The Flagbearer of the Progressive People’s Party (PPP), Dr Papa Kwesi Nduom has promised to transform this nation to make it great and strong with its people prosperous.
As the President of Ghana, Dr. Nduom says he would unite the people to ensure lasting peace to enable development; and put in place an all-inclusive, lean administration of not more than 40 ministers of state for accelerated development and reform the public sector to become responsive to the private productive sector.
This was contained in the part two of his National Broadcast titled Jobs, Jobs, Jobs. Some of the key issues that Dr. Nduom raised in the broadcast included a rice revolution and strategic intervention in agriculture; real estate for growth; petrochemicals industry; tourism.
“I wish to be specific in the area of jobs, jobs, jobs to emphasize the point that if you are a business owner in Ghana or a young man or woman looking for a job, your best choice on December 7th is the Progressive People's Party, the bright red sun and Papa Kwesi Nduom, Number 4 on the ballot,” he emphatically stated.
Please find below the full statement of the National Broadcast.
NATIONAL BROADCAST PART TWO: JOBS, JOBS, JOBS
(I wish to be specific in the area of jobs, jobs, jobs to emphasize the point that if you are a business owner in Ghana or a young man or woman looking for a job, your best choice on December 7th is the Progressive People's Party, the bright red sun and Papa Kwesi Nduom, Number 4 on the ballot.)
My name is Papa Kwesi Nduom the Presidential Candidate of the Progressive People's Party. My life has been guided by my faith, family values and public service. I am a local boy from Elmina.
By the Grace of God, education, and hard work, I have been able to create jobs in all the districts of the country through the private sector. I have gained experience as Economic Planning & Regional Cooperation, Energy and Public Sector Reform Minister. I am asking for the opportunity to use the positive experience I have gained to benefit millions of Ghanaians.
I am Number 4 on the Presidential Ballot, the one in the kente cloth and with the bright red sun. Our focus is unique in Ghanaian politics- job creation through competent, incorruptible leadership. No political party in Ghana, not the NDC or the NPP has been so bold and clear about its focus.
As written in our Policy Document, "... the PPP seeks the opportunity to implement an efficient Agenda for Accelerated Change that is built on Incorruptible Leadership, Education, Healthcare and Jobs.
Highlights of some of our unique non-negotiable policies are:
1. Constitutional Reforms & Good Governance: reform our constitution to strengthen parliament, elect district, municipal and metropolitan chief executives; create a strong independent public prosecutor to root out government corruption; and make Parliament truly independent by ensuring that a Member of Parliament cannot serve as a Minister of State at the same time. Work with Parliament to pass the Right to Information Bill to bring transparency and encourage accountability in government.
2. Public Sector Reforms: reform state institutions, make government efficient and raise revenue to be able to pay public servants well to motivate them to facilitate the work of the private sector and Ghanaian society in general. Create a Ministry of Public Service to lead the task of continuous reform and modernisation of state institutions. Reduce the number of ministers of state to 40 and rely on professional civil and local servants to ensure efficient administration. We will abolish the position of regional minister.
3. Preventable Diseases: ensure a cleaner environment free from preventable diseases like malaria, cholera, monococal meningitis and guinea worm. Just like countries in the Americas, Europe and elsewhere became malaria free, so can Ghana with the right leadership from the PPP. Ensure emergency care throughout the country to save lives. Our focus will be in the area of prevention where education is the key.
4. Compulsory & Universal Education: provide Quality Education for Every Ghanaian Child. Standardize school facilities from kindergarten to Senior High, with libraries, toilets, classrooms, kitchen, housing for teachers, playground, etc.; and Ensure Free and Compulsory education in public schools from Kindergarten to Senior (including ICT training).
We will deploy an “Education Police” to enforce the compulsory aspect of our policy. An integral part of this objective will be an objective to significantly increase vocational training so that all school leavers gain employable skills.
5. Agriculture & Food Security: provide a market to sustain our farmers and fishermen. We will use the state’s purchasing power to provide the assurance that the labor of our farmers and fishermen will not be in vain.
Construct good roads that link farms to market centres to ensure that our farmers are able to transport their produce for sale easily, as one way of reducing poverty. Address post harvest losses by reviewing specific crops and potential for processing, value addition, effective storage schemes etc. Instead of the corruption infested political gimmicks like giving out outboard motors and premix fuel, introduce and implement policies that yield aquatic abundance.
One way to provide ready market is to ensure that all basic schools on the school feeding program as well as Senior High Schools patronize strictly, made in Ghana commodities for cooking.
6. Financing Energy: implement solutions with a sense of urgency to meet domestic needs for industry and residential use. To enable us achieve this objective, we will provide tax incentives to enable development of alternative sources of fuel and power – bio fuels and solar. Aim to ensure that the contribution from renewable sources of energy reaches in a decade, a minimum of 10% of what we need. Provide adequate funding to deal with generation, transmission and distribution challenges.
