NPP

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has shortlisted former New Patriotic Party (NPP) general secretary, Kwabena Agyapong, for a top appointment, YEN.com.gh understands.

The editor of the Daily Dispatch, Ben Ephson, revealed this in an interview with Accra-based Kasapa FM.

Ephson’s statement suggests that Akufo-Addo is prepared to welcome Agyapong back to the NPP and even accommodate him in his administration despite the differences the two had ahead of the December 2016 elections.

Agyapong was suspended in 2015 alongside former NPP national chairman, Paul Afoko, and former Ist vice-chairman, Sammy Crabbe, for allegedly infringing on the laws of the party.

The three were suspended following an outcry by some NPP members that they were planning to sabotage the presidential bid of Akufo-Addo.

They were accused of secretly working to undermine Akufo-Addo in the 2016 election in order to clear the way for their alleged preferred candidate, Alan Kyerematen, to represent the NPP in 2020.

Agyapong, Afoko and Crabbe strenuously denied the accusations at the time.

With the election over and the NPP comfortably in power, Akufo-Addo is said to favour burying the hatchet and welcoming them back to the party.

Ephson said in the interview that the ban on the three will be lifted soon. He said Agyapong plans to contest the general secretary position again once the ban is lifted.

He added that Agyapong would be up against John Boadu, who has acted as general secretary for two years, and Kwadwo Owusu Afriyie, aka Sir John, who lost the position to Agyapong in 2014.

The 2016 presidential candidate of the New Patriotic Party, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has described as reckless, the comments made by Chief of Staff of the Mahama administration, Julius Debrah, who, whilst campaigning in the Brong Ahafo region, urged Ghanaians to stop patronizing made-in-Ghana fruit juice beverage, Kalyppo.

According to Nana Akufo-Addo, after killing Ghanaian businesses in the last eight years because of poor policies, the Mahama government is now actively campaigning to collapse Ghanaian businesses, which employ thousands of people across the country.

“I have heard one of Mahama’s appointees (Chief of Staff, Julius Debrah) saying that Ghanaians should no longer consume Kalyppo because it contains sugar. So after killing Ghanaian businesses, they are now campaigning to make sure that no one patronises made-in-Ghana products, and thereby collapse Ghanaian businesses? Ghanaians should not pay heed to such loose-talk from officials of the Mahama government,” he said.

Nana Akufo-Addo continued, “If, indeed, sugar was bad, why have they set up the Komenda sugar factory, a factory they have made so much noise about? To them, sugar is bad and, yet, they spent so much money on the Komenda sugar factory, which is not even working? This propaganda will not work.”

The NPP flagbearer stressed that “this year, whatever it is they say, whatever propaganda they churn out, will not work. Ghanaians are going to vote and bring into office an Akufo-Addo government, which is going to improve the wellbeing of Ghanaians. The wind of change is blowing all across Ghana, and nothing, nothing, is going to stop it from succeeding.”

Nana Akufo-Addo was addressing a mammoth night rally at Kwadaso, on Thursday, October 20, 2016, at the end of day-2 of his 4-day campaign tour of the Ashanti region, when he made this known.

The NPP flagbearer maintained that Ghanaians have one simple task ahead of them in this year’s elections.

“The task is to use our thumbs to unseat Mahama and bring in a government led by Akufo-Addo. I am here to appeal to residents of Kwadaso, Kumasi and Asanteman to throw their support behind me, like never before. I want you to vote massively for me, so we can go into Jubilee House and do a job for all Ghanaians which will create jobs, wealth and prosperity for all Ghanaians,” he added.

Nana Akufo-Addo assured the thousands and thousands gathered that he, together with the NPP, is seeking the mandate of the Ghanaian people, so as to be able to use it to implement the policies and programmes which will return Ghana onto the path of progress and prosperity.

“These policies include the revival of the National Health Insurance Scheme, the effective implementation of the Free SHS policy, the 1-District-1-Factory policy, the establishment of the Infrastructure for Poverty Eradication Programme (IPEP), which will ensure that every constituency will receive the equivalent of $1million dollars every year to address developmental issues in the 275 constituencies, amongst others. I will implement all of these policies to the letter,” he assured.

The NPP flagbearer, in concluding, urged residents of Kwadaso to rally behind the NPP’s parliamentary candidate for the constituency, Dr. Samiu Nuamah, and vote massively for him, so the party can eclipse the 83.82% margin of victory obtained in the 2012 elections.
Nana Akufo-Addo also campaigned in the Manhyia South, Atwima Nwabiagya and Adansi Asokwa constituencies on Thursday.


