CPP Signals New Agenda for Ghana

“Ghana is crying out for salvation and for economic independence after 50 years of life as a nation “, says the Convention People’s Party (CPP) and over the weekend the party signaled what it called a “ “New Agenda for Ghana” at its Monthly Forum in London. Mr Nii Armah Akomfrah , Chairman of CPP UK & Ireland , in an address to members on Sunday said “On all fronts subsequent governments since our CPP government has not demonstrated meaningful progress, has not transformed the lives of our people”. Mr Akomfrah said that the CPP had transformed Ghana’s Health Service from a colonial medical service to a truly National Health with new hospital builds and an expansion of existing ones, a systematic look at Rural, Urban, Regional , Dental, Mental and other areas of the nations health needs, with an aim to achieve by 1970 , 1 bed per 1000 of the population, 1 Doctor per 10,000 people; I nurse per 5000. The CPP Branch Chairman said not much progress has been made on these target so that 40 years after the CPP, Ghana has under 1 Doctor per 10,000 with the situation worse in many prats of the country such as the North of our country where there is about 1 Doctor per 30,000 people. Mr Akomfrah said further that the CPP’s systematic approach of assessing the output from our schools, the manpower needs of our offices and industries, and putting plans in place to ensure that the needs of our youth are married with the needs of the country has largely been lost. The educational system including reforms under NDC and the recent changes under the NPP has lost focus, thus 100,000 to 150,000 of our youth drop out after JSS or JHS into idleness and about 200,000 drop out after SSS or SHS. This is a complete waste of our human resource and the lives of Ghana’s youth. Mr Akomfrah said. On Energy , Agriculture , Housing and the economy generally , Mr Akomfrah said the CPP government understood fully the energy needs of the country estimating that between 1963 to 1970 energy needs in the country will generally grow by 15% and from 1970 towards 1980 generally by 11% . He said “ we moved then to put plans in place to ensure that the country and government can deliver power to meet the needs of the country . Bui was thus about to follow Akosombo, Atomic power generation was initiated and solar power generation was being considered” He said Agriculture accounted for 61% of total employment in Ghana in the 1960’s . but the situation has not changed much and Agriculture accounts for 56% approximately today. “The CPP government however knew that with a rising population Agricultural productivity also needed to rise to meet the economic needs of our growing population, as Agriculture was and is a main source of generating wealth in our country.”, Food imports then as now drained our foreign reserves and our wealth and thus there is still a need to increase production and minimize imports” Mr Akomfrah said we looked then at the system of shifting cultivation, the use of crop rotation and fertilizers and mechanized farming., losses in stored foods etc. and much progress was made . Today food importation in our country is at its highest – rice, tomatoes and all manner of other things, and there is once again the need for the systematic approach of the CPP. Mr Akomfrah said further that “our government understood the potential for housing as an economic indicator because of the numbers it employs as well as what it generates- output of housing, we understood the link between better housing and mortality rates. The situation with migration to cities leading to 20 persons per house with an average 2.5 to 3 persons per room had to be tackled systematically with increased Town planning and a robust Housing policy with various schemes designed to deliver much needed housing to the population at various levels: • Ghana Housing Corporation • First Ghana Building Society • Roof Loan Scheme • Development of communities such as Tema. He told applauding CPP members that “ for 25 years we have followed a path which has diminished progress on all these fronts and today virtually every thing is left to chance and what must be increasingly clear to all is that we cannot continue as we are, the path the country has followed under (P) NDC and NPP for the last 25 years has failed to deliver” The Chairman emphasized that “no country on this earth has been developed through chance through a lottery process of “ maybe we will win , maybe we wont” “The CPP is offering a new agenda for Ghana , that Agenda calls for a CPP Strategy for economic reconstruction and development.which involves a systematic look at: • Employment Policy • A growing labour force - 300,000 school leavers and drop outs alone each year • Security of Those In Work • The Requirements of our Industries and Structure of Employment • The Role of Agriculture • Industrialisation • The Structure of Production in Ghana “ He continued saying “ what we know is that the numbers coming onto our streets each year cannot simply be ignored and no amount of Presidential trips abroad will address it for us , thus a CPP government being a people centred party knows that it will return to a situation of not leaving this issue to chance we will have to create and facilitate meaningful employment for our youth within both public and the private sector” “Worker security is not about handouts but about employment rights and about ensuring that the economy is strong and assures workers their job security” , Mr Akomfrah said “The Supply of Jobs must be brought in line with the demand for jobs and this calls for a Government alive to its responsibility to its citizens, a government that does not simply leave to chance the plight of 300,000 to 500,000 people each year.” Mr Akomfrah said “ some of the ventures we try will fail but this must not stop us from trying, that Government must return to a mindset which says these are our people and we owe them a future”. “56% of our workforce is occupied in agriculture as compared to 5% in the USA, 10% in Germany, 20 % in Japan, 6 or 7% in the UK. Clearly wealthy countries have smaller numbers involved in agriculture, and thus we need in Ghana to transform our economy so that more and more are involved in manufacturing and other areas other than agriculture” “We must also shift the basis of our economy so that more are employed in productive enterprise as opposed to non productive” Mr Akomfrah said. The Chairman’s address ended with “ There must be a systematic assessment of domestic demand and the source of basic goods, because we simply must get into a position where our economy produces to meet the needs of basic consumer goods with a systematic approach to ensure a gradual move upwards by local industry to meet local demand on all fronts” A fresh new start is needed for Ghana he said and the CPP is the party that is offering that new Agenda. The other Parties believe in a lottery approach to development in our country , we believe that our development cannot be left to chance., that the future of our youth cannot be left to chance. A future for Ghana’s Youth must be our cry at this time. Forward Ever! Backward Never! Communications Directorate – www.cppuk.org cppuk@hotmail.com cppyouth@gmail.com