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Let’s go back to study Nkrumah’s manifesto
By: Salifu Abdul-Rahaman
Dr . Paa Kwasi Nduom, Flagbearer of the Convention Peoples Party in the 2008 general elections, has called on Ghanaians to use the occasion of Dr. Kwame Nkrumah’s centenary celebration as an opportunity to unite for development.
In an exclusive interview with the Times