Ghana’s main opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) party will officially launch its campaign today (Thursday) ahead of this year’s general elections. The opposition party says it is determined to win the elections after it unveils its manifesto that would dramatically transform the country and help what the party describes as the suffering masses. The NDC also dismissed as without merit speculations that its presidential candidate, John Atta-Mills, is fatally flawed and incapable of winning the general elections. Atta-Mills who is the country’s former vice president, has been accused by his critics for not being his own man after reportedly saying that if elected he would consult former President Jerry Rawlings on national issues.
Anna Tetteh is the communications director of the NDC. She tells reporter Peter Clottey from the capital, Accra that the opposition party is set to win this year’s general elections.
“The important thing is that we want to communicate to Ghanaians in very simple terms what we stand for as a party, and what we consider to be our priorities if we are going to be elected into government. And we want to create the opportunity where there is prosperity for all, and where there are real opportunities for all. And we think we will do that by investing in people, creating jobs and growing the economy. And so what we are going to do today is to explain our major theme for this election of how we want to create a Ghana in which we have opportunities for all. Where people if you like can live out the Ghanaian dream,” Tetteh pointed out.
She said the opposition NDC party would explain further how its ambitious plan could be realized.
“We think the way to do that is to make sure that where the state makes investments, we should do so in such a way that it will create employment opportunities, and we should grow our economy because we need to move out of this developing country third world status, and move into a middle income country status. And those are our goals as a government if the people of Ghana give us the mandate to rule,” She said.
Tetteh said although the NDC message did not resonate well with voters in previous elections, the party intends to embark on a different strategy that would change its fortunes in the general elections.
“The year 2000 election was a watershed election, and I think what happened was Ghanaians wanted change, and we as the NDC were not able to communicate that Professor Mills was the change that they were looking for. In 2004, what you heard everywhere was well lets give (President) Kufuor another term because he hasn’t finished and probably he has more to offer. In this election, what we are doing is that we are evaluating eight years of an NPP (ruling New Patriotic Party) government. And we have the opportunity to ask Ghanaians, you’ve had a president for two terms and we think that you can now make informed choices; this is what we are and this is what we stand for and we want you to have another look at us and decide whether you think you want another four more years of the same or whether you want to move on to better things,” Tetteh said.
She said the NDC aims to transformed the society to better the lives of ordinary Ghanaians.
“For us, it’s about thinking through real policy choices that would deliver a better Ghana to Ghanaians after we are elected into office. Unfortunately, in this part of the world people are becoming quite disillusioned with politicians because they think that we make promises in an effort to get elected, and after we get elected we forget about those promises,” she noted.
Tetteh said the party would make achievable promises to Ghanaians.
“After having been in opposition for almost eight years, we know the importance of keeping our promises and of making sure that we make the kind of commitments that we believe are deliverable so that we can rebuild the confidence and trust of the Ghanaian public in politicians because I do not think that politics, and I think, most people who are involved in politics in the NDC do not believe that politics is just a mere past time. We think it’s a very serious business and it is about delivering good governance for the benefit of the many,” Tetteh pointed out.