Akufo-Addo: "Mass poverty is a threat to Ghana’s democracy"

The 2016 Flag-bearer of the main opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has said: “Mass poverty remains the biggest problem that we have as a nation and it poses the most serious challenge to freedom and democracy.”

Speaking on the theme: “Strengthening freedom and democracy; meeting new challenges” at the conference of the international democratic union (IDU) in Seoul, Republic of Korea, on Friday November 21, 2014, the former Attorney General who led a delegation from his party to the event said: “This is what gives my party the strong desire to work to win power at the next elections in December 2016 to continue the work we did to critical acclaim between 2001 and 2008.”

“We believe that the example of Korea, which began life as an independent nation at the same time and in the same shape as our own, is one we can effectively emulate in Ghana to spearhead the rapid transformation and modernisation of our economy and society, and, thereby, raise rapidly the living standards of our people,” the three-time Flag-bearer said.

He said: “Korea is one of the great success stories of the modern era, a country which, within a generation, transformed itself from a poor, agrarian economy into a leading industrial power, and, happily, it is a sister party, the Saenuri Party, that has the democratic mandate to manage its affairs.”

“It is now generally accepted that we, who are gathered here and other like-minded people, have won the ideological battle that raged for much of the twentieth century. We, who advocated for a multi-party system of government, backed by the rule of law and respect for human rights and a market economy, driven by private enterprise, have won the battle of ideas.

“But the war to build a better world by strengthening freedom and democracy is far from over,” Akufo-Addo observed.