NDC to launch 2020 manifesto today

Ghana’s largest opposition party, the National Democratic Congress (NDC), will today, Monday, September 7, 2020, launch its manifesto for the upcoming December 2020 elections.

The rescheduling, the party said, was to enable its National Executive Committee and Council of Elders to approve the policy principles and strategies promised in the manifesto.

Though the NDC’s unsuccessful 2016 bid to the presidency was prosecuted under the theme Changing Lives Transforming Ghana, the theme for the 2020 manifesto, as well as its key policy statements, remain under wraps ahead of its manifesto launch.

NDC flagbearer, John Dramani Mahama who spoke on Sunday night ahead of today’s launch, said the NDC will transform Ghana into an advanced nation if given the nod in the 2020 general elections.

“It is our sacred mission to turn Ghana into an advanced nation as soon as possible! It is our moral obligation to be bold and to aim for greatness!” he said.

The former President said the current challenges in Ghana require the formulation of new policies and standards – a move the NDC intends undertaking if it comes to power.

“Good enough’ is no longer good enough! To prosper and thrive, we need a fundamental change! We need to set our standards and expectations far higher than “good enough”! If we settle for “good enough”, we settle for slow death of our very soul and of our pride.”

John Mahama further explained that he decided to run for a second term in order to fix these challenges.

Ahead of the polls, the former President is courting the support of the Ghanaian electorate as he announced among other things, free health care services, the creation of one million jobs for the teeming unemployed youth and the legalization of commercial use of motorbikes popularly known as ‘okada’.

Find below some of the initiatives to be rolled out in the next John Mahama-administration should he win the polls:

1. The involvement of women in the decision-making process will not end at the level of Vice President. We will work towards the attainment of a minimum of 30% of all appointments going to women.

2. We will implement a set of robust health policies and plans aimed at aggressively tackling and reducing maternal mortality by half from the current 319 per 100,000 live births.

3. We shall ensure female socio-economic empowerment, enact the Spousal Rights Law, establish exclusive and secured shelters for abused women and children, and provide opportunities for all. As a Social Democratic Party, we seek to harness the best qualities in all our people to transform the destiny of our nation.

4. In that direction, and as the fulcrum around which our Health Policy will evolve, we will before the end of 2021, introduce and begin the implementation of a Free Primary Health Care Plan. This will make the provision of primary health care to all Ghanaians, young and elderly, FREE. Our free health care plan will guarantee a healthy people and provide a healthy workforce needed to accelerate our development.

5. I pledge on behalf of the NDC that we shall pay within one year all who have funds locked up with the collapsed financial institutions. Within one year. I promise! We shall not put up any long-term payment plans that will further worsen the living conditions of the victims.

6. As has been introduced in other economies, the next NDC Administration will establish a Financial Services Authority that will be responsible for ensuring that consumer financial markets work for consumers, providers and the economy as a whole. The Authority will oversee all financial products and services that are offered to consumers, and will effectively and efficiently prevent and stop the challenges that have confronted customers of Menzgold, DKM among others.

8. We will send all contractors with valid contracts who have been sitting at home for 4 years without being paid for legitimate work done for the government back to site. We will make immediate arrangements to pay them their hard-earned monies deliberately withheld by the Nana Addo administration due to politics.

9. We will build a peaceful, secure and strong economy that provides sustainable jobs through a transformed, industrialised and digital economy.

10. We will reinforce the independence of state institutions such as the Electoral Commission, Auditor General’s Department, EOCO and CHRAJ.

11. Single sourced procurement – sole sourcing – will be an exception, not the rule.

12. In pursuance of social justice, I will vigorously push through a constitutional review that creates a fairer and just emoluments system and removes the distortions between Article 71 Office-holders and other public sector employees.

13. We will as part of an Integrity for Development action plan, launch “Operation Sting.” Operation Sting is an anti-corruption crusade, which under my watch will involve massive, far-reaching and practical governmental reforms. It will be ruthless against all corrupt political appointees and public sector workers.

14. It will be a requirement for all who serve in my Government to publish their assets declaration and have same audited by the Auditor General.

15. Of course, the elephantine-size government of 125 ministers we have been burdened with for four years will be reduced drastically. The savings made from emoluments of reduced number of ministers and the privileges they enjoy will be channelled towards paying Assembly Members to perform the function of collecting accurate births and deaths information in their various electoral areas.

16. Our plans include an aggressive job and entrepreneurial programme in the public and private sector; that will deliver a minimum 250,000 jobs every year. A total of 1,000,000 jobs across the country by the end of my term in office in 2024. We will put Ghanaians to work to earn a decent living.