IMANI Praises NPP manifesto.

Policy think tank, IMANI Ghana has praised the New Patriotic Party (NPP) for the contents of its 2016 manifesto describing some aspects of the document as “noble.”

According to President of IMANI Ghana, Franklin Cudjoe the manifesto’s component which seeks to reduce or scrap some taxes in the country is phenomenal but urged the party to clarify the idea. Speaking on Citi FM‘snews analysis programme, The Big Issue, on Saturday, Mr. Cudjoe, whose outfit had analyzed manifesto promises made by the various political parties, asked some five questions he said if answered would make the NPP’s manifesto better.

The NPP launched its manifesto last week in Accra on the broad theme of “creating prosperity and equal opportunity for all.”

The manifesto is loud on reducing the corporate tax rate from 25% to 20% and social intervention programmes including setting up a Northern development fund as well as giving each constituency an amount of $1 million.

Franklin Cudjoe’s question about NPP’s manifesto:

“We think they need to clarify whether the proposed corporate income tax rate would be a flat tax rate that cuts across all sectors, because this is a very critical question. If you say 20% does it mean all sectors? Because currently there are some sectors that enjoy lower tax rates than 25%. In fact hotels, financial institutions and companies listed on the Ghana Stock Exchange for instance enjoy corporate tax lower than 25%,” Mr. Cudjoe noted.

He also wanted to know whether the NPP would remove the “incentive deferential and tax these companies at a flat tax rate of 20%? What about non-traditional exporters who are taxed at only 8%.”

“In 2010 the government revised the mining tax rate back to 35% after the NPP brought it down to 25%in 2006. But the question we ask is would the mining sector be affected by this new flat tax rate? The other promise which is 75% of tax funded procurement shall be executed by local companies. This is noble, clearly noble, but the NPP needs to explain how this local content policy would do given the history of such trend. Sectorial schemes have not been very effective like we’ve been seeing.”

“We’ve dealt with the NDC, we’ve seen some instances where local content issue within the mining or petroleum sector were a bit shady and quite worrying so anybody who wants to do something like that needs to be exact clear on exactly what they want to do.”

On the NPP’s social intervention programmes on establishing a Northern Development Fund  and one million for each constituency, Franklin Cudjoe said “we need further details on how this one would differ from the other ones.”

“Question also is what administrative machinery would be put in place in these constituencies to oversee the allocated money. We don’t want a situation where SADA created was actually a parallel development authority when you had regional bodies as well otherwise this may look like they are duplicatory especially when we have district assemblies as well,” the IMANI boss added.

Volta NDC Panics.

Information reaching DAILY GUIDE indicates that the successful launch of the manifesto of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) has sent shivers down the spine of the rank and file of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) across the country, particularly in the Volta Region.

 

Some key members of the NDC in the Volta Region told DAILY GUIDE that the enthusiasm that greeted the launch of the NPP’s manifesto had led to a rethink of their strategy.

 

They said they had received several calls from various parts of the region about the inroads being made by the NPP due to apathy among NDC members.

 

In an attempt to boost the morale of members and sympathizers of the NDC in the region, the regional executives, in consultation with the national executives and other key personalities of the NDC, have devised new strategies and boosted the old ones.

 

The sources disclosed this ahead of a press conference by the NDC in Ho on Tuesday.

 

They said the press conference was held to create a positive impression about the NDC to motivate the party’s members.

 

 

 

Empty manifesto

 

 

 

A press statement, read by the regional chairman of the NDC, John Kwadwo Gyapong, emphasized that “we (NDC) are confidently reiterating our unalloyed and unflinching support for His Excellency President John Dramani Mahama to win the 2016 elections.

 

“President Mahama and the NDC must be given another mandate to continue to build a Better Ghana,” it stated.

 

The support, he noted, was emboldened by what he described as the empty ‘Kalyppo’ Manifesto launch last Sunday.

 

 

 

Admission of failure

 

 

 

“We cannot say that the entire Volta Region has been fully developed under the Better Ghana Agenda started by late President Atta Mills.

