General News of Thursday, 20 September 2012
The Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, has advised Ghanaians to heed the policies of the Progressive People’s Party (PPP) and change over from the usual NDC-NPP politics to the PPP.
Speaking at his Manhyia Palace where the party paid a courtesy call on him at 11:30 A.M., yesterday, the overlord of the Asante Kingdom noted that the time was apt for Ghanaians to desist from the politics of insults and heed messages by politicians of different orientation such as the PPP’s message of change.
“As Ghana has embraced democracy and the law permits that any qualified citizen can contest the presidency of the state, it is important Ghanaians give each one the opportunity to present his message to the populace…,” he advised.
Otumfuo Osei Tutu II called on Ghanaians to understand that politics is a game of ideas and hence there was the need for Ghanaians to desist from attacking messengers instead of the message.
The advice comes in the wake of the creeping of the politics of insults into the body-politic of the country with elements in the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the New Patriotic Party (NPP) leading the charge.
This, according to the Asantehene, was unfair as smaller parties like the PPP have better messages that would help transform the country for the better.
This notwithstanding, the Asantehene urged Dr. Papa Kwesi Nduom to continually broadcast the PPP’s message of change to Ghanaians in his usual humble style which he (Otumfuo) has constantly admired.
The regent of the Asante Kingdom was full of praise for the PPP’s practical policies on Education, Health and Incorruptible leadership which he cited as pre-requisites for the development of a modern society.
According to the initiator and superintendent of the Otumfuo Charity Foundation which operates the Otumfuo Educational Fund, parents are looking forward to having the government come to intervene in the payment of the rising cost of tuition in schools and was therefore appropriate that the PPP would implement a Free, Compulsory, and Continuous Education upon their election into power.
Otumfuo who is also the Chancellor of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) in addition advised politicians to “think through the future of the children of this country and make education key in their policies, especially as more people are giving birth but don’t have the means to paying the fees of their wards due to its high cost…”
He also admired how the PPP would be linking their form of education to job creation which he noted was of necessity as many youth in the country still wondered how the current education they are receiving would translate into their subsequent employment after school.
He also joined calls by the PPP to eradicate Malaria from the country through the maintenance of a clean environment.
The 16th Asantehene, who ascended the Golden Stool on 26th April, 1999 further charged the PPP flag bearer and delegation to help educate Ghanaians on the importance of paying taxes as a means of helping government generate revenue to finance its policies and programmes.
The leader of the PPP delegation and flag bearer of the PPP, Dr. Papa Kwesi Nduom, pledged that his party would embark on a clean campaign and would abstain from the politics of insults that has characterized the country’s politics.
“As our colours indicate, members of the PPP would ensure a clean campaign devoid of the politics of insults…our politics would be pure and clean as the white in our flag but with a sense of urgency to eradicate the country from the poverty that is sinking us…,” he told Otumfuo.
He appealed to the Asantehene and Asanteman to help make the dream of the PPP a reality by voting for the party in the December polls.
Dr. Nduom was of the opinion that “the NDC and the NPP had done their part in the fourth republic and the time for change was now…a change that would bring the PPP to power to implement fully what the NDC and the NPP has failed to deliver in this fourth republic.”
He also promised that the PPP in its quest to create jobs for the teeming unemployed youth in the country and as a means of helping process the gold mined in the region into finished goods would build a gold refinery in the region.
The thirty-minute meeting witnessed the participation of leading members of the party like the party’s National Chairman, Mr. Nii-Allotey Brew-Hammond, party treasurer, Felix Ograh, National Youth Coordinator, Divine Nkrumah and parliamentary aspirants of the party in the region.