Bawumia launches manifesto of 'possibilities with bold solutions'

The twin city of Secondi-Takoradi metropolis was on a standstill on Sunday as the ruling NPP, led by its flagbearer, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, launched the party's manifesto for the 2024 elections in December. 

Tens of thousands of enthusiastic party supporters besieged the cities, and with the support of his running mate, Dr. Mathew Opoku Prempeh, and in the presence of party stalwarts, including President Akufo-Addo, Dr. Bawumia launched the contractual pact with Ghanaians, which he said contains policies and programmes his government will implement for the transformation of Ghana. 

In a passionate address, Dr. Bawumia copiously described the manifesto as one of "hope with bold solutions," as he took his time to deliver his vision and programmes for all sectors. 

"Ghana needs bold solutions to deal with the current challenges we are facing and that is what I am offering in asking for the mandate of Ghanaians,"  Dr. Bawumia said. 

"This Manifesto lays out our comprehensive plan to take Ghana to the next level of growth and prosperity, under a selfless leader with bold solutions for jobs and business."

Indeed, Dr. Bawumia's manifesto is largely focused on  jobs and business, as he outlined bold programs and incentives to strengthen the private sector and businesses, including a new, friendly tax regime, considerable cuts on import duties, and the abolition of unfriendly taxes to businesses, including the controversial e-levy tax. 

While he hopes these measures will expand the private sector and enhance its job creation ability, Dr. Bawumia also reiterated his quest to turn many Ghanaian youth into digital literates and create job opportunities for them, both locally and internationally, by training about one million youth in coding and other tech-related skills.

This, he believed, in addition to enhanced focus on TVET, will help create more sustainable jobs for the teeming youth of the country, alongside other programs in different sectors. 

"It offers the opportunity to create a new generation of entrepreneurs through my Business Support initiatives. It strives to make Ghana a fully digitized nation in which you are able to access public services with ease," Dr. Bawumia said of the Manifesto. 

"It incentivizes the private sector to expand and deliver good jobs.

It promises to leverage private sector capital to fix the roads in your communities, the schools, water, etc."

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On governance and the economy, Dr. Bawumia showed a strong desire for economic transformation anchored on fiscal discipline. To attain this, he announced his government won't have more than 50 ministers, and he also announced plans to amend the Fiscal Responsibility Act to ensure stricter compliance clauses.

In every sector, from agriculture, health, and education to tourism, creative arts, and sports, Dr. Bawumia outlined versions of his "bold solutions" for the sectors, which he said would be beneficial to all, regardless of political, ethnic, and religious affiliations. 

"My vision is to create a tent big enough to accommodate all our people, to tap into the resourcefulness and talents of our people irrespective of our different ethnic, political, and religious backgrounds, to channel our energies into building the kind of country that assures a food self-sufficient, safe, prosperous, and dignified future for all Ghanaians, to create sustainable jobs with meaningful pay for all, and for Ghana to participate fully in the fourth industrial revolution using systems and data," he said. 

So characteristic of the new NPP leader, his speech was characterised by themes of possibilities as he urged Ghanaians to believe in the ability of the Ghanaian to achieve greater things.

KA

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