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Acceptance Speech - 12/16/08 |
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ACCEPTANCE SPEECH MADE BY DR. PAPA KWESI NDUOM, MP OF KOMENDA-EDINA-EGUAFO-ABREM AT THE NATIONAL DELEGATES CONGRESS OF THE CONVENTION PEOPLE’S PARTY (CPP) – DECEMBER 16, 2008
YESU KA MO HO
Comrades, Ladies and Gentlemen:
Let us all give thanks to God for bringing all of us this far and for showering His blessings on me to serve the Convention People’s Party and the people of Ghana. I am most grateful to the delegates who have come from all corners of the country – north, south, east and west to participate in this historic event. I thank all the delegates for the confidence shown in me by voting for me to become the Presidential Candidate of the Convention People’s Party. I will make you proud in 2008!
My thanks go out to my Senior Comrade and Chairman of my National Campaign Committee, Felix Amoah and the entire Nduom Team led by our new Party Chairman and Leader, Ladi Nylander. Above all, my heartfelt thanks go to my wife Yvonne, who has in every way been the strong and caring partner any man can wish for.
Indeed, on this day, a new CPP, strong and competitive has been born. I pledge to be the Rock that will work relentlessly to make the CPP a great and strong Party once again.
I know that for the CPP, winning the 2008 elections will not be an easy task. But I also know that with service and selflessness as our guides and serious organizational work, victory will be ours in 2008. The CPP has lived in the Flagstaff House before and I am confident that the CPP will live in the Flagstaff House come January 2009. I am asking all Ghanaians to take a very good look at us because a vote for the CPP in the 2008 elections will not be wasted. That will be the vote that puts Papa Kwesi Nduom in the Flagstaff House.
Ghanaians want an experienced person as President in January, 2009. I know how jobs are created in the private sector. I know the solutions that when implemented will make Ghana a caring and prosperous country. I have been an elected District Assembly Member. I have been a Member of Parliament. I have delivered visible, positive results as a Minister in the Economic Planning & Regional Cooperation, Energy and Public Sector Reform portfolios. I believe I am the experienced person Ghanaians are looking for.
Over the past year, together with a small team, I have dedicated my efforts to helping recruit new members for the CPP mostly young men and women across the country. As a result, the content and character of our Party has changed. Our goal is to register at least 200,000 new members to help build a renewed, energized, formidable CPP organization for the 2008 elections.
The CPP we are taking to the 2008 elections is different from the one we took to the 2000 and 2004 elections. We have new leaders, we have a strong message of bringing the economy back home to Ghanaians and we have an army of young men and women willing and prepared to take our message to every town and village in Ghana. We have professionals and business people who are ready to support our campaign financially. And there is opportunity. All over Ghana, the people are saying that they gave Rawlings and the NDC eight years. They did what they could and they are gone. They gave Kufuor and the NPP eight years. They are doing the best they can and soon, they will be gone. Ghanaians are saying that after all their best efforts, we are where we are. We have not met our aspirations as a people. They want an alternative. I want us to work hard for the CPP to be that alternative. After NDC and NPP, who comes next? …CPP!
I belong to the CPP because it is the party of the people. Of particular importance in a society such as that of Ghana is how we take steps to ensure that the poor and vulnerable are given special attention and opportunity.
Access to good quality education, health care particularly within rural communities, good drinking water, electricity, public (mass) transportation and safe roads are critical elements that by their presence or absence should tell us whether we are on course to creating a just and caring society or not. Today, a lot remains to be done and the CPP is the party to get it done.
Where there is not hope or peace, development cannot take place. Creating wealth cannot happen without reducing poverty and aggressively ensuring a healthy, educated and disciplined society. The poor will not sit still in their villages and suffer in poverty while the rich enjoy the riches of the country in Accra. That is why they follow the well-to-do to Accra. The CPP will do what we must to lift up all Ghanaians into prosperity wherever they may be in the country.
After 50 years of independence, we must put the Ghanaian at the center of opportunity in the private and public sectors in Ghana. It is the job of government to prepare its people and give them the necessary opportunities to overcome inexperience and inadequate capital. A CPP administration led by me will do just that. I will use government’s purchasing power to support the Ghanaian private sector to become strong and competitive.
We need to accelerate the pace of development by concentrating on modernizing infrastructure and agriculture, supporting Ghanaians to build industries and by aggressive implementation of human services solutions. No country has developed and prospered significantly on the backs of exporting raw materials to feed factories abroad. Domestic industries that export products are what we need to break out of poverty because they provide sustainable jobs and living wages and salaries. The CPP has created industries all over Ghana to use our own raw materials and give employment to our people before. The CPP can and will do it again!
The enemies we face in Ghana today are illiteracy and poverty. The two are directly related. Kwame Nkrumah led the fight for our independence by demanding “Self Government, Now!†The CPP won that fight for Ghana. I want to lead the fight to free Ghanaians from poverty through education and job creation.
What will make a difference in Ghana and move us into the ranks of well-performing countries is a great sense of urgency and a leadership obsessed with getting positive results quickly. We know the problems that confront us as a people. We know what we should do to grow our economy and develop the country. We need a leader who will focus on solving our problems and implementing ideas to free our people from poverty and become prosperous. I believe I am that leader and I want Ghanaians to give me the opportunity and privilege to serve as the next President of the Republic of Ghana.
God Bless Our Homeland Ghana, where collectively, we will build a country of free and prosperous people.
Long Live the CPP!
Let’s march forward into Prosperity by bringing the Economy Back Home!
Forward Ever, Backward Never!
There is Victory for Us! |
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