7. Economic Infrastructure: To accelerate job creation nationally, build an inter-region highway with the same high quality throughout the country to open up the country for investment and development. In the same way, implement with a sense of urgency plans to extend railways to the four corners of the country to facilitate the movement of goods and people. Engage in a comprehensive housing programme throughout the country and promote the use of clay and other natural resources to boost employment prospects.
8. Sports: a comprehensive sports programme to instill discipline and promote better health. The comprehensive sports programme will ensure that with government support, we begin to develop future world and Olympic champions. Our performance at successive Olympic Games have not been befitting of a country of our stature.
9. Domestic Enterprise Development: improve Ghana’s business climate to enable investment in job creation so that our people will stay at home to help develop the country and its economy. We will be relentless in providing support to Ghanaian industry and our farmers and fishermen using low interest loans, technical assistance, tax incentives and priority access to the Ghanaian market.
10. Women's Enterprise Development: to train, encourage and promote the growth and development of women entrepreneurs in the country. This will include technical assistance, low interest loans and the setting aside of portions of government contracts to enterprises founded and managed by women.
11. Technology: ensure application of technology to enable the implementation of national objectives in areas such as national identification, drivers licensing, passports, criminal information systems; provide support to ICT entrepreneurs to make Ghana a hub for technology product development and innovation.
The Presidents we have had in Ghana since 1993, all came with good intentions and have done the best they can. But the best they have delivered leaves so must more to be done.
We are a country saddled with huge debt, about 65% of our GDP, near HIPC levels, an unacceptable high percentage of our people are unemployed, the majority of our children do not get past JHS level and we are still bedeviled by preventable diseases such as malaria, cholera, and HIV-AIDS.
I Papa Kwesi Nduom will transform this nation to make it great and strong with all of its people prosperous. As your President, I will Unite the people to ensure lasting peace to enable development; and Put in place an all-inclusive, lean administration of not more than 40 ministers of state for accelerated development and reform the public sector to become responsive to the private productive sector.
I wish to be specific in the area of jobs, jobs, jobs to emphasize the point that if you are a business owner in Ghana or a young man or woman looking for a job, your best choice on December 7th is the Progressive People's Party, the bright red sun and Papa Kwesi Nduom, Number 4 on the ballot.
Key initiatives to remember from me tonight are: Rice revolution and strategic intervention in agriculture; real estate for growth; petrochemicals industry; tourism.
1. We will encourage rice farming and milling in Ghana so that in four years, we stop the importation of rice - we will save the hundreds of millions we spend to import rice. This alone will mean one million well paying jobs in virtually all the ten regions. I know that this can be done because my company Groupe Nduom has invested in a rice mill in Worawora in the Volta region and is building a new one in Assin Breku in the Central Region.
2. We will invest and support cashew growing and local processing in the Brong Ahafo, Central and other regions - especially in towns such as Sampa, Wenchi, Tuobodom.
3. We will invest in fruit processing factories in the Central, Western, Eastern and Volta regions and promote the export of their output.
4. We will promote the large scale cultivation and processing of palm oil in the Western, Eastern, Central, Ashanti and Volta regions to feed existing and new processing factories in Ghana and for export.
5. In the Western Region we will ensure the development of a petrochemical industry and the movement of the headquarters of oil and gas producers including GNPC to that region. (Petrochemicals are organic chemicals made from crude oil and natural gas for use in industrial processes. Examples are methanol, ethylene, propylene, butadiene, tuoluene and xylene. Used to make plastics, PVC panels, bullet proof vests, solar panels, medicines, consumer electronics, wind turbines and automobile parts.)
6. We will develop the Central Region Kakum National Park, the Forts and Castles and the Mole National forest as major international tourist attractions and destinations with nearby airports and enabling infrastructure.
7. We will invest in the processing of yam into international quality chips for domestic consumption and export in the Brong Ahafo and Northern regions.
8. We will raise the real estate industry to heights hitherto unimaginable
In conclusion, it is clear that the PPP's brand of politics is unique, exceptional and just what Ghanaians need to give them hope and confidence. Our inclusive approach will ensure that we select the best men and women to find and implement the solutions needed.
The PPP led by me Papa Kwesi Nduom will amend pension investment rules to ensure that the Ghanaian private sector gets the long term capital they need at low cost. (Pension Act 766 (2008) and Act 883 (2014))
It is important to note that last year the pension funds accumulated to be managed by private fund managers was GHS4.6 billion representing 3.3% of GDP. This will experience exponential growth and channeled properly, will provide the much needed capital for the use of the private sector.
All the presidential candidates are talking about job creation but there is only one DOER when it comes to jobs, jobs, jobs. Edwumawura, Papa Kwesi Nduom.
