Full text: Abdul-Hamid's speech at NPP press conference
Source: myjoyonline

Ladies and gentlemen of the media, good afternoon. I welcome you to another press conference by the campaign of the New Patriotic Party (NPP). We are grateful to you for your continued contribution to democracy in our country. This afternoon, we have called you in respect of three matters: To give an overview of where our campaign has come from, where we are now and the last steps that we plan to take before the ballots are cast on December 7, 2020. We shall also make the point, that the NPP is the only party in fourth republican history, whose tenure in office brings tremendous progress to the lives of the citizens and the country generally. Lastly, we seek to alert the Ghanaian people about the desperation of our opponents, specifically, the NDC and how in view of their sinking campaign they have resolved to throw mud in the last week of the campaign, hoping that it will revive their dead campaign. Ladies and gentlemen of the media, because of the COVID pandemic, this year’s campaign has not been characterised by the usual huge rallies and street carnivals that have been the characteristics of all campaigns around the world. Nonetheless, we have through the various planks of our campaign structure, covered every blade of grass in the country. We have tried to knock on every door around the communities in the country. Our social media campaign has been vibrant and engaging. We know that more than 55 percent of the electorate are young people who are active on social media. We have through all the party’s media handles, the President and Vice President’s pages, the First and Second ladies, and even on the pages of key members of the campaign, sold our message to the country and we are confident that Insha Allah, victory beckons us on December 7, 2020. We are confident that Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo shall be given another four years to do more for our country. We find that our number one position on the ballot is indicative of the position we shall occupy when all the ballots are tabulated. The President since assuming office in 2017, has every year toured the whole country to listen to the concerns of the people, inform them of what he is doing to address the challenges of the nation, commission projects, engage with the citizenry and generally bring governance to the door steps of the people. Indeed, no President in fourth republican history has engaged the citizenry in the course of his tenure like President Akufo-Addo has done. That programme continued all through this year. Indeed, the President only recently switched to full campaign gear as presidential candidate of the NPP. Since switching to campaign mode, the President has been busy crisscrossing the regions and selling his message to the people. Many Ghanaians have had cause to complain that the President works too hard for his age. But the President believes that the country’s development agenda should supercede and personal his comforts. He continues to work with all his will and all his might, to ensure that we achieve a Ghana beyond aid. All the flagship programmes that the President initiated and is executing will ensure that we achieve a Ghana beyond aid. Our industrialization programme of one district, one factory, anchored on a revival of the agricultural sector with the planting for food and jobs programme, provide jobs for thousands of Ghanaians, both old and young. Ladies and gentlemen of the media, I am sure we have all seen the testimony of the former NDC MP for Ejura, Hon. Pangabu, who shows the prosperity that the planting for food and jobs campaign has brought, not just to him and his family, but also to the hundreds of both casual and permanent workers that he has employed on his farms. Thousands of farmers in the north and across the country continue to be grateful for the pride that President Akufo-Addo has restored to the business of farming in this country. Ladies and gentlemen of the media, president Akufo-Addo inherited an economy that was at the brink of collapse and a generally demoralized society. We put our shoulders to the wheel, and in three years, we doubled economic growth, reduced the rate of exchange rate depreciation, and improved our external payments position. The improvement in the economy is what enabled us to restore teacher-trainee allowances, nurses trainee allowances, implement free SHS, and clean up the financial sector mess which the government of John Mahama created. This is the message that the President has been preaching to the Ghanaian people. The Vice President has also been around the country. Indeed, in the last few months, he has toured virtually all the 16 regions, selling the story of the NPP’s tenure so far. Indeed, many countries around the world continue to reel under the pressure of the pandemic. The World Bank and IMF project that economies around the world will rebound from 2024 onwards. Yet, Ghana, is beginning to rebound much earlier than all the economic pundits of the world have predicted. A few day ago, Bloomberg had this to say about Ghana: “Ghana was one of the first countries in sub Saharan Africa to lower interest rates to counter the virus shock, and its economy has performed better than forecast even as the pandemic stalled activity and oil price slumped.” The First and Second ladies have also been around the country. Indeed, the First and Second