Akufo-Addo: "Ghanaians have come to trust me”

The 2016 Flag-bearer of the main opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), Nana Akufo-Addo has said he has won the trust of Ghanaians. "My own sense is that the Ghanaian people have come to trust me. Contrary to the propaganda, they know that I will not put my ambition and selfish interest before the wellbeing of the country,” Akufo-Addo said in response to a question posed by Dr Alex Vines OBE, Head of the Africa Programme at Chatham House, the prestigious Royal Institute of International Affairs, a major British Think Tank, on Wednesday, January 21, 2014. “They know I have been sincere and consistent with what I believe we must do to bring about prosperity for everyone,” the former Attorney General added. Dr. Vines wanted to find out from the three-time Flag-bearer why he believed he would be third time lucky in securing the Presidency, when he addressed a roundtable on the theme: “Developing Ghana – Policies for Prosperity”. Explaining why he believed Ghanaians have come to trust him, the former foreign affairs Minister said: “When I go around the country, I sense this and it is like, after all let us give him a chance for him to show what he can do." Nana earlier explained that Ghanaians now have a clearer scale to do a comparative measurement of the eight years of the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC) vis-à-vis that of the main opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), adding that Ghanaians are becoming more convinced that: “We in the NPP can be trusted to better manage the economy and create the opportunities for prosperity.” He told the audience which included high-level business executives, diplomats and policy analysts that his vision of ensuring “education for all” school going children remained unshaken, stressing that the "value of having an educated population is more than the cost." The NPP flagbearer added that a future Akufo-Addo administration will also pay critical attention to technical education “in this critical phase of our development” with a "major emphasis on science and technology, which will feature heavily." On the economy, Nana Akufo-Addo said his government would ensure fiscal discipline and macroeconomic stability, to curb inflation, bring down interest rates and move away from the high fiscal deficits and reckless borrowing that has characterised the Mahama government thus far. Additionally, his government, he said, would introduce a deliberate policy measure to achieve financial inclusion by moving the majority of citizens from cash to electronic payments (debit cards) for transactions. To do this well, "we need a national database that identifies every citizen with an address," he said. This, Akufo-Addo said, will assist in formalising the economy, spread the tax burden, help government to plan better with statistics and dramatically increase savings in the financial system. Akufo-Addo, also expressed qualms about the current “governance arrangement” in Ghana where Parliament, he said, is seemingly subservient to the Executive, and called for greater oversight control over the Executive in the use of public funds. The overarching question that must be in the heart of all Ghanaians, he said, “is how we are going to raise rapidly the quality of life of the mass of our people.” On the 2016 election, the NPP flagbearer stated that there's a national consensus to enhance the integrity of the electoral system. He assured that more would be done to get better and fairer election process.