Kufuor has always supported me – Akufo-Addo confirms

Nana Addo Danquah Akufo-Addo has confirmed that he is still enjoying the support of the former president of Ghana in his quest to become President of Ghana, ruling out rumors that he has lost the support of the former president in the run-up to the party’s super congress on August 31, 2014.

Speaking in an exclusive interview with the 'Africa Watch Magazine', Nana Addo, who is regarded as Ghana’s leading opposition leader said, “President Kufuor has given me his fullest support in each of the two presidential contests that I have led the party. And God willing, he is still supporting my bid. If I am elected once again to lead the party in 2016, I know that I will continue to count on his full support”. Nana Addo made this statement in response to a question posed to him about his relationship with the former president and the allegations that he was not enjoying the support of the former president.

Reacting further to the issue, Nana Addo said, “I think the attempts to drag the former president into the fray are unfortunate. He has served his two terms and did so successfully.

I do not see what would please him more than seeing NPP back in office, and I have no doubt that he will do whatever he can to help us win a famous victory in 2016. My focus now is to run the kind of campaign that will allow the party to rally its forces together after the primaries. I do not want to give any party member any legitimate reason to hold back his support for the 2016 contest. We need all on board,” he stated.

Asked about his immediate priorities should he become president in 2016, Nana Akufo-Addo revealed that his immediate preoccupation would be to build the confidence of Ghanaians in the leadership and government of Ghana. “We face a dangerous situation of a significant loss of confidence in our government and national institutions. This has come about because of perceived widespread corruption and the irresponsible habit of making wild promises that are not and cannot be redeemed. It would mean sending out a clear message to the nation that it is not business as usual with government officials being reckless with state funds.

Important decisions will have to be taken, and they can only be taken when you have the confidence of the people. Transparency will be the watchword because we shall need to carry the population with us in all we do."

Nana Akufo Addo explained that creating jobs would be a major priority and in partnership with business, his government would make the transformation of the economy to enhance its capacity to create a large pool of value adding jobs and businesses. “I still maintain that we cannot continue to be a raw material producing economy if we want to fund all the wonderful ideas and dreams that we want to bequeath our children. We must begin to process and industrialize, and this cannot take place in the current environment where there is unreliable power.

Nana Addo noted that at the center of his proposed transformation agenda would be a comprehensive development of the agribusiness value chain. “First, we must address our energy challenge as an emergency. We cannot modernize without access to reliable supply of power; we will seek to reduce the cost of doing business, as the cost of credit is currently unbearable.

My programme to ensure that every Ghanaian child gain access to free, quality education from pre-school to secondary will be pursued vigorously. Affordable housing is also a major socio-economic priority, which I believe can be achieved with a housing policy that actively encourages the private sector to focus more investment attention on building decent homes for ordinary workers and families. I believe we can make commercial sense and still serve an important social good. But to be able to do all these, the fundamental public spending principle of my government will be to give value for money. That is one thing we cannot compromise on if we are to succeed. I am convinced we can achieve a lot more even with the limited resources we have,” he added.