As your President, I will work diligently to make our farmers prosperous.
What I heard, saw and experienced in the Brong Ahafo region overall convinces me that the election must be about development. It must not just be about winning votes. We need votes to win power and implement our ideas, yes. But we must face the realities on the ground and fashion solutions, good ones, that will improve the living standards of the people.
GN Bank is in every major town in the region and this we have done against great odds. There is a huge infrastructure deficit there as the roads are horrible including the ones leading to productive areas such as Sampa, Tuobodom, Berekum, Yeji and Kajeji.
These towns are part of the agricultural belt in a region that has given us cashew, cocoa, rice, yam, etc. There is a lack of local investment to support the processing of the cashew, yam, cocoa to create jobs and as a result provide the assurance of a good market for the hard working farmers there. There is no protection from government to ensure that the cashew farmers do not continue to suffer from predatory foreign buyers.
American farmers are better off because their government PROTECTS them against unfair competition and provides subsidies in various forms. The PPP will provide Ghanaian farmers the same opportunities to live a better life. We can do this.
The PPP will Support Our Farmers to do better - through STRATEGIC INTERVENTIONS
Agriculture employed about 53.6% of Ghanaians in 2015
More than half of Ghana’s population is dependent on agriculture, and therefore growth in production is important in particular for employment in rural areas, food security as well as reducing dependency on imports.
There is a need to improve the enabling environment for agriculture, for example access to suitable finance and continued efforts to reduce importation of food and food products such as rice and palm oil. But the Agriculture Sector's contribution to GDP under President John Mahama reduced by 2.5% in 2015.
The PPP will start a rice revolution in Ghana and enable the employment of one million people working profitably on farms, rice mills and sales agencies.
The rice industry in Ghana has seen unprecedented increase in consumption levels over the past decade. The estimated national consumption of rice has consistently increased from 2006 to 2014. It grew by an average rate of 14% to reach 865,376 metric tonnes in 2014.
Nearly 40% of total rice imports are aromatic variety with imports estimated at 413,609 metric tonnes in 2014. Based on cost insurance, freight, and duties, the rice import bill is estimated to be over US$600m as of 2013. The increase in import bill has the potential to grow if there are no strategic interventions in the rice industry to facilitate development and growth of the local counterpart.
Current rice production (approximately 393,000 MT, milled equivalent) has resulted in a self-sufficiency rate of 38%, while the government agriculture sector plan aims at 75% self-sufficiency for rice in the next couple of years. Through strategic interventions, the PPP will ensure self-sufficiency within four years of being in office.
The PPP will aggressively support expansion in the areas of cashew and oil palm for jobs.
West Africa, where 80% of the continent's cashew nuts are grown, processes only 5-6% of its cashew output. Finance is a major obstacle, with interest rates for loans as high as 30%. This has led to the dominance of foreign processing firms such as Olam.
The current level of production hovering around 50,000mt in the country is insufficient to meet the installed processing capacity close to 70,000mt and not to even talk of the large quantum that traders export. Previously, processors and exporters used to easily get supplements from La Cote d’Iviore through the borders but the Ivorian government has banned the inland trade of the commodity, causing hard times for the industry in Ghana.
Cashew farmers have been worried about their inability to access competitive credit to boost production and the annual bushfire menace which continues to wreck cashew plantations. Processors also have identified the current system of lending rate to agro-processing banks business unfriendly; skyrocketing utility tariffs; expensive labour cost and swelling import duties on machinery as some of the issues kicking them out of business. The PPP will address these problems positively.
Of the 17 major vegetable oils traded on the international market, palm oil is the most important. It accounts for more than half of the global import and export trade of all vegetable oils.
· Demand for palm oil is growing particularly fast:- o It is the most competitively priced vegetable oil o There is growing usage in a wide range of products o Demand is growing internationally, regionally and within Ghana
· Palm oil is 5 to 10 times more productive than other oil bearing crops and has the lowest requirement for inputs of fuel, fertilizers and pesticides per tonne of production · About 80% of current world palm oil production is consumed in the form of food. Rising food demand coupled with growing demand for non-food uses is likely to sustain the continued rapid growth in demand for palm oil in the foreseeable future. · With an estimated world wide population increase of 11.6 percent and a 5 percent increase in per capital consumption, an additional 28 million tonnes of vegetable oils will have to be produced annually by 2020. Palm oil is well placed to meet this demand with the lowest requirement for new land. An additional 6.3 million ha would need to be planted for oil palm; in contrast, if the increased demand were to be satisfied by soybean oil production, an additional 42 million hectares of land would need to be cultivated.
Ghana under a PPP administration will strategically expand the oil palm sector to meet the increasing demand for industrial quality palm oil. We will facilitate and encourage existing mills to capture all the benefits of scale and support new mills to be in the large scale class.
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