Source: Ghana/starrfmonline.com/103.5FM/Kojo Addae/Freelancer

Nana Akufo-Addo is a man “full of wisdom and competence” and is the right person Ghana needs for transformation, Mrs. Rebecca Akufo-Addo has proclaimed.

Mrs. Akufo-Addo said her husband is committed to fulfill all the promises that he has made including the “One Factory-One District” policy which is aimed at stimulating the economy as well as generate jobs.

Mrs. Akufo-Addo in an interaction with the chiefs and people of Ningo and Prampram said as a daughter of the area, she would endeavor to support and promote their well-being, and that of Ghanaian women and children, and asked them to vote for Nana Addo, saying “he is competent and full of wisdom.”

She asked Ghanaians to believe in the former attorney general and minister of justice because he has Ghana at heart and will not disappoint if he wins the December 7 elections.

She offered assorted items to the Ningo Traditional Council for their Homowo celebrations.

The Mankrado of Prampram Traditional area, Nene Atsere Benta III and Nene Atiapa I the President of the Ningo Traditional Council, thanked Mrs Akufo-Addo for her visit, presentation and well wishes and wished Nana Addo and the New Patriotic Party (NPP) well.

She was accompanied by regional executives of the Greater Accra region, Parliamentary candidate for Ningo Prampram constituency, Sylvester Tetteh and his constituency executives and other party bigwigs.


Source: Ghana/starrfmonline.com/103.5FM/Kent Mensah

The 2016 vice presidential candidate of the New Patriotic Party, Alhaji Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, has stated that the only thing President John Mahama can boastfully claim to have transformed over the last eight years of his stewardship is corruption.

Addressing a rally in Bolgatanga on Sunday, August 28, 2016, Dr. Bawumia explained that the many cases of corruption that have rocked the government of Mahama give credence to the fact that the main focus of his administration has been to superintend over the looting of the nation’s resource.

“SADA, the vehicle that was supposed to bring about Northern development has been transformed into a vehicle for corruption. They said they were rearing Guinea fowls under SADA. When we asked them of the whereabouts of the guinea fowls, we were told they had run to Burkina Faso,” he said.

Corruption, Dr. Bawumia bemoaned, “has been transformed under President Mahama, with headline cases such as Woyome, GYEEDA, Smartty’s scandals, amongst others. Today, corruption is running at the speed of a Ford Expedition coming from Burkina Faso.”

To this end, Nana Akufo-Addo’s running mate is urging residents of the three northern regions not to pay heed to President Mahama’s tribal and divisive politics, with three months to the December elections.

“When John Mahama comes to you to tell you to vote for him because he is from the North, tell him that he has destroyed your lives and he is not to be trusted. Tell him you have another northern brother, and he is called Dr. Bawumia, and he is the one you are going to support,” he said at the Bolgatanga Jubilee Park.

NPP did more with less resources
Explaining why the people of Bolgatanga and Ghanaians in general should repose their confidence in the NPP, Dr. Bawumia stated that, between 2001 and 2008, the NPP had at its disposal, from loans and taxes, only GH¢20 billion to develop Ghana.

“With this small amount of money, the NPP, through its vision for the country, brought the National Health Insurance Scheme, the National Youth Employment programme, the School Feeding programme, the Capitation Grant, the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP), the Free Maternal Care, the Metro Mass Transit, MASLOC, and paid teacher training and nursing training allowances. When we inherited the economy in 2000, it was growing at 3.7%. When we left office it was growing at 9.1%,” he added.

The Mahama government, which on the other hand has had GH¢200 billion in loans and taxes, according to Dr. Bawumia, has succeeded in collapsing the economy, as well as collapsing all the social intervention programmes instituted by the erstwhile Kufuor government.

Nonetheless, Dr. Bawumia is reassuring Ghanaians that an NPP government, under the leadership of Nana Akufo-Addo, is “going to transform this economy, like you have never seen before. We are going to create jobs in this economy. All the things we are saying we are going to do has confused them. They keep asking ‘where are you going to get the money to do this?’ The answer is that, ‘It is all about competent economic management’.”

“When we had GH¢20 billion, we transformed the economy. They couldn’t do it with GH¢200 billion. I am telling you if they stop stealing the money, there will be enough money to develop this country. We are going to allocate the resources of our nation to develop the priority areas of our country. This is going to happen in Ghana under Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo,” he noted.

