NPP-USA Chapter In Columbus, Ohio, Is Officially Inaugurated

NPP-USA

The rejuvenated New Patriotic Party -USA Chapter in Columbus, Ohio, was officially inaugurated on Saturday May 26, 2012. The inaugural and fundraising event was excellently successful with maximum attendance by members of the Kukurudu family from all over the United States, the Ghanaian community in Columbus and Cincinnati, members of the other political parties-NDC, CPP as well as non-Ghanaian sympathizers of the New Patriotic Party (NPP). A member of the chapter donated a pick-up truck to the chapter to be sent to NPP Party Headquarters in Ghana as the Columbus Ohio Chapter’s contribution towards recapturing power in the 2012 elections.


Nana Kwaku Agyei Yeboah, NPP-USA Chairman, was the special guest speaker for the ceremony. Others who spoke at the function are Prof. Kofi Nsia-Pepra, the Columbus Chapter Chairman, Dr. Phillip Bannor, General Secretary, NPP-USA, James Owusu, NPP-USA Youth Organizer and Ms. Myeshia Shaw, member of NPP-USA Women’s wing. Prior to the inauguration, Nana Agyei Yeboah, Prof. Kofi Nsia-Pepra, and Ms. Myeshia Shaw spoke on Affrika and Sahara Radio stations of Columbus Ohio and answered questions from callers.


As part of the ceremony, the national chairman swore the newly elected executives of the chapter into office.


The chairman for the event was Dr. Alexander Yaw Adusei Jnr, Attorney of the 6th Circuit, Columbus Ohio. In his opening address, Dr. Yaw Adusei Jnr. touched on the need for Ghanaians abroad to strengthen their ties with the NPP and encouraged them to join and contribute in diverse ways to help the NPP come to power in 2012 because NPP is the party that has Ghanaian centered policies.


In his welcome address, the chairman of the chapter, Prof. Kofi Nsia-Pepra thanked the chapter members and the distinguished guests for their unparalleled dedication, commitment and interests in the NPP and promised that his chapter would diligently work and contribute towards the return of the NPP into power. He cited many examples of NPP’s achievements under President Kufour and compared them to Presidents Mill’s administrative incompetence that has plunged Ghana into social, economic and political doldrums and assured Ghanaians of a competent Nana Akufo Addo administration to emancipate Ghanaians from their hardships. He encouraged Ghanaians to join and vote the NPP into power in our collective effort to develop Ghana.

In his keynote address, Nana Kwaku Agyei-Yeboah, the NPP-USA National Chairman remarked that with the rejuvenation of the Columbus chapter, NPP-USA branch now has 19 chapters and still growing.


Nana Agyei Yeboah recounted that in 2008, when NPP lost power, NPP-USA organized a congress in Denver Colorado, where all the stakeholders of the party converged. At this congress, we developed the theme, Reflect, Rebuild, Recapture. As a party we have reflected on the weaknesses that brought us defeat. We have rebuilt the largest grassroots democratic establishment in Africa. He emphasized to a loud applause that the new patriotic party is poised to recapture victory in the upcoming general elections in December this year, in order to stop the further decline in the living standards of Ghanaians, restore hope and continue our development in freedom.


He wondered why Prof. Atta Mills, the only person in Ghana who was a vice president before he became the president, could not hit the ground running but has goofed in office for the last three years. He surmised that it is no wonder that history is replete with vice presidents who go on to become presidents end up becoming one term presidents.


Making a case why the Mills/Mahama administration must be a one-term administration, Nana Agyei Yeboah made a meticulous comparison between the NDC performance in office for eleven years (NDC 1&2), which Mills was the VP and now President against NPP 8 years in government. He enumerated programs and social intervention policies implemented to better the lives of Ghanaians during the NPP’s 8-year rule, which have been deteriorating under President Mill’s NDC rule.


On the poor management of the economy by the Mills/Mahama administration, Nana Agyei Yeboah put it this way “Ghana’s exchange rate continues to sky rocket, a phenomenon Dr. Bawumia has termed “me do Nyame exchange rate”. Interestingly this is happening at a time the Mills/Mahama administration keeps telling Ghanaians about single digit inflation”.

This strange economic trend has puzzled the renowned banker and economist, Dr. Bawumia to posit as follows “if single digit inflation is meaningless for cost of living, interest rates, exchange rates, and jobs, what is it for? To put it another way, if single digit inflation does not help with respect to the prices of the things you buy, the cost of borrowing money for your business, the value of the cedi to the dollar, or help the youth to get jobs, then what is the point?” The audience applauded and nodded approvingly.


These catastrophic economic failures under President Mills, Nana Agyei Yeboah went on are happening at a time when oil prices (for which Ghana is now an exporter) have increased by 13% between 2009 and 2011. Gold prices are around the highest in our history. On average gold prices increased from $652 per fine ounce (between 2005 and 2008) to $1240 per fine ounce between 2009 and 2011. An increase of 90%. Cocoa prices are also at an all-time high. Increasing from 1032 tone between 2005 and 2008 to 1987 tone between 2009 and 2011. An increase of some 93%.


In conclusion, Nana Agyei Yeboah assured the audience that economic transformation through dynamic, innovative and visionary Leadership would be achieved under the able leadership of Nana Addo/ Bawumia’s stewardship, if given the mandate in December this year, God willing, because Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo is determined to build a society that aims at transforming its economy, modernizing its agriculture, industrializing and adding value to our resources, as well as educating our youth to create a motivated and dynamic workforce that will propel our society into a level where none is deprived of the opportunity to maximize his/her potential.


By a dint of hard work and planning, Dr. Kofi Nsia-Pepra and his able executives like Nii Okaija Bishoff, Kwabena Boateng, Akua Adusei and others have brought the Columbus Ohio chapter of NPP-USA back to life.