Kwame Pianim, a renowned economist, has suggested that any of the 10 aspiring flagbearers from the New Patriotic Party (NPP) will lead Ghana better than any Presidential candidate of the National Democratic Congress (NDC).
He argued that if they are chosen to lead the party, the candidates will all be willing to make sacrifices and might significantly alter the course of the nation. He however, cautioned the candidates against disparaging one another only to get cheap political points.
“We encourage all of them to sell themselves, and not to talk about other people. The party is not for personal aggrandizement of one person. Any of the NPP candidates, as far as we [elders] are concerned, will perform better in terms of our philosophy and our outlook of life than anybody from the other side [NDC].”
Kwame Pianim
He pleaded with his peers not to choose sides, stressing the need of the elders supporting each of the 10 contenders to prevent further escalation of internal strife.
Kwame Pianim, who was present at one of the candidates’ campaign launches, Kwabena Agyei Agyepong, promised to be present at the launches of the other candidates, referring to them all as his children.
“I hope the founding members of the party and all the elders will support all the 10 people who are offering themselves as flagbearers. I was there to encourage Kwabena Agyei Agyepong, just like I’m encouraging all the others to come out and sacrifice to lead the nation. It’s not easy to be a flagbearer, these young people will go round the country and spread the message.
“They are the ones who are going to energize the people at the party base. Hopefully, to give them confidence not to lose hope in the political system. It’s the only thing we have, to go and fight and preserve the democratic dispensation, free press, civil liberties that we want at a hard cost to a lot of people.”
Kwame Pianim
NPP To Face Campaign Challenges
According to the renowned economist, the New Patriotic Party (NPP), however, would encounter substantial difficulties during the campaign for the general elections in 2024, as a result of the nation’s current economic challenges.
He advised the administration to be cautious and deliberate in its activities because he believes the NPP will have difficulty when the party tries to win over people to end the eight-year cycle of government.
Mr. Pianim when asked if the NPP’s campaign process would be easy, answered that it was going to be difficult in 2024 and commended the young people who are courageous enough and willing to accept this challenge, to make a sacrifice for the country because he believes the NPP had failed to deliver on its economic pledges.
“It’s going to be difficult to get the economy back, and to make sure we put in place processes that make it difficult to go back to where we are. Madness will be defined as repeating the same processes and expecting to get the same results. If we don’t change drastically how we develop and as the Romans will say make haste slowly, we have to cut our coats according to our clothes.”
Kwame Pianim
The eminent economist further recommended that value-for-money audits and procurement agencies must be abolished since they allow for corruption.
“We have to make sure the monies we get, we will get value for money. And that all the procurement agencies, value for money audit, we scrap all of them. Because they provide avenues for people to just take monies and we need to get it off. Incompetence and corruption, those two are important. The management of the economy is not too difficult if there’s no corruption.”
Kwame Pianim
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