With President Mahama’s government focusing on “how to steal the money” Dr. Bawumia reiterated that “when Nana Akufo-Addo comes into office, the NDC will be completely dazed with the sort of economic management that is going to take place in this country. Hope is coming, change is coming.”

He assured teacher and nursing trainees that “we will fully restore your allowances,” and concluded with a message to Ghanaians, saying that “you are going to be part of the transformation of Ghana. There is change coming, and that person who is bringing the change is, Insha Allah, the next President of Ghana, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.”


Source: Ghana/starrfmonline.com/103.5FM/Kojo Addae/Freelancer

One elderly man, believed to be in his early 80s, has been confirmed dead with several supporters of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) said to have been seriously injured through separate road crashes that greeted the arrival of the party’s flagbearer, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, in the Upper East region.

The tragedies struck just a few minutes apart after the party’s young men, in stormy preparations for Akufo-Addo’s coming Friday evening, poured out in their numbers onto the busy highways in Bolgatanga, the regional capital.

Proudly dressed in Nana-branded T-shirts, they displayed with motorcycles everywhere in an acrobatic manner.

The deceased, whose name is yet unknown, was only a pedestrian using a sidewalk towards his house when an NPP-shirted young man, maneuvering a motorcycle at a ‘possessed speed’ past articulated trucks veered off the Bolgatanga-Navrongo Highway and crashed him against concrete structures. Doctors at the Upper East Regional Hospital told Starr News the old man was brought to the facility unconscious and died a few minutes later.

“He was brought in unconscious and he died. The motorist has a fracture. Others (accident victims) came in the evening. I don’t know the exact number of those injured, but they were many. They are in the ward,” a doctor at the hospital, who did not want his name mentioned, told Starr News.

Party “unaware” of life lost
When contacted, the NPP’s Upper East Regional Director of Communications, Edmund Awuni, recounted what he saw at one of the accident scenes. He, however, claimed the party was not aware a life was lost.

“I had an accident the night before his (Akufo-Addo’s) arrival. So, that very day, during the evening, I was just struggling to walk. I was there at Winkogo, making calls to radio stations. So, when I finished and the convoy left and I was coming, I came and met the accident. But they [said] there was another accident before that one. I, then, organised that motorbike, went and parked it after they had taken the injured to the hospital,” Mr. Awuni narrated.

He added with a tone of frustration: “And I called the regional executives. I told my colleagues. I told Nasara Coordinator. I told the Secretary. And if you are not showing any interest, I don’t know. When it comes to power, they say that they are the people. And when you tell them this is the situation, they don’t want to do. I’m not aware that someone passed on. And when they see things like this, they won’t even answer people’s calls. I called Organiser; he didn’t answer. He just came and passed.”

The party’s campaign in the region has proceeded from one constituency to another and has not come to a halt yet for a moment because of the tragedies. The said accident victims, who hitherto were able-bodied enthusiasts, are still swathed in bandages, no longer ‘possessed’ and ‘deaf to caution’.

NPP will take every Ghanaian to school- Akufo-Addo
Nana Akufo-Addo has commenced his tour of the region with a promise to ensure that every child in Ghana is enrolled in school and to give a new lease of life to the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS).

“When we are developing our economy, we are also going to develop our educational [system] because the two go hand in hand. We are going to make sure that every young Ghanaian has the opportunity to go to school right after senior high school level. And we are going to make it possible for everybody to have access to senior high school education.

“Where I stand on free senior high school, that policy would be the policy of the next NPP government to make it possible for everybody to go to school. In the same way, we are coming to rehabilitate the National Health Insurance Scheme. It was Kufuor’s great achievement for Ghana and it is gone down the drain. We are coming to revive it, strengthen it and make it work for everybody,” the presidential candidate said during a rally at Paga, Sunday.

A similar rally was held the same day at Pelungu in the Nabdam Constituency where he paid courtesy calls on the Paramount Chief of Sakote who doubles as President of the Upper East Regional House of Chiefs, Naba Sigri Bewong, and the Paramount Chief of Nangodi, Naba Kosom Yelzoya Asaga II.

Ghana’s resources in wrong hands
The flagbearer has also painted a picture of Ghana as a country where resources abound but are being poorly managed with the masses living in needless misery as a result.

“Our country, our country is a rich country. We have resources. We have people. And if we manage them well, if those who are in charge of our money don’t put the money in their own pockets but would use it to work for the welfare of the Ghanaian people, everything would work for us in our country.

