John Boadu, Former NPP General Secretary
The General Secretary of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), John Boadu, says the governing party has demonstrated that it remains the preferred choice of Ghanaians.
He explained that the NPP is founded on strong democratic principles, enduring tradition, and conscious commitment to improving lives and livelihoods.
Mr Boadu made this declaration in a statement to commemorate the party’s 30 years’ anniversary yesterday.
“We are a Party rooted in rich tradition and strong principles and values which were relevant in the pre-independence era, relevant during the times of independence and its aftermath, and even more relevant today and forever. The fact that we are the only political tradition in the country that have survived all Republics in pre and post-independence Ghana, including the most cancerous dictatorial regimes and have stood the test of time, can only be a vindication of the richness and greatness of our political tradition,” he reiterated.
Mr Boadu recounted that, since 1992, the NPP had, among other achievements, championed electoral reforms in solidifying the country’s democratic culture.
“We spearheaded the transition from opaque ballot boxes to transparent boxes, the transition from ‘black and white’ voter ID cards to coloured ID cards with pictures and the quantum leap from a manual voters register to a biometric register and photo ID Cards for all voters from limiting it to regional and district capital to National,” he noted.
Economy
He also touched on Ghana’s economy, saying the “NPP under President Kufuor transformed the economy into a Lower Middle Income status, found oil and gas in commercial quantities, restored and expanded cocoa production and expanded the financial sector.”
“We successfully rolled out some integrated initiatives towards agro-industry, which include One District One Factory (1D1F), One District One Warehouse (1D1W), One Village One Dam (1V1D) and Planting for Food and Jobs (PFJ),” he mentioned.
Additionally, he said, there has also been heavy investments in the cocoa sector, resulting in the highest ever cocoa crop in Ghana in excess of a million tonnes in the 2021 crop season.
The centre right ideology of the party, he said, had not hindered it from more social intervention programmes than any other political party in the history of Ghana.
“Kufuor established National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) and provided Free Maternal Health Care, the Livelihood Empowerment against Poverty (LEAP) for indigent families and provided the Capitation Grant and the Ghana School Feeding Programme. He undertook pension reform, instilling sanity and bringing relief to retirees,” he stated.
Education
He said the Akufo-Addo government had implemented innovative social interventions, including the Free Senior High School, which is set to create a literate society which will ensure skills and technical innovation to feed the industrialisation drive.
Aside of that, he cited the ‘One Constituency One Ambulance’, a drone service for delivery of medical supplies, restoration of trainee-teachers and trainee-nurses’ allowances, among others.
He added that the party introduced allowances for Arabic and Islamic Instructors under the National Volunteer Service Programme, and absorbed examination registration fees for BECE and WASSCE candidates, among other interventions.
Digitalisation
He also pointed out that the government is championing rapid digitisation of government services to improve access and turnaround time, reduce human contact, and ensure integrity of payments and receipts and the quality of records.
The digitisation drive, he explained, is also supporting anti-corruption efforts, saying the best ways of preventing corruption include minimising human contact and strengthening the capacity of regulatory, monitoring and enforcement agencies.
Mr Boadu urged Ghanaians to continue to hope in the NPP to spearhead affairs in overcoming the challenges brought about by global circumstances in securing a necessary rebound.
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