Akufo-addo addresses young executive forum in London

Yesterday, the 2012 presidential candidate of the New Patriotic Party, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, honoured an invitation to a dinner hosted by the UK chapter of the Young Executive Forum (a global network of professionals and entrepreneurs) at the Blue Elephant Restaurant in London.

The four course meal dinner ended with Nana Akufo-Addo encouraging the young professionals and entrepreneurs to put their minds to things that would modernize and transform Ghana. He stressed that the goal was not the power and being called president or minister, but rather the goal was the transformation of Ghana, bringing the nation up to join the comity of modern, developed and prosperous nations.

Nana Akufo-Addo also called on men and women, inside and outside the NPP to take up the responsibility of putting Ghana on a really solid path of development and transformation.

Nana Akufo-Addo was accompanied to the dinner by Hon Yaw Osafo Maafo (former Minister of Finance), Hon Egyir Blankson (former Mayor of Accra), Hayford Atta-Krufi, (Chairman of NPP UK), Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko and Kow Essuman.

Below is the full text of his speech:

I think it is obvious to all of us here tonight that our opponents or competitors for political power are incapable of running our country well. It is clear that our opponents are good at being declared winners of elections but are bad at governing our nation. It means that whatever it legitimately takes, we have to make sure that at the next election, not only do we win it but are actually declared the winners. That is the responsibility before us.

We have inside and outside our party, the men and women who can put our country on a really solid path of development and transformation. We have a responsibility to ourselves, the people of Ghana and to posterity, to make sure that come what may, in 2016, we don't have a court case or a false declaration.

At the end of it all, apart from getting the power, is the whole more important process of transforming our country. I want all of you to put your minds to the things that we need to do to modernise and transform our country. That is the goal.

The goal is not the power and being called president or minister. It is the transformation of our nation, bringing it up to join the comity of modern, developed and prosperous nations. That is the goal. That is the mission and let us work harder than ever to make that happen. Thank you.