“And I want to give you that assurance that an Akufo-Addo government is going to work in the interest of the people of Ghana not in the interest of our pockets,” he affirmed as the crowd roared with joy.

In his company are his running mate, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, former Trade Minister, Alan Kyeremanten and the National Women Organiser, Otiko Afisah Djaba, among other party’s big shots.

Source: Ghana/starrfmonline.com/103.5FM/Edward Adeti

Addressing a news conference in Accra on Wednesday, the acting General Secretary, John Boadu, said “the lavish gifts” being dished out by Mrs Mahama is worrying.

He said: “The wife of the President of the Republic is going around the country, with a fleet of trucks load of goodies, which she is sharing for votes. These run into millions of dollars.”

The NPP has, therefore, called for full disclosure on who is funding her charity programme.
“Ghanaians deserve to know. How much is being spent. Who is paying for it? Where is the money coming from?” he asked.

“…Ghanaians also have the right to question the timing of the escalation of the First Lady’s gifts-sharing expedition and the volume and costs of the gifts being shared.”

He said in 2012, “we saw how over the last four months to the polls, some $4 billion dollars that was not budgeted for was taken out of state coffers and spent in a desperate and reckless attempt for Mahama to hold on to power. We all remember the stories of GYEEDA, SADA, Woyome, etc.”

“What is even more worrying is the silence of the President. The NPP argued that to refuse to disclose the sources of funding for the First Lady’s charity work is to add to the perception that the root and head of the corruption overwhelming the country is indeed the First Family.

“The President was silent on why babies are dying in our hospitals because there are no incubators or oxygen. The President did not explain why students in boarding schools are left to starve, whiles his wife, the First Lady can find money to travel across the country giving away election year goodies,” John Boadu added.

SOURCE: Mildred Europa Taylor

The NPP, during a press conference addressed by acting General Secretary John Boadu on Wednesday August 17, had raised issues about the source of the numerous donations the Lordina Mahama Foundation was making across the country.

He said: “Mrs Lordina Mahama has assumed a special role in the 2016 NDC campaign. She is effectively the Chief Director of Gifts. The wife of the president of the republic is going around the country, with a fleet of trucks loaded with goodies, which she is sharing for votes. These run into millions of dollars. Ghanaians deserve to know. How much is being spent? Who is paying for it? Where is the money coming from? Is it from our taxes or from friends? Which friends? Are they friends who are also capable of winning contracts to build walls and roads? The First Lady must be transparent and accountable.”

But reacting to the comments by the NPP, Mrs Mahama’s aide, Edward Tapsoba, said the NPP is only concocting a story due to its lack of message ahead of the polls.

He wondered why the NPP did not raise issues with the several donations made to former First Lady Theresa Kufuor by benevolent bodies for distribution to several health facilities when John Kufuor was in power.

“Lordina [Mahama] has not taken any money from government, neither has government allocated any budget for such donations. It is the hard work of her NGO and her honesty that brings in the donations,” he told Accra FM.

He said: “The NPP can continue to hold press conferences accusing Lordina of this and that, she won’t be bothered. …It will not change Lordina’s position.”

In a statement released and copied to Pulse.com.gh, the company said suggestions being made by some media houses that the MMT dispatched buses to transport party supporters for free, is false.

“It has come to the attention of Management of Metro Mass Transit Limited that buses of the Company were released to the National Democratic Congress to transport delegates/supporters to its national campaign launch at Cape Coast on Sunday 14th August 2016 with news sources alleging that this service was rendered for free. We wish to say categorically that this news is false.”

A report in the Daily Guide of Tuesday August 16th titled “MMT BUSSED NDC SUPPORTERS TO CAPE COAST” and filed by its reporter Charles Takyi-Boadu alleged, among others, that the NDC “took buses from the state-owned Metro Mass Transit (MMT) Limited to convey the supporters there without paying a dime.” 

Metro Mass Transit Ghana Limited’s statement added that

“The false story published in the Daily Guide has found its way to radio and television morning discussion programmes and social media platforms.

We therefore wish to correct the wrong impression this false story has made in the minds of the public. 

Indeed MMT buses were deployed to carry passengers to Cape Coast from all depots of the Company nation-wide. However, this service was not for free as it was paid for by the hirers. “

MMT, also revealed that the company “terms any service that would involve all our depots as “National Assignment” hence the reference to same. It is worth noting that MMT renders private hiring Service to the General Public, organized groups, churches, political parties etc.

Per the Private Hiring Policy of the Company, all such services are paid for.

