NDC launches Manifesto

THE National Democratic Congress (NDC), at the weekend, put another foot forward in its bid to regain political power by the launch of a 98-page manifesto anchored on four thematic pillars.
Launching the document, which the party hopes would form the basis for governance should it win the 2008 elections, leading members, including some who had not been seen in public for sometime now, took turns to explain their pledge to provide Ghanaians with an honest, accountable and transparent government and a better life for all.
The key points in the manifesto, titled “A better Ghana: Investing in people, jobs and the economy”, are: Transparent and Accountable Governance; Strong Economy for Real Jobs; Investing in People; and Expanding Infrastructure for Growth.
Those who took turns to explain their meanings to the crowd included Mr Alban Sumani Bagbin, Minority Leader; Dr Christine Amoako-Nuamah, a former minister in the NDC government; Alhaji Mohammed Mumuni, the NDC 2004 running mate; Mr Haruna Iddrisu, the party’s National Youth Organiser; Mr Steve Akufo, a former Deputy Minister in the NDC government and Mrs Betty-Mould Iddrisu of the Commonwealth Secretariat.
The grand occasion at the packed Round Pavilion of the Accra Trade Fair Centre was marked with pomp and pageantry, including poetry recitals, “borborbor” dancing, “jama” groups and songs by the Dansoman Methodist Youth Choir.
Launching the manifesto , the flag bearer of the NDC, Prof John Evans Atta Mills, observed that Ghanaians wanted a change because the country was in distress and moving in the wrong direction.
He said since 2001, when the NDC handed over political power to the New Patriotic Party (NPP), there had been a growing gap between the rich and the poor, rise in social exclusion and the country having been in the grips of multifaceted crisis caused by hardship, incompetence and systemic corruption.
He said the nation now had lost its sense of morality and could not distinguish what was wrong from right.
Prof Mills said the country needed a government that would tell the truth, was humble and would account to the people for its stewardship
He said the manifesto was developed out of the experience of the party’s experience in power, in opposition and his recent door-to-toor campaign, which involved the interaction with the electorate.
He said a manifesto was just a document and that if its ideas and vision would come to fruition, it depended on human beings. “Therefore if our nation is to move forward, human quality was important. We need people who are humble, honest, God-fearing and not vindictive and care for one another,” he added.
Prof Mills said the manifesto entailed a schedule of activities which would be done in phases.
He said within the first 100 days the NDC government would establish an efficient and effective government cutting out “extravagant, profligate and ostentatious spending”.
Speaking to a deafening applause from the party members, he added that his administration would also rationalise the ministries and ministerial appointments, offering clear signs to the people of Ghana that the pillars of the NDC would be built on integrity, service and commitment to honesty.
“Within the first 100 days of my government, we will review and recompose the membership of boards of state institutions to ensure that such membership were based on competence and expertise, cutting out familiar connections.”
He also promised to resource state institutions that were charged with protecting life and property to allow Ghanaians to go about the legitimate duty as well as take steps to remove the filth that had engulfed the nation.
He said under his administration, corruption would be punished to serve as deterrent to others and also as a means of guarding the scarce resources of the state for the development of its people “I would want us to leave a mark as a government whose members did not dip their hands into state coffers. I would want us to be remembered as a government that was not vindictive and did not engage in selective justice but clamped down heavily on drug trade”.
Prof Mills, referring to the first stanza of the national anthem, said “God bless our homeland Ghana” and also help the people in the NDC to stand fearlessly for honesty, allow them to fight for those who had been socially excluded, and those marginalised. “This is a call of action to you to change Ghana.”
He promised to provide a leadership which is sincere and God-fearing, which, according to him, were the prerequisite to make Ghana better.
He ended his launch speech with the acknowledgement of the immense contribution of former President J.J. Rawlings and the foot soldiers of the party in making the NDC what it was today for they were people “who have stuck with us through thick and thin. Come January 7, 2009, Atta Mills and the NDC will be sworn in”.
In his remark before introducing Prof Mills, Mr John Dramani Mahama, the party’s running mate, said an NDC government would establish a Manifesto Oversight Body at the Presidency, which would monitor the development process against the promises in the party’s manifesto.
He said such a body would make its annual report public for Ghanaians to compare and contrast with what the NDC government had done against its promises.
He described the party’s manifesto as focused, achievable, realistic and people-based, which also sought to share the nation’s resources equitably among all Ghanaians.
He said Ghanaians were more discerning than ever and that they could easily distinguish between empty promises and achievable ones and added that the NDC’s manifesto would not pledge a first world status for Ghana when the nation was engulfed in filth, while at the same time simple traffic lights were not working.
Mr Mahama said what the NDC was promising was a major assault on poverty, which was crippling the nation and this would be done through prudent management of the economy.
He explained that under the circumstances, whereas as the NPP government was claiming that all the economic indicators were favourable, all the major social human development indicators were going towards the wrong direction.
Mr Mahama, whose speech was interspersed with cut calls of “Obama, Obama” from the crowd, described corruption as one of the major constraints of the nation’s development process and said as part of the moves to fight the canker of corruption, the NDC would establish the Office of Independent Fraud Investigator, which will be independent of the Attorney General’s Office and the Ministry of Justice but with the powers to initiate prosecution on its own.
He said the party would also amend the 1992 Constitution to review the authority of the Commission for Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), for the commission not to require complaints before initiating investigations and also have the power to investigate allegations of corruption without requesting for evidence from the complainant.