New Patriotic Party Presidential candidate Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo says the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC) has a lazy attitude towards governance because it is suffering from an identity crisis.
Using political ideology as a measure of a party’s seriousness, Nana Akufo-Addo says it was only “when they lost power that they met and decided that they were social democrats”.
He explained that this lack of a political vision for the party has translated into a lack of vision for the country.
The former Attorney-General stressed the party’s position that the NDC is constantly stealing its ideas, policies and serious political catchword from the NPP.
The party has held on to outdooring its manifesto until the governing NDC did theirs last month. The NPP has expressed fears that once again, the NDC would steal its ideas if the manifesto is released early.
The party has finally launched their manifesto with barely 58 days to the general elections fixed for December 7.
According to the NPP flagbearer, the NDC’s stated commitment to ideas and programs is pretentious. Taking a dig a jab at the NDC, Nana Akufo-Addo said some parties see a manifesto as a poorly thought-out “list of promises to attract votes” and also engage in a “light-hearted tomfoolery”.
Citing examples, the three-time presidential candidate said the NDC stole NPP’s 2012 slogan ‘transforming lives, transforming Ghana’.
But even after stealing this slogan, the NDC was much more comfortable to campaign on the slogan ‘Ede bee keke’
He said although the NDC made it clear during the 2012 general elections that it did not like his 2012 flagship policy free SHS, the party after winning the elections turned around to steal it and implement a ‘watered-down version’.
In a speech targeted at portraying the NDC as an unserious party, Akufo-Addo opposed the NPP when while in government it introduced a National Health Insurance Scheme.
“NDC did not believe in the NHIS. They walked out of parliament [when the bill was being debated] and it was passed without their input,” he said.
The NDC was opposed to the plan to increase VAT by 2.5 percent to fund the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS).
In response, the NDC pledged in 2008 to introduce a ‘one-time premium’ for subscribers to the Scheme. Nana Akufo-Addo described the promise as a ‘hair-brained’ idea. The party ditched the promise after it triumphed in the 2008 general elections.
The NPP presidential candidate criticised the NDC for “manifesto-pilfering phenomenon” describing it as a “dangerous” trend.
“It is dangerous to steal concepts and programs they do not believe in”, he said and counselled the NDC to take its time to generate its own ideas and programs, adding, “It helps to believe in something”.
Turning his attention to the NPP, Akufo-Addo said the party has always believed in a free market principle even when it was an unpopular political ideology across Africa in the 80’s and 90’s.
The NPP, he said, through the trying times in opposition when it appeared easier to ditch this ideology, the party stayed true to its beliefs.
“We have never had any identity crisis,” he stressed. He said this shows in the seriousness with which the party attaches to preparing a manifesto.
“We have always taken our manifestos seriously”, he said and indicated that the 2016 manifesto is no different. “We are not looking for catchy phrases or manifesto that sounds good”.
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