The public transport service  concluded, saying “Daily Guide and other news outlets which carried the false story published with the intent of tarnishing the image of the Metro Mass Transit Limited to correct same in their subsequent publications.

The MMT is always available to clarify any information the media or the public would like to understand on this particular issue. “

SOURCE: Emmanuel Quist

The Northern regional Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Daniel Bugri Naabu, says the NPP wants its suspended National Chairman, Paul Afoko back.

He said the party believes that Mr. Afoko will return to the NPP because “he is an NPP [member], no doubt” adding that “we will welcome him and so he should come back.”

An Accra Human Rights Court Monday dismissed Mr. Afoko’s challenge of the legality of his suspension by the NPP, explaining that he has no case. As a result, Mr. Afoko remains indefinitely suspended.

But, Mr. Afoko in a statement said he has instructed his counsel to study the judgment affirming his sanction, and to appeal “at the appropriate time.”

Welcoming the decision of the court Bugri Naabu called on Mr. Afoko to appologise and return to the elephant fraternity.

“We welcome what the court has done and that is the right decision. He took to the court and the court has demonstrated the right decision. He should apologise to the hierarchy of the party because the path he took was too bad,” stated Bugri Naabu on Accra-based Citi FM Monday.

The lead counsel for the NPP Godfred Dame described Mr. Afoko’s resolve to appeal the dismissal of his suit against the party as “worrying”.

Mr. Afoko said in statement signed by his spokesperson Nana Yaw Osei that “It has always been emphasised that this legal battle is not about personalities but about the restoration of our party to its core values of respect for one another’s opinion, the rule of law and the need to remain united in face of all challenges.”

However, Mr. Dame said even though the party has no qualms whatsoever about Afoko’s quest to appeal the court’s judgment, it is simply “needless” and petty.

“…This indication by Mr. Afoko is very worrying,” he said.

He said in the wake of calls for reconciliation, he was surprised that “…Afoko will more or less want to act contrary to the spirit of unity, peace and reconciliation shown by the party by going further up to the appeal system.”

“It is totally frivolous and mischievous,” he argued adding “…I have never seen any high profile case in all my practice laden with so much mischief and frivolous as this one.”

Source: Ghana/starrfmonline.com/103.5FM/ Mohammed Awal

The presidential candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Nana Akufo-Addo will make Ghana a global icon when he becomes president of Ghana come January 7, 2017, according to his spokesperson, Mustapha Hamid.

He said Nana Addo is “just a man who has a passion for the development of our country, who wants to leave a mark, a certain legacy… of having brought about or having triggered the process that allowed Ghana to become what it is, a global icon in the 21st century.”

Speaking on Accra-based Citi FM, he said going through some terrible roads in the Western region during the Nana Addo’s campaign, he [Nana Addo] turned to him and said “Mustapha, you know what? This part of our country is an epitome or if you want a clear demonstration of our post colonial history.”

This, according to Akufo-Addo, said Mr. Hamid “tells the Ghanaian story that this is the country with all the rich resources that you can think about, gold, diamond, timber, bauxite and then oil and yet it is one of the poorest nations in the world.”

“He [Nana Addo] says that is not the history that we should accept to live,” he added.

Mr. Hamid continued stating that when one goes to the Northern part of the Western region that “history immediately hits you, because you go to major towns like Prestea, Bogorsu and Tarkwah and you see town…and you will think that these are basically manholes.”

He said Nana Addo is going to fix all of those setbacks in the region when he becomes president.

But Vice president Kwesi Bekoe Amissah-Arthur described the opposition NPP’s campaign message heading to the forthcoming elections as “a threat to the peaceful coexistence” of the country.

Speaking during the launch of the NDC 2016 campaign at the Cape Coast Stadium in the Central region Sunday, Mr. Amissah Arthur chastised the NPP message warning that it is extremely divisive and must be disregarded.

He said President John Mahama is the best for Ghana and that it will be foolhardy for the electorate to subscribe to the NPP’s “change is coming message” which is a “threat to the stability and peace of this country.”

But, Mr. Hamid contended that he did not understand the logic in the vice president’s words, pointing out that “in my conscious lifetime, I have seen the creation of the Upper West region.”

“Hitherto,” he added “that part of the country was called the Upper Region and then the Upper West was carved from what is now called the Upper East, principally on the same strength of the arguments that we are making…”

He said as part of democratic development it is always important to redraw boundaries based on issues of geography of distance, deprivation among others.

Source: Ghana/starrfmonline.com/103.5FM/ Mohammed Awal