 

That notwithstanding, the good works that have begun should not be truncated with the change of the current leadership of the country.”

 

The firebrand chairman disclosed that the NPP’s promise of a habour at Keta was overdue because the NDC had started some feasibility studies in the area, which indicated that the project could only be executed after the construction of a sea defence wall at Akplorwu Torkor, Horvi and Blekusu.

 

He added that approval has also been given for a deep-sea oil exploration in the Keta Basin by a Swiss company.

 

In an attempt to counteract the NPP’s Coastal and Middle Belt Development Authorities, Mr. Gyapong revealed that the NDC would establish a development authority, especially for the Volta region.

 

He stated that the NDC government would construct a bridge over the Volta Lake, water processing plant at Sogakofe, as well as offer 10 tractors per district, among others.

 

 

 

Tribal card

 

 

 

He said that “if Volta gives NPP a chance it means the construction of the bridge on the Volta Lake, establishment of satellite campuses of UHAS at Hohoe and Keta, water projects, among others, will come to a standstill.

 

Kofi Attoh, a former Member of Parliament (MP) for Ho Central and senior member of the party, called for unity among the supporters of the party to ensure the re-election of President Mahama.

 

Koku Anyidoho, the Deputy General Secretary of the NDC, noted that the NPP should forget about the region because it would continue to be the ‘World Bank’ of the NDC.

 

Also in attendance were Dzifa Attivor, the former Transport Minister and other party executives in the region.

EIU Predicts Another Victory For Akufo-Addo In 2016 Elections.

The Economic Intelligence Unit has yet again predicted victory for the opposition New Patriotic Party in the 2016 elections, this time, a convincing one.

The Unit in April released the report of a survey that suggested the NPP would win the upcoming elections by a close margin.

But according to a new report released Thursday, the presidential and parliamentary elections in November or December is likely to be acrimonious but the NPP will turn out victors with a convincing margin.

The report says the discontent over adverse economic conditions in the country is likely to cost the ruling party the elections.

The report comes at a time the country is still reeling under a four-year-old power crisis which has affected businesses and led to loss of lives and jobs.

The combined effect of an increase in taxes, utility prices have all the more made the cost of living high for many Ghanaians.

The EIU says "pre-election spending in 2016 will put pressure on the fiscal deficit target set in conjunction with the IMF, although the government will be more successful at resisting large-scale populist spending than in previous election years."

Threats of violence

The report minced no words about the possibility of violence in the upcoming elections. It said the elections will expose Ghana to notable risks, some of which will come from outside.

With the reports of corruption in the country's Judiciary and the experiences in the 2012 election petition, the report suggests none of the parties will be interested in going to the Supreme Court to challenge the verdict of the election, a situation that has raised political tensions a notch higher. 

The representatives of the two parties mentioned in the reports have predictably praised portions of the report and condemned portions of as well.

The New Patriotic Party's Moustapha Hamid said he and his party did not need the report of EIU to know that the governing party will be humiliated in the upcoming elections.

He said he just returned on a five regional tour with the party's running mate and can say without any equivocation "that there is no way the NDC will beat us."

"I have been involved in political campaigns since 2004 but have never seen this groundswell of support for the NPP," he said, adding, "this is the year the people of Ghana are ready to change course."

A Deputy General Secretary of the governing NDC Koku Anyidoho said the report is inconsistent.

He wondered how the report will suggest that the ruling government is not doing well with the economy but conclude any party that wins the elections will inherit a stable economy ready for a take off.

He said the president has done a good job began by the late president John Mills, and the people of Ghana will give him another term to complete his job. 

NDC Suffers Mass Defection.

THE DESIRE of the ruling National Democratic Congress(NDC) to win one million votes in the Ashanti Region during the upcoming polls to help the party to hang onto political power, is in great danger as mass defection had hit the party.

More than one thousand NDC supporters, mainly women, in the AtwimaNwabiagya North Constituency in the Ashanti Region, have defected to join the New Patriotic Party (NPP), with just 60 days to the December 7 elections.

