The only independent candidate in the 2016 presidential race, Mr Jacob Osei Yeboah, popularly known as JOY, has unveiled Mr Daniel Wilson Torto, an entrepreneur, as his running mate for the 2016 elections.
Introducing his running mate at a rally at Mantse Agbona in Accra last Thursday night, Mr Yeboah said he chose Mr Torto because of his wide appeal to the youth, who formed more than half of Ghana’s population, and his humility to serve.
He said he was optimistic that his collaboration with Mr Torto would enhance his efforts to win the December 7, 2016 presidential election and accelerate the development agenda outlined in his manifesto.
In his acceptance remarks, Mr Torto expressed his gratitude to Mr Yeboah for the confidence he had reposed in him as a qualified person to be his running mate for the December presidential election.
He assured Mr Yeboah and the people of Ghana that he would never betray the confidence they had reposed in him and pledged to work relentlessly with him to ensure victory for Mr Yeboah in the 2016 polls.
However, Mr Torto said a politician needed not come to power before contributing to national development and the well being of the citizenry, but that a good politician should demonstrate his commitment to the development of society before assuming power.
He called on the electorate to vote massively for Mr Yeboah, who represented real change and a solution to the polarisation in the country as a result of the wrong implementation of multi-party democracy and ethnocentricism.
Highlighting some policies in his manifesto, which he preferred to call a Policy Foundation, Mr Yeboah said he would promote the Ghanaian dream to create wealth and jobs.
He said he would establish an industry for all the notable natural resources the country was endowed.
“Industrialisation will be a major driver of development in our government”, he said.
On tourism, Mr Yeboah said he would merge the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Creative Arts with the Ministry of Transport to enhance and create wealth.
He said the fusion was necessary to ensure that roads leading to all tourist sites met international standards. On health, he said he would improve the conditions of service of all health personnel, which would include insuring them against all risks in the pursuit of their duties and services to the nation.
He added that he would restore the nursing and teacher trainee allowances with immediate effect.Mr Yeboah said he did not understand why the nurse-patient ratio was so low, while there were still trained unemployed nurses at home.
On agriculture, he said the government would provide basic farming inputs for various traditional areas to be managed by traditional leaders to enhance rural agriculture, which is the backbone of the economy.
He said there would be a policy where family lands would be put together for large-scale farming and added that the size of each family land would be the family’s equity in the sharing of the profit made from the farms.
Mr Yeboah said his government would make huge investments in agriculture and use the proceeds from the sector to finance industry and agriculture.
He also highlighted the policies aimed at enhancing the lives of women, the physically challenged and the vulnerable in his proposed world of creating wealth for Ghana, should he win the 2016 election.
Mr Torto began his working life as Import Sales Manager with the New Market Commercial Ltd from 1991 to 1995.
As a teenager, Mr Torto supported his relatives who were in the fishing industry and schooled at the same time. That teenage experience is said to have given him a great insight into the fishing industry, particularly its challenges, needs and aspirations.
In 1996, Mr Torto was motivated to start his own company called Star Shotocan Enterprise which dealt in computer consumables. In 1999, he ventured into the automobile industry by importing cars from Germany.As a daring entrepreneur, he again founded Ram Enterprises, together with his wife.
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