The 2016 presidential candidate of the National Democratic Party (NDP), Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings, has disclosed that the party’s manifesto, which is on the theme ‘Banishing Corruption for National Development,’ will be unveiled soon.

The NDP manifesto, the former First Lady stressed, placed premium on banishing corruption, strategies to create employment for the teeming youth, as well as raising levels of education, health and human development indexes.

Sharing insights of the manifesto in an interview on Tuesday, the founder of the NDP, who said the greatest resource of the nation was its people, underscored the need for the youth to be empowered to hold their leaders accountable for accelerated national development.

Already, she said, the NDP was empowering the youth at the grass roots to hold political leaders accountable to do the right thing that would grow the economy and lift the quality of life of the people.

Community Organisation Bureaus

Nana Konadu told the Daily Graphic that if voted into power, her party would have it as a priority to place people over politics, “by restoring our common sense, as well as work to ensure peaceful progress, and improvement in the lives of the people.”

The NDP flag bearer mentioned that the party had activated its Community Organisation Bureaus (CBOs) at the grass-roots level to educate the masses on their rights and expectations.

“We know the effect of micro level challenges and our party is working hard to empower the grass roots to make sure the government is accountable in all sectors,” she added.

Criticism of NDC

On why the NDP seems to take delight in heavily criticising the economic management style of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC), Nana Konadu asserted that, “We do not just criticise for criticising sake but we do come out with solutions as well.”

She said that was essential to ensure that the country “runs on all four tyres. If the country is supposed to run on four tyres and one tyre is flat, we have to talk about it and fix it.”

NDP’s action plans

Concerning the party’s preparation towards this year’s polls, Nana Konadu disclosed that the NDP had formed three teams which were moving from region to region to meet party members, supporters and sympathisers to assure them of the objectives, programmes and how the NDP was going to effectively campaign and win the 2016 elections.

The teams, according to her, would also train the party’s parliamentary candidates on how to conduct their respective campaigns in a free, fair and decorous manner.

“We have the opportunity to win some parliamentary seats and we are doing everything possible not to blow away the opportunity,” Nana Konadu assured.

She also said the NDP was holding dialogue with governance institutions, both local and foreign, “who are helping us to tweak our issues in the right direction.”

Background

In 2012, the NDP, a breakaway faction of the NDC, went to congress on October 13 in Kumasi to elect its presidential candidate just in time to meet the EC’s October 17-18, 2012 deadline for filing of the nominations of candidates for the presidential and parliamentary elections.

Nana Konadu could not file to compete in that election as a presidential candidate but her party contested 155 seats across the country, making it the party with the fourth highest number of candidates contesting the parliamentary elections but it won none.

The NDC and the New Patriotic Party (NPP) filed 275 candidates each, the Progressive People’s Party (PPP) filed 211; the Convention People’s Party (CPP), 145 and the People’s National Convention (PNC), 94.

Stepping up activity

For this year’s polls, Mrs Rawlings gave the assurance that the NDP would step up its political activity across the country and expressed the hope that the media would not only be interested in highlighting them but also strive to present a fair and balanced coverage of all political activities leading to the 2016 general election.

“It is by so doing that the Ghanaian electorate will be adequately informed and educated on the 2016 polls to enable them to make informed decisions and choices,” she articulated.

Brief Profile

Described by many in Ghanaian politics as the “woman of steel”, Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings sparked excitement and controversy when she deepened democracy in the NDC by contesting President J.E.A Mills for the NDC flag bearer position in 2011.

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