ladies have since 2017, engaged in courses that have brought succor to millions of Ghanaians. The story of the First lady’s intervention in the health sector is a matter of public record. The Second Lady’s work among poor and vulnerable communities around the country continues to put smiles in the faces of a people, who hitherto were dejected and despondent. They have therefore been key communicators of our achievements this far. They both continue to draw large crowds of people who troop to them to express their gratitude for the contributions that they have made to their lives. Key members of the campaign structure, that is, the National Chairman of the Party, the General Secretary, National Organiser, Youth Organiser, Womens’ Organiser, Campaign Manager and all his deputies, Lord Commey, Afua Asabea Asare and myself, have all been around the country. Indeed as we speak many of these officers are on the field, selling the NPP’s message of a brighter future. These press conferences that we have been addressing are all part of the channels for selling our message. Ladies and gentlemen of the media, we are ready. We are ready for December 7. We are winning but we must win. I call on all NPP people around the country to stay focused on our message. We have done a lot. We continue to make the point, that no government in the fourth republic, in its first term, has done the volume of work that the NPP has done. The Ghanaian people know. They will show it on December 7. The NDC know this. They go around the country too. They hear the people. Indeed, there is a video in circulation of the Presidential candidate of the NDC when he visited the Western-North region. At a rally he asked the people in Twi, “have your lives progressed or retrogressed?” Of course, he was expecting that the people will say that their lives had retrogressed. To his utter shock and dismay, the people shouted in unison, “EKO NE NIM.” To wit, our lives have progressed. And why not? Those areas are farming areas. They have seen the benefits of the panting for food jobs programme and how that has improved their incomes. They have seen how the revival of the NHIS gives them better access to health care. They have seen how the free SHS programme has enabled their children go to school. For many families in those areas, it is the free SHS programme that got many families to have their first ever SHS graduate in their life time. To compound the woes of the NDC, their attempt to claim authorship of the free SHS programme has subjected them to public ridicule. Candidate John Mahama has become the butt of many jokes in Ghana today. They know they are losing. Indeed, they know they have lost. They have therefore decided that they will resort to the politics of calumny, vilification and mudslinging as a last ditch attempt at reviving their dead campaign. NDC campaign no, ator nsuom. NDC campaign, egblen. NDC campaign, yamutu. NDC nim campaign maa, kpiya. So, they have started throwing in doctored videos, manufactured and concocted documents, all in an attempt to cast NPP actors in bad light and hope that it will attract some revulsion for the NPP and hopefully revive their campaign. But no amount of fake news, concoctions, distortions and lies and vilification will revive a dead campaign. Dead campaigns are revived by coherent strategy, anchored on a sound message. Nothing else will work. So, we are putting the public on notice, that they should watch out for these fake stories in the last week of campaigning. Let us treat them with the contempt that they deserve. I want to conclude by asserting without fear of contradiction, that the NPP is the only party in the fourth republic that has initiated and executed programmes that have benefitted the mass of the people. Indeed, we are the only and true pro-people party. Many of the things and programmes that are benefitting millions of Ghanains were opposed by the NDC. When we found oil, they called ridiculed it and called it adwengu. When we introduced the NHIS bill in parliament they wanted none of it. They walked out of parliament. When we sought to introduce free SHS they pooh-poohed it and said it was not possible. I can recount all the serious programmes that have transformed lives in Ghana- free maternal care, NPP; capitation grant, NPP; school feeding, NPP; metro mass transit, NPP; NHIS, NPP; one district, one factory, NPP; planting for food and jobs, NPP; one village, one dam, NPP; free SHS/TVET, NPP; Zongo Development Fund, NPP; one ambulance, one constituency, NPP; one district, one warehouse, NPP. So, anytime the NDC come into office, what do they do? Nothing. It is all about create, loot and share. The bankruptcy of ideas on the part of the NDC is even more telling in this election cycle. Go onto the streets and ask people what they remember about the NDC manifesto. They will tell you two things- Okada and mortuaries for Muslim communities. Subhanallah! Ladies and gentlemen, lets us move Ghana forward. Let us protect our progress. Let us come out in our numbers on December 7, 2020 and give Akufo-Addo a resounding victory that will teach politicians that Ghanaians will only accept governments that work to further the interests of the citizens, not those who come to power for the sake of it and who invest in Guinea Fowl Authorities which fly to Burkina Fasso. Four More To Do More for You! Number One on the ballot! God bless our homeland Ghana, and make her great and strong.