ghananlpcommunity/ghana-gov-speeches-sentences huggingface dataset:
Promote light industrial manufacturing, especially of apparel and electronic products RAPID INDUSTRIALIZATION FOR JOBS Promote value addition & diversification for domestic consumption and exports.
Establish strategic industries and revive defunct ones.
Revamp the textile and cotton-allied industry.
Set up Agro-Industrial Zones in all regions.
Establish mini-processing plants for cassava, tomatoes, fruits etc.
Set up cashew processing factories in the Bono, Bono East and Ahafo regions.
Establish cocoa processing factories in Western, Western North, Eastern, Central, Ashanti, Bono, Bono East, Ahafo, Volta and Oti regions.
Facilitate the construction of twenty (20) medium-scale animal feed processing plants and revamp the collapsing poultry industry.
AGRICULTURE for JOBS.
Make agriculture attractive through modernisation to ensure food security and job creation.
Reduce food inflation to lower the high cost of living through our Agriculture for Economic Transformation Agenda.
Roll out a Feed Ghana Programme – to boost food production, guarantee food security and supply raw materials to industries.
Establish Farmer Service Centres to support farmers with modern agriculture equipment, technologies and inputs in all districts.
Create Farm Banks within agriculture zones to ease access to land, and irrigation facilities for agricultural purposes and encourage young people into farming.
PROMOTING GOOD GOVERNANCE AND COMBATTING CORRUPTION Remarkably reduce the size of government (sixty (60) Ministers) Address the benefit disparities between Article 71 office holders and the wider public service.
Scrap payment of ex gratia.
Establish an Independent Emoluments Commission by merging the Presidential Commission on Emoluments and the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission.
Ruthless War Against Corruption: “Operation-Recover-All-Loot” (ORAL).
Prohibit political appointees, politically exposed persons and all serving public officials from purchasing state assets.
Reopen investigations into major unresolved cases including the Ayawaso West Wuogon by-election violence, 2020 election killings, unresolved murder of Ahmed Hussein-Suale and Silas Wulochamey.
TRANSFORMING EDUCATION Dedicate equitable attention to all levels of education.
Improve Free SHS Provide dedicated and sustainable source of funding for Free SHS Decentralise the procurement of food for SHS to boost local economies.
Implement a ‘No-Academic-Fees’ policy.
Use 5G and Low-Earth Orbit systems to improve the quality of education across the country by extending course tutorials to students everywhere through on-demand learning platforms sanctioned by the GES.
Provide continuing students with financial assistance by re-introducing the Student Loan Trust Fund Plus (SLTF+) and a reformed scholarship regime.
Provide Free Tertiary Education for all Persons with disabilities (PWDs).
Implement a ‘Bed-for-All’ programme by building on-campus affordable students’ hostels & expanding accommodation facilities for tertiary students through PPPs.
Legislation to streamline and regulate the award of government scholarships.
End collateralisation of the GETFund.
Abolish the teacher licensure examination and integrate the licensing process into the final year examination.
Institute the “Teacher Dabr3” Project to provide accommodation facilities for teachers within their schools.
Implement a 20 percent (basic salary) special allowance for teachers & health workers who accept postings to rural and underserved communities.
Expand infrastructure to ensure prompt employment of nurses, health workers and teachers.
Assist teachers to own vehicles of their choice by offering flexible duty payment arrangements and employer guarantees in partnership with teacher unions and the banking sector.
AGE OF MODERN RAILWAYS Western and Eastern lines connected to land-locked countries under PPP including BOTs.
Construct Urban intracity railways and Bus Rapid Transits (BRT) for largest population centres.
PROMOTING RESPONSIBLE MINING FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT Ban issuance of new mining leases and activities in forest reserves.
Amend the Mineral and Mining Law to impose stiffer punishment on mining in water bodies.
Decentralise regulatory and licensing processes for artisanal miners.
Establish Mining Cooperatives in all mining districts.
Set up a novel Ghana Gold Board (GOLDBOD) to regulate small-scale mining.
Implementing a ‘Tree for Life’ re-forestation policy with cocoa, palm and rubber.
Implement a Blue Water Initiative to heal and harness the environment by turning areas and water bodies degraded by illegal mining into hubs of economic and ecological recovery.
Eye Zu Eye Za On behalf of our great party, I thank you all who have joined us, at the NDC Party Headquarters, this morning, and all those watching from around the country and the world.
The National Democratic Congress (NDC) is a great party.
We have over the last 28 years done our beat, contributing enormously and living by our principle of Social Democracy, towards the development of our beloved country, Ghana.
On the occasion of the 28th anniversary, on your behalf as faithful servants of this party, I send very warm felicitations and appreciation to all our forebears led by our Founder and former President of the Republic of Ghana, Jerry John Rawlings, for birthing the NDC.
