Reverend Christian Kwabena Andrews
The Ghana Union Movement (GUM) says it is not convinced by the policy ideas outlined in the manifestoes of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the National Democratic Congress (NDC).
The party said the NPP and NDC policies “lacked concrete actions” to transform the economy and create sustainable jobs for the youth.
In an interview with the Ghana News Agency, Reverend Christian Kwabena Andrews, Founder and Leader of GUM, stated that the manifesto promises were simply a rehash of old ideas and questioned the NPP and NDC’s credibility to deliver on the new promises.
He said both the NPP and the NDC had had the opportunity to implement their policies during their governments but failed to do so and urged voters to disregard the two leading parties’ campaign promises.
“The taxes they promise to abolish were introduced by them. They are saying all these because they want power. I don’t trust them. Both the NPP and the NDC are looking for power just to amass wealth, and history has shown,” Rev. Andrews said.
The NPP and the NDC have both launched their manifestoes, with the two parties promising to implement strategic policies to rebound the economy, create jobs, reduce public expenditure, and improve the living conditions of the people.
Rev. Andrews said the GUM would embark on massive industrialisation across the country to promote value addition and exports because that was the key to transforming the economy.
He said key among the policies of GUM would be the operationalisation of a free port, free electricity for domestic consumers, and providing seed capital of GHS 10,000 to young people who want to run their own businesses, among other incentives.
“People have questioned how we will provide seed capital to young people. The monies we lavish on luxury vehicles for public officers can be repurposed to provide funding for thousands of young people,” Rev. Andrews said.
The GUM has also promised to aggressively promote traditional medicine to reduce the cost of healthcare and limit dependence on “expensive” orthodox medicine.
