Minority parties contesting this year’s election have indicated their readiness to end the 28-year-old duopoly of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and National Democratic Congress (NDC) in governance.
In separate interviews with the Ghanaian Times, they outlined the strategies they would deploy to solve the country’s socio-economic challenges and elevate her to a pedestal deserving of a 63-year-old country, if elected on December 7, 2020.
The parties are the Convention People Party (CPP), the Liberal Party of Ghana (LPG), Progressive People Party (PPP), National Democratic Party (NDP), Ghana Freedom Party (GFP) and the Ghana Union Movement (GUM).
Others in the December 7 race are the All People Congress (APC), People’s National Convention (PNC), and Great Consolidated Popular Party (GCPP) as well as Mr Asiedu Walker, an independent candidate.
Bernard Benghan reports that PPP’s Vice Presidential Candidate, Mr Kofi Asamoah-Siaw, has predicted the December 7 presidential elections would witness a second round with the party as one of the two contenders because Ghanaians would vote massively for PPP.
He said the citizenry believed in the party’s commitment to implement the Right to Information Law, to bring transparency and accountability, fight corruption and review parts of the constitution to end the winner takes-all governance.
With strong economic policies, he said, the socio-economic development of the country was assured under a PPP government, hence the need for Ghanaians to choose them next week.
Jonathan Donkor reports that presidential candidate of the Convention People’s Party (CPP), Mr Ivor Kobina Greenstreet, says his administration would embark on massive job creation by reviving collapsed factories established by Ghana’s first President, Dr Kwame Nkrumah, the party’s founder.
The revival of the defunct companies, including Anomabo Citrus Factory, Ellembelle Vegetable Oil Factory, Eveready Batteries at Huni Valley, Pomadze Poultry Farms, he said, would reduce importation to boost industrialisation and local production and export.
He said the CPP had a track record as the only party that could build a resilient economy based on industrialisation as well as tackle energy and educational needs of the country.
For the PNC, its flagbearer, Mr David Apasera, said the party would focus on social interventions and firm up the implementation of existing ones as well as introduce free education for Ghanaians from kindergarten to the university.
He said his government would introduce absolute free healthcare for holders of the National Health Insurance card in addition to the building of six hospitals for the various security agencies across the country.
Concerning agriculture, he said among other things that poultry production would be increasedand he would institute a ban on the importation of frozen chicken into the country after his first two years in office.
The presidential candidate of the Ghana Union Movement (GUM), Reverend Christian Kwabena Andrews, says he believes that state-owned enterprises built by Dr Kwame Nkrumah and other development projects that have been abandoned by successive governments should be revived, reports Vivian Arthur.
Rev. Andrews, also known as Osofo Kyiri Abosom, stated that his future government would create jobs for people by revamping state-owned enterprises which have either been sold off or collapsed under the supervision of both the NPP and NDC.
In the unlikely event that his party failed to win the presidential election, he said he would not settle on any political party because “our policies and ideologies are different from theirs. We are not prepared to join any party.”
The founder and leader of the Liberal Party of Ghana (LPG), Percival Kofi Akpaloo, predicted a massive victory for the LPG in the December 7 general election as his outfit had worked hard to ensure a one-touch victory.
“I’m optimistic that we are going to win the election. We have gone round the country and the people have received our message; they have bought into the message,” he said.
He said in the unlikely event of a run-off, he would win hands down against the presidential candidate of the New Patriotic Party, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.
The independent presidential candidate, Alfred Kwame Asiedu Walker, is on record to have said he would introduce bi-weekly salary structure to help improve the economic lives of individuals who exclusively relied on their pay for survival.
He said he would introduce economic strategies to generate revenue and enable the country to create its own assets, saying, “Ghana cannot borrow to develop; Ghanaian ownership should be our focus.”
Since his vision is not politically centred, he said he would collaborate with members of Parliament from both NDC and NPP as well as other political parties to develop the country.
The vision of the Presidential Candidate of the All People’s Congress (APC), Mr Hassan Ayariga, is to create industrial hubs across the country to create employment avenues for the teeming youth.
In several submissions at debates and interviews monitored by the Ghanaian Times, he said he would provide free education from the basic to university level and introduce inclusive policies such as a welfare system, which would include unemployment benefits, free food and other benefits to cushion the needy.
He also mentioned the construction of health facilities, roads and other amenities.
Madam Akua Donkor of GFP has on several platforms promised to give each journalist a car, make Twi the official language of the country and make the British pound Ghana’s currency, and link the Ghanaian economy to that of Britain.
She has reportedly said that her party would give devoted farmers money to invest in their farming activities as well as address corruption and other challenges in her own unique ways.
According to an October 30 report by the Ghana News Agency, NDP has promised to extend maternity leave for all workers from three months to six months to enable women to have enough time to nurse their babies.
It also intends, among other things, to set up a cancer and kidney trust fund to provide financial and logistical support for patients, to alleviate the plight of people diagnosed with cancer and kidney diseases.
BY TIMES REPORTERS