Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia has made an audacious declaration that the New Patriotic Party (NPP) will ‘break the 8’ come December 2024.
He expressed satisfaction with the processes so far towards the party’s reorganisation for the 2024 general elections, thanking the national executives for their efforts.
“I will like to say a very big ‘Thank You’ to you and to all the national executives of our party and every person involved in managing this process.
“The major task, as we can see, is that you are doing it so well. May God bless you and continue to keep you so that you will look after this process in the interest of our party because we are all one and we are going to break the 8.”
Dr Bawumia made these remarks when he filed his nomination to lead the NPP into the 2024 elections.
The party has scheduled Saturday, November 4 to elect its flagbearer and the Vice President is considered the favourite to win the race.
After submitting his forms, he addressed the enthusiastic supporters who thronged the national headquarters of the party Friday to cheer on the Vice President.
“I have just filed my nomination forms to contest as flagbearer of the New Patriotic Party for the 2024 Presidential Elections. I believe this is the first step to our victory in 2024, by the Grace of God,” he said to loud cheers from the supporters.
He made known his vision to the crowd, insisting “it is time to move Ghana to the next level by building on the foundations we have put in place so far”.
“Together with you, I want to see a Ghana where we leverage technology, data and systems for inclusive economic growth. I want to make Ghana the digital hub of Africa. I want us to bridge the digital divide and apply digital technology and artificial intelligence for the transformation of healthcare, education, and public service delivery amongst others.
“Together with you, I want to see a Ghana with an education system tilted towards STEM, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, digital and vocational skills to cope with the demands of fourth Industrial Revolution.
“Together with you, I want to see a Ghana where we cater and care for the the poor, vulnerable, excluded and sick people.
“Together with you, I want to see a Ghana where we attain food security in the shortest possible time through the application of science, data, Artificial Intelligence, Satellite, Internet of Things (IOT) and irrigation to commercial farming. We will also complete the ongoing digitalization of data on all farms across the 16 regions.
“Together with you, I want to see a Ghana where we maximize the benefits from our natural resources like gold and lithium through policies like, value addition, setting up an LBMA certified gold refinery, enhancing the gold for oil policy, and dedication of specific gold concessions to the Bank of Ghana to enhance their accumulation of gold reserves.
“Together with you, I want to see Ghana as an industrialized nation. I want to entrench and enhance the current strategy of industrialization that we have embarked on and introduce new technology like digital manufacturing for the manufacturing of spare parts, syringes, and other equipment.
“Together with you, I want to see a Ghana with robust fiscal discipline in the management of our public finances to sustainably and significantly reduce bank lending rates.
“Together with you, I want to see a Ghana with an empowered local business sector, especially startups and SMEs to drive investment and growth. We will transform the SME landscape by providing unique identifiers and using technology to help them access new financing and markets. I also want to provide incentives to the private sector to replace government in the provision of a significant amount of infrastructure and many other services.
“Together with you, I want to see a Ghana with a developed and efficient credit system through credit scoring by credit reference agencies by leveraging on integrated databases across banks, DVLA, NIA, Digital Address systems etc. to enable workers buy furniture, cars, TVs, fridges and homes (mortgages) on credit at lower cost.
“Together with you, I want to see a Ghana with energy self-sufficiency at reduced cost through solar and other renewables with the application of market efficiency to the energy market.
“Together with you, I want to see a Ghana with an enhanced focus on private and public investment in tourism, creative arts and sports.
“This is not an exhaustive list and in due course we will have a chance to lay out a comprehensive Manifesto for Ghanaians.”