Ladies and Gentlemen of the media, fellow Ghanaians there is something very fundamental taking place in our politics and we feel it our duty as an opposition Party and the Party of Ghana’s Independence to bring it the attention of all Ghanaians.
Many political observers as well as ordinary Ghanaians continue to deny that there is a political divide or distinction between Ghana’s political parties. Some also continue to attack the CPP view point as outdated and irrelevant to our times. We wish to clarify a number of points on this front for the benefit of all.
Firstly we continue to assert that the philosophical documents of the NDC and the NPP leaves no one in doubt that the NDC is the liberal, the NPP the conservative and the CPP the progressives within our system. No surprise then that upon re-election for a second term President Kufour set among his three key areas for development ” the promotion of the private sector”.
The CPP is and has always been very clear in its analysis of the internal and external dimension of “Ghana’s Woes”. i.e.
• Ghana’s economy does not function principally to supply the goods and services that her people need.
• That the liberal-conservative establishment have organized our national economy to produce and export agricultural and mineral raw materials to Multinational Companies (MNCs) in the developed world at prices set by the buyers whilst importing expensive finished products at prices also dictated by them, leading to a systematic net transfer of wealth from Ghana.
• Hence the wealth we need to improve the conditions of life for Ghanaians are not available.
• Internal inequalities arise from this situation such as the wealth and power of the elite as against that of the lower majority of impoverished and powerless ordinary Ghanaians.
• Ghanaians living abroad have to remit huge sums for domestic consumption by family members.
• That any foreign aid, grant or investment is welcomed but must be geared towards our national development
• That the solutions prescribed by the NDC and NPP has failed. It should be of great interest to all Ghanaians to note when the ruling conservative NPP government embarks on a road which many in its own ranks begin to view as the “Road to Damascus.
The first major revelation came with the 90% acquisition of the Volta Aluminium Company (VALCO) in 2005. President Kufour said then that the acquisition should be seen as the realisation of Dr Kwame Nkrumah's vision of making Ghana an industrialised nation.
Ghanaians would also remember the recent comment by the Hon Minister of Trade, Industry and President's Special Initiatives Mr. Alan Kyeremanten, that ”Over-reliance on market forces has not helped Ghana and developing countries in general to efficiently allocate resources for overall development.”
Mr. Kyeremanten said further that the belief that the free market system through liberalization and deregulation would improve the efficient allocation of resources did not and has not happened, but "It has rather resulted in de-industrialization and trade deficits in many cases and we in Ghana can testify to this,"
The Hon NPP Minister called for emphasis on the need to reorient policies or instituting complementary measures tailored to national specificities as opposed to the "one-size-fits-all prescriptions, underpinned by the so-called 'Washington Consensus'"
We wish to remind the Hon Minister that he and his Party are the apostles of the “free market” that “The New Right Washington Consensus” championed first by the NDC (1992-2000) has been continued under the NPP since 2000 as the solution to Ghana’s developmental problems .
That Nana Akufo Addo, arguably a major player and possible front runner in the NPP flagbearership race has in his 2005 manifesto speech at KNUST talked about “indigenous capitalism”.
Mr. Akuffo-Addo whilst talking about marrying Economic Nationalism and Globalisation went on to say that “The expectation for Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) to create diversification, technology spill over and jobs has not really been realized according to expectations”. He said further that Ghana needs to analyse FDI‘s carefully according to costs and benefits and coordinate inflows with domestic needs.
His speech was full of contradictions however echoing the general confusion that Ghanaians are witnessing from the NPP itself.
Mr. Akuffo-Addo quoted John Rawls’ two conditions for a property owning democracy
1) A regime of competitive markets and
2) State intervention both to correct market imperfections and to ensure the background conditions essential to distributive justice.
The Hon Minister also said that whilst “the marketplace may be the best way to deliver value, competition can sometimes be ruthless and irrational”.
The NPP like the Biblical Saul on the way to Damascus would seem to have had a revelation that the solution to Ghana’s problems is an “Nkrumaist Solution”; the problem is that the signals are conflicting and confusing.
They should be bold enough to tell Ghanaians that the CPP’ prescription for Ghana is the only way forward and save Ghana more years of futile experiment When will the liberal NDC and the conservative NPP, realize that the private sector whether foreign or indigenous is championed to the detriment of the interests of the popular majority of Ghanaians.
The CPP has always had a consistent social-political theory for enlarging Ghana’s prosperity.
The overall policy objective of any Government of Ghana must be the pursuit of popular “Wealth”. This requires the transformation of all our institutions towards the creation of wealth for all. In all areas of our national life we must implement policies that will lead to the creation, management and enjoyment of wealth for all
To those NPP sympathisers whose only response to every CPP proposal is – “ the CPP needs to modernise”, we ask them to now question current Ministers on the future direction of Government policy, They should “ Grow Up” and let us all then have a meaningful discussion on why the solution to Ghana’s problems is an Nkrumaist one.
Forward Ever! Backward Never!
Secretariat cppuk@hotmail.com