Section of the defectors, marched through the township of AsuofiaAsaaman on Saturday morning holding placards with inscriptions that President Mahama and the NDC had failed so they must be voted out of political office.

Doris Amoah, leader of the defectors, who was NDC executive member in the constituency, said they had left the NDC party because the government was incompetent so its policies and programmes had impoverished them.

She pointed out that President Mahama, who will be leaving office in 60 days’ time, was yet to fulfill just one of his numerous juicy campaign promises during the 2012 polls, saying that the financial burden of the masses had been compounded.

Doris Amoah, who is considered as the mother of NDC at Asuofia and the nearby towns, bemoaned that all the social intervention policies introduced by the NPP administration to help the poor, like school feeding programme, NHIS, among others, had been collapsed by the NDC.

She said their children were roaming about in the house without going to school due to exorbitant school fees, stating that she and her group had realized that another political term for the NDC would see the country being totally destroyed.

Doris Amoah, who was addressing the media, noted that they had realized that Nana AddoDankwaAkufo-Addo and the NPP has the vision to transform the country so that the lives of the people would be significantly improved.

MrBenito Owusu-Bio, the NPP MP for the constituency, who officially welcomed the defectors to the NPP, commended the former NDC supporters for having strong faith in Nana Akufo-Addo and the NPP.

He urged them to feel at home and work together with other NPP members in the area, so that the NPP’s votes would see significant improvement, stressing that the NPP would introduce several social intervention programs to better their lives, if it wins the polls.

Nana Addo Danquah Akufo-Addo Advises Students.

“ELECTION 2016 IS ABOUT YOUR FUTURE” – AKUFO-ADDO ADVISES STUDENTS

The 2016 presidential candidate of the New Patriotic Party, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has admonished students across the country to be mindful of the choices they make in this year’s elections, and stay clear off voting for another 4-years in high office for President John Mahama.

According to Nana Akufo-Addo, ever since President Mahama assumed office, Ghana’s economy has systematically shrunk, resulting in high levels of unemployment, rising costs of living, widespread hardships and suffering, and the creation of a future of hopelessness for the millions of Ghanaian youth.

To this end, the NPP flagbearer is appealing to students to vote for him and the NPP in this year’s elections, so as to secure their collective future.

Nana Akufo-Addo made this known on Thursday, October 13, 2016, when he addressed thousands of students at the Pentecost University College, as part of his tour of the Anyaa Sowutuom constituency.

“Usually, when people come to speak to you (students), they talk about the future. This is because you are the future. But, I am going to say something a bit different. Every year, since John Dramani Mahama became President, our economy has shrunk, and, this year, we are going to have the slowest growth of our economy for 22 years,” the NPP flagbearer said.

This sad state Ghana currently finds herself in, according to Akufo-Addo, implies “that your ability to walk out of here and get a job is being compromised right now. What I am trying to leave with you is that four more years of John Dramani Mahama will mean you that you have no future to look up to.”

Thus, the NPP flagbearer stressed that, “the responsibility for you (students) is not about tomorrow, it is about today. That, together, all of us will make sure that the threat to our future that Mahama represents is removed in December, once and for all, so we can return our country onto the path of progress and prosperity.”

He continued, “I am saying to you, (this election) is about your future. It is about now. If we continue on the path we are on now, let me repeat it, there will be no future for you to inherit. So the task is a simple one. In peace and in dignity, let’s put Mahama aside, let’s bring Akufo-Addo and let’s chart a new direction for Ghana.”

The NPP flagbearer assured that the direction he is offering the people of Ghana is one which will “concentrate on growing our economy and making sure there are more and more jobs available for the young people of our country. That is the vision which we are working for our country, and it is what we will do when we are in office.”

He, thus, urged all students across the country not to stay at home on December 7, stating that “that day, 7th of December, is indeed about you and your future.”

Whilst in the constituency, Nana Akufo-Addo also visited the Alhaji Station, Sowutuom Last Stop, Anyaa Market and the Ablekuma Tipper Station.