|
Press Release
NPP, June 12, 2011
AKUFO-ADDO PROMISES A SOCIETY OF FREEDOM AND
RESPONSIBILITY
Sunday, June 12, 2011:- The 2012 Presidential
Candidate of the New Patriotic Party has stated that the
quest to build a modern society for Ghana will depend
largely on the citizens of Ghana accepting in equal measure
the concepts of both individual liberty and individual
responsibility and the authorities having the discipline and
conviction to ensure that such an environment thrives
without fear or favour.
Addressing an international conference of party members in
Hamburg, Germany, at the weekend, Nana Akufo-Addo told his
audience that for the 2012 campaign he remains committed to
the substance of the vision he articulated in 2008, though
emphasis may change to respond to prevailing circumstances.
The four thematic areas of his vision are basically about
consolidating democracy, modernising society, transforming
the economy and ensuring Ghana’s full engagement in the
integration process of Africa.
However, the desired accelerated and inclusive development
of Ghana, he argued, can only be possible under an
environment where the people enjoy freedom and respond to
the responsibilities that come with citizenship.
Ghana’s strife for development is best assured under the NPP
because it is the only party that has remained consistent to
its core beliefs and values over the last six decades and
that those time-tested values and beliefs have proven to be
the panacea for nation-building.
“First,” the NPP flagbearer said, “in terms of deepening
democracy, I believe that a leader should stand for
something. A party should stand for something. A leader
should have values. A party should have values. We have and
I have. Our values are about individual freedom and human
dignity.”
But, Nana Addo reminded the NPP that core to the
conservative values of the party is the responsibility of
the individual, stressing, “freedom can too easily turn into
the idea that we have the right to do whatever we want,
regardless of the effect on others. That is not our belief.”
He continued, “For us, an equally important word is
responsibility.”
He said the NPP way is to create a society where every
Ghanaian has the opportunity to excel, by ensuring that
access to quality education, healthcare and job
opportunities are not determined by the circumstances of
birth but by the responsible exploitation of the
opportunities offered by society to the individual.
He summed the NPP way as, “We prefer a system of empowerment
to the concept of entitlement as the means of developing the
individual. A hand up, not a hand out. That is the NPP way.”
He commended Ghanaians abroad for exporting this inherent
sense of responsibility to their host nations to global
admiration.
“Ghanaians understand this fully, and that is why we are
celebrated all over the world as responsible citizens.
Personal responsibility; professional responsibility; civic
responsibility; corporate responsibility; our responsibility
to our family, to our neighbourhood, and to our country; our
responsibility to behave in a decent and civilized manner;
our responsibility to help others. That is what this party
is all about,” he said.
Using himself as an example, the distinguished lawyer and
renowned human rights advocate, said, “Thus, for every
judgment I make, for every decision I take, I ask myself a
basic question: does it encourage responsibility and
discourage irresponsibility? Does it make us a more or less
responsible society? This is because we will only be a
strong society if we are a responsible society.”
Nana Addo criticised President Mills and his government for
encouraging a culture of impunity rather than a society of
responsibility.
“But what do we see under the Mills administration?,” Nana
Addo asked and proceeded to answer: “Rampaging NDC activists
attacking DCEs, party executives, public officials,
especially those perceived to be NPP sympathizers, and
recently, attacking and burning down their own party offices
in Tamale. And the President makes excuses for them by
saying that they are justifiably angry.”
To him, the government of President Mills was rolling back
Ghana’s democratic gains. “This cannot be the society that
we want to see in the 21st century, a society with a growing
culture of impunity. In a modern society, dialogue and law
are the means for addressing grievances.”
Nana Addo stressed further, “In a modern society, the rule
of law is respected. The Judiciary and institutions of state
set up to combat corruption are adequately resourced and
strengthened so that they can do their work without fear or
favour and ordinary citizens do not live in fear of
arbitrary searches, arrests and seizures.”
Nana Addo praised the NPP and those who founded the
Danquah-Dombo-Busia tradition for instilling in it strong
principles of liberal democracy and democratic discipline.
“We are the harbingers of democracy,” he said of the NPP.
“Democracy is like a planted tree: it cannot take hold if it
is not watered, nurtured and protected. Democracy cannot
endure if the leaders and the people are not committed to
it; if they do not understand it, or if they are not sincere
to its principles and values.”
He told his party members. “If we, of the NPP, are to
vindicate the principled conviction of our founding fathers
over 60 years ago that multiparty democracy is the best
vehicle to enhance the dignity of every Ghanaian and the
development of our society, then we must fight with all the
weapons at our disposal to win the enduring war against
poverty.”
He summed up what is required of every individual to build
the desired modern society of Ghana, thus: “It takes
dedication, determination, discipline and a collective sense
of responsibility to build a great nation. That sense of
responsibility must necessarily involve the growth of a
public sector that responds to the needs of its citizens.”
The 3rd International Conference of the NPP took place at
Hamburg from 9th-12th June. The conference ended with a
joint-denominational church service in Hamburg, Sunday. The
previous night saw the flagbearer and other high-powered
members of the delegation addressing a packed town hall
audience of Ghanaians in Hamburg.
The visiting delegation from Ghana included, Jake
Obestebi-Lamptey, Kwadwo Owusu-Afriyie, Ambrose Derry, Yaw
Osafo-Maafo, Hackman Owusu Agyeman, Kennedy Agyepong, Otiko
Djaba, Moctar Bamba, Perry Okudzeto, John Boadu, Sammy Awuku,
Herbert Krapa, all ten regional chairpersons of the party
and others.
|
