana and hope our actions and success will eventually transcend to other parts of the African countries.

On March 6th, this year Ghana will celebrate fifty years of self Governance. The question is, are we going to celebrate just the birth of Ghana or both the birth and our achievements? We need to re-evaluate ourselves as a people if we have achieved much to celebrate as a proud country, given our God-given natural and human resources. Especially when after 50 years, our people do not have enough to eat when we are surrounded by arable lands from the North to the South, East and West. Many people die from preventable diseases and abject poverty. Our governments have not been able to deliver consistent supply of ordinary necessities of life like electricity and water, even when prices are prohibitive. Successes in every economy must be translated into the pockets of the people, but that is not what we see in this country. Millions are unemployed, and those that are employed cannot make ends meet because of prohibitive prices of goods and services. Ghana National Party within six months in Government will alleviate the people of this country from the cruel pricing of goods and services immediately after a comprehensive salary commission submits its recommendations.

Fellow Ghanaians Political independence without Economic independence is meaningless. Ghana National Party therefore demands Economic independence and fairness to our people under our political process regardless of which Political Party is in power. Ghana is not a poor country; so why are the majority of our people living in abject poverty? And the answer is simply Leadership failures, political greed and selfishness. Fellow Countrymen and women, students, farmers and all categories of working people of Ghana, Ghana National Party is aware of the cost of living in this Country and sympathizes with the working class and especially the unemployed. We wonder how people survive in this country where almost every necessity of life is far more expensive than in the stronger economies of the world. The economic conditions in this country are unacceptable and needs drastic U-turn to enable the ordinary people also live decently as human beings. Salary levels are no where near living wages and something needs to be done. We all understand the magnitude of the Nations economic problems, but we are determined to provide solutions and succeed. There is an urgent need to stop the visible exploitations in this country.

Ghana National Party shall pursue a new Political direction devoid of Selfishness, Greed, Bribery and Corruption, Tribalism, Nepotism and Indiscipline. We believe these are the evils of our Country and we will therefore discourage people against them.

The old Political order of vindictiveness will be replaced with unity and open mindedness and will welcome constructive views from all Political opponents. A Political opponent is not an enemy combatant, but unfortunately the political tension between our major Political Parties has only succeeded in creating the Politics of divisiveness in this great country of ours. Ghana National Party will do all we can to build strong bridges across the various Political and tribal leanings in an attempt to build a united country and societies we can all be proud of.

By curbing corruption and greed, we can re-channel our financial and human resources into creating jobs for our youth, providing new facilities for education and health care, and providing small business loans to help the small business person. By punishing economic saboteurs and financial mismanagement, we can redirect our moneys into good public construction projects to create a healthy environment and atmosphere where the hundreds of thousands of deaths and waste of money on malaria can be finally minimized if not ended. We believe all Government and Political appointments must be proportionally represented by the size of each region and not by the winner-takes-all policy where one tribe in the country monopolizes all Government appointments. We must let this system belong to history, and move forward as one country and not many tribes. We will do everything we can to unite the people of this great Country.

Ghana National Party will change the ugly Political vendetta associated with our political history in an attempt to bridge the tribal tension forever and fairly distribute the wealth of this Country reasonably to all Regions.

Mr. Chairman, fellow Ghanaians, after 50 years of Economic mismanagement, misplaced priorities, greed and selfishness, Ghana National Party has been formed as a viable political alternative to what we have known over the years, and shall not tolerate acts of indiscipline in our Country. As custodians of our laws, we will be committed to abide by the laws, and therefore will apply them to the letter regardless of position, gender or social influence. No one should be above the law.

Every member of Ghana National Par ty shall be required to sign to the pledge and code of conduct of our Party. Additionally, all Government appointees shall be required to strictly abide by the public service accountability laws under our Party Manifesto and all Economic saboteurs shall be dealt with and punished in accordance with the spirit and letter of the Constitution of Ghana National Party and that of the Nation.

The goals of the Ghana National Party are to transform our Country from a third world country to a first world country. Self sufficient in food production, make goods and services affordable, higher standards in education, and to be counted among the world’s best ten, in democratic dispensation.

My fellow Ghanaians, after 50 years of independence, Ghana has enough talented people in the areas of science and technology, medicine, agriculture, finance and engineering scattered around the world. We will not discriminate against them. We need to utilize all our manpower both at home and abroad to make our country economically self reliant. These are not just the usual words of Politicians but a determination by Ghana National Party to break away from the old ways of politics as usual, politics of deception, politics of hate, politics of selfishness, and establish a true Government of the People by the People and for the People.

We therefore invite all Ghanaians, irrespective of Party affiliations, to reason with us on our Position on Ghana’s Political Direction and join our team for Change. We are determined to make sacrifices to build a country we can all be proud to call our home. Let us all think about Ghana first, and always first. We plan to keep our words as a promise to the people. With modern technology today, you can reproduce these statements 100 years to come. So watch us, read our lips and keep our words because we will never change them. What we will change, is Ghana from the present state where only a few people are living well, to one of hope for all, a country full of promise for today and generations yet unborn. As our Ghanaian proverb says, “It is bent but not broken”. Have hope because together we can redeem Ghana.

Thank you

GOD BLESS YOU ALL. And GOD BLESS THIS GREAT COUNTRY. Ofori Ampofo (Founding member)