On this occasion, I also give a special dedication to our former President, John Evans Atta Mills, who served our party well and led us to a great victory in 2008.
We will continue to be inspired by his peaceful and humble nature.
The NDC has had the unique opportunity, thanks to the good people of Ghana, to lead this country for more years than any other political party.
For sixteen out of the 28 years of our 4th Republican experiment, the management and administration of the country was in the hands of the NDC.
It is those 16 years that account for the sustained growth, gradual improvement in the lives of especially our rural populations, and spurned a radical expansion of infrastructure, both social and economic across the country.
But for the NDC, the present penetration of electricity supply, and in fact, the connection of our rural communities to the national grid would not have happened.
But for the NDC, the current level of electricity generation could not have been achieved.
But for the NDC, the current level of access to clean drinking water across the country would not have achieved.
But for the NDC, the current expansion of health and educational infrastructure across the country would not have happened.
But for the NDC, the development of critical economic infrastructure, especially the commencement of various road projects, all across the 16 regions would not have happened.
But for the NDC, and in these very challenging COVID-19 times, there wouldn’t have been the Ga East Hospital, the Greater Accra Regional Hospital, the University of Ghana Medical Centre, the Bank Hospital, the new and modern Tamale Teaching Hospital among others.
But for the NDC, there wouldn’t have been all the interchanges at major traffic bottlenecks that have made life easier for commuters and motorists.
But for the NDC, there would be no Terminal 3, Tamale International Airport, Kumasi Airport expansion and terminal, Ho airport and all the other advances in the aviation sector.
But for the NDC, there would be no Technical Universities, UHAS, UENR, University of Development Studies, University of Education Winneba, University of Environment and Sustainable Development among others.
Our achievements are well documented in the Green Book and urge all doubters to get a copy and step into your community and cross check if the projects outlined there, the E-Blocks, interchanges, hospitals and other transformational projects exist only in book.
The NDC believes in Ghana’s future.
We have always had a vision to build a country that will be a Regional Powerhouse, providing economic and social opportunities for all Ghanaians and not just a few relatives and friends.
As leader and flagbearer of this great party, I come to you, the good people of Ghana, and on the occasion of our 28th Anniversary, to once again confirm that the next NDC and John Dramani Mahama administration will guarantee you a stable, vibrant and safe democracy.
A democracy in which Ghanaians feel at peace to go about their daily duties without fear of arrest, harassment or death.
A democracy in which Ghanaians can express themselves freely without fear of having their radio stations closed.
A Ghana in which businessmen and women are not afraid of losing their businesses because they are perceived not to be supporters of the governing party.
Ghana needs new jobs, new businesses, new ways of listening to one another and a new sense of unity.
Ghanaians are tired of the tensions associated with the parochial governance style of Nana Akufo-Addo.
My brothers and sisters, it is time to unite our country once again as one people, and resume our journey towards building our common future.
I say Yes.
And I am leading the NDC to work together with you, all across this country, to deliver that and more.
My brothers and sisters, this year we will be holding our 8th general election since the advent of the 4th Republic.
Never have we in the history of the 4th Republic experienced such a strange situation where six months to an election we are all not sure what register we will be using for voting.
Never have we in the history of the 4th Republic experienced a situation where large numbers of our population are threatened to be disenfranchised because of bungling inefficiency and perceived partiality of our once revered Electoral Commission.
We all await the hearing of our highest court tomorrow to determine whether we would have a flawed election or one that we can all have confidence in, and the will of the people has been properly expressed.
As a party, we have participated in every election in the 4th Republic and we have a history of accepting results of elections whenever we have believed in the integrity of the poll.
As the leader of the NDC, I wish to serve notice that we shall do our part to ensure that our country remains peaceful and the electoral process proceeds smoothly.
But and a big but, let nobody assume that we will accept the result of a flawed election.
Every child born in Ghana is a Ghanaian citizen.
We are of different ethnicity but united by our nationality.
Ladies and gentlemen, we are not in normal times, and this morning as the number of coronavirus cases continue to increase, somewhat exponentially, it is a wakeup call to us all, to continue to protect ourselves and families.
Because of the nature of government communication over the last few weeks, there has been a natural and general effect on the population to relax the protocols, even in the big shops and in our homes.
Nana Addo’s administration has failed abysmally in creating strong and effective public awareness of COVID-19.
I urge you all, to continue a strict and rigid implementation of the protocols, especially the washing of hands under running water and with soap, the use of hand sanitizers especially anytime you touch a commonly used surface and keep a reasonable distance between one another.
And please wear a mask when stepping out of the house, or receiving a guest for a conversation even in your home.
For those using reusable masks, kindly remember to wash them with soap and press with a hot iron every day.
Obviously, there are useful lessons to be learnt from the initial missteps, which have led us into what appears to be a catch 22 situation.
But we cannot give up.
We need to continue fighting the virus.
We need community ownership in this fight because the leaders in the communities- our chiefs, Assemblymen and women in particular- have enormous social capital, which they can leverage to prevent stigmatization and also identify contacts for tests if need be.
It is this leverage which Assemblymen and women have in their communities that I intend to harness under my administration in our local governance system to enhance data collection and management in our local areas.
The assembly members will, therefore, become the pivot around which a planned truly decentralised registration of births and deaths will be implemented.
In each electoral area, therefore, under the next NDC administration, our assembly members will be trained, equipped and authorized to be in charge of a localized registration of all births and deaths.
With this, we will never miss any births or deaths and have ready daily data of such occurrences and improve our national population register.
Going forward, I expect government to provide food supplements to vulnerable groups, and stock drugs, which are proven to be efficacious against the virus in treatment centres.
We simply cannot continue to rely on just the immune system of infected patients to fight the virus when they can be supported with antiviral and specific anti-inflammatory drugs.
Also, beyond implementing COVID-19 crisis management measures, we need to plan for the future on three main fronts: how to anticipate, prevent and mitigate epidemiological crisis; how to improve the resilience of the economy; and how to revive the economy.
Last but not least, let us remember to place people above politics in all things, and let us continue to wash our hands with soap under running water.
Stay safe and stay home unless it is unavoidable.
Thank you and a happy birthday to our great party the NDC.
Let us work hard, let us meet the aspirations of the people, let us deliver victory for the people in December 2020.
Members of the Council of Elders of our great party, The National Chairman, General Secretary and all members of the National Executive Committee The Campaign Manager and Members of the National Campaign Team Professor Naana Jane Opoku- Agyemang, The good people of Ghana Ladies and gentlemen, Thank you very much for making the time to join us, from all over our beautiful country, and across the world.
Today, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) is taking our country, Ghana, on yet another positive and progressive journey.
Two weeks ago, in compliance with the constitution of the NDC, I announced to the Council of Elders and the National Executive Committee, my choice of Professor Naana Jane Opoku-Agyemang as Running Mate for the December 2020 Presidential and Parliamentary Elections.
With Professor Naana Jane Opoku-Agyemang, I can say confidently that we have made the best choice for Ghana.
I have – partnering with me, by the Grace of God, a Vice Presidential aspirant who complements and will ensure that we present to the people of Ghana, a winning, credible and an experienced ticket.
Today’s momentous occasion is not only for our great party, the NDC.
It is also for every single Ghanaian who cares about Ghana and is interested in seeing our nation reach the optimal level of progress, shared opportunities and prosperity that we are capable of attaining.
Professor Opoku-Agyemang is the first female to be selected by one of the two major political parties that have won all elections in our country since the start of the 4th Republic in 1992.
Indeed, the NDC remains the most successful political party in the history of Ghana.
We have won four out of the seven Presidential elections since the days of President Jerry John Rawlings in 1992.
With the support of the Ghanaian people and by the grace of God, we will win our 5th election in December 2020 to bring development to all our citizens in every corner of Ghana to advance social justice.
The choice of Professor Opoku-Agyemang is over and above affirmative action because she is more than qualified to serve as Vice President.
She is a woman who has contributed to shattering the many glass ceilings that have held women down for generations, by becoming the first female to lead and manage a public university in Ghana.
As I described her in my statement following the announcement, she is “God-fearing, a distinguished scholar, a conscientious public servant and a role model.”
The NDC has a lot to show when it comes to putting women at the forefront of leadership.
Femalesconstitute about 50% of Ghana’s population andwomen form the majority of Ghana’s human resource.
They must lead to advance our nation’s progress.
And we have been vindicated at every turn by the sterling output of these highfliers.
It was the NDC that presented Ghana’s first female Speaker of Parliament, the first female Foreign Minister, the first female Attorney General, the first female Chairperson of the Electoral Commission, the first female Chairperson of the National Commission for Civic Education and the first female Chairperson of the Council of State.
There are a host of other key positions where our women distinguished themselves and elevated the name and image of Ghana with their first-rate performance.
Unlike the NPP, we in the NDC, recognise and appreciate the knowledge, industry, passion, creativity and problem-solving skills of our women.
With Professor Opoku-Agyemang, the NDC has once again stayed with our true course, and advanced a step further in our established philosophy of inclusivity by boldly presenting one of our best in intellect and character, as our party’s Running Mate.
Together with Naana Jane, we will work with you, each and every Ghanaian, to place our country back on the track of progress, opportunities for all and shared prosperity.
This, we will build on the foundation of social justice, self-belief, unity, integrity, transparency and accountability.
Working together with Naana Jane, a brilliant and accomplished woman, I have no doubt that God’s grace will shine on us in the elections of December 2020.
I am convinced that with her zeal for service and her unquestionable integrity, she will greatly impact the developmental focus of our activities as a Party and Government.
She has already begun her policy briefing sessions as incoming Vice President, ready and willing to work hard for Ghanaians.
Naana’s impeccable record is endless and her reach across various sectors is overwhelmingly impressive.
For example, I was glad when one of her sterling contributions to academia and health care as my Minister for Education sequenced the genome of the virus, which causes Coronavirus disease.
I am referring to the establishment of the West African Centre for Cell Biology of Infectious Pathogens.
Leading the transformation of the educational sector as our Minister for Education, our Running Mate supervised the achievement of many great feats that make me proud to be working with her.
She converted Polytechnics into fully-fledged Technical Universities, supervised the upgrading of the Colleges of Education into tertiary institutions and led the negotiations that secured the World Bank funding for the flagship Secondary Education Improvement Project (SEIP) that saw the major upgrading of facilities in Senior High Schools and the construction of 23 Community Day Senior High Schools.
Furthermore, facilities in 50 less endowed Senior High Schools and 75 under-performing Senior High Schoolswere upgraded.
Working with the educational unions and traditional authorities, teacher absenteeism was reduced during her tenure from 27% to 7%.
Naana Jane also improved the quality of basic education which resulted in Ghana's all-time best BECE performance, introduced the private BECE, and recruited 2,400 mathematics and science teachers as a special intervention to improve teaching and learning at the Senior Secondary level.
She also achieved Ghana's overall best performing WASSCE nation award by WAEC for four consecutive years when she served as Minister.
During the period of her tenure, the Ministry of Education engaged more than 40,000 newly recruited teachers.
As you will all recall, we abolished the quota system at the Colleges of Education, leading to an increase in enrolment from 9,000 to 15,400, creating more teaching opportunities for our youth.
It was under Professor Opoku-Agyemang that teachers were automatically posted without National Service and Licensure Examinations.
My brothers and sisters, having worked closely with Naana, what I salute about her, and the world acknowledges and equally celebrates as true, is the fact that she is an achiever of unquestionable integrity, a resourceful and results-driven leader.
It is regrettable that following my announcement of her as my running mate, several key leaders of the NPP Administration and party launched a barrage of misogynistic attacks at her just on the basis of her gender.
These attacks are unacceptable and most unfortunate.
This is not what the severely distressed people of Ghana deserve at this time.
We surely can do better.
Our politics has devolved into one of insults, intimidation and unfortunately in many cases has become increasingly violent.
This is an anathema to the sustainability of the health and wealth of our Republic, fought for and won through the blood and toils of our forebears.
As servant-leaders, we pledge to abide by the ethics of a clean campaign devoid of insults.
We shall present our message to the people of Ghana in a clear and succinct manner.
We also pledge that our promises would be a sacred social contract that will be honoured and not betrayed.This pledge is to all, including our compatriots, who have lost interest, faith and hope in our politics.
We will change the face of our politics so that no one will be considered less Ghanaian or more Ghanaian than the other on the basis of ownership of a political party card.
There are many Ghanaians who do not belong to the NPP, the NDC or any recognisable political party.
They detest the persistent acrimony associated with our politics.
They do not have a party card and yet they contribute significantly to build our country.
Today, we are witnessing a course of action never before seen in our history.
So there is hope for them.
Indeed, the selection of Professor Opoku-Agyemang as our Running Mate is a demonstration of the many bold and progressive changes the next NDC Administration,that I will lead, will embark upon.
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.
We have an opportunity in this election, as Ghanaians, to fully give meaning to gender equality and also to have a highly educated and disciplined woman placed in a critical position to influence policy and shape the nation’s destiny.
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.
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.
Ladies and gentlemen, as a Social Democratic Party, we seek to harness the best qualities in all our people to transform the destiny of our nation.
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 the healthy workforce needed to accelerate our development.
My brothers and sisters, the 2020 election will be a referendum on the four years of Nana Akufo-Addo’s presidency – four years of nepotism, corruption, stagnation, deliberate abandoning of badly needed social infrastructure, dehumanisation, disenfranchising Ghanaians, stripping Ghanaians of their citizenship, deliberate collapse of indigenous Ghanaian businesses, massive job losses and the attendant socio-economic hardship.
This will be a referendum on the term of a president who has no real solutions for Ghana, a president, hell-bent on doing whatever it takes to stay in power – including, against sound advice, replacing the very voters register, which brought him into office.
My heart goes out to the many who have been affected by this Government’s unjustifiable collapse of Ghanaian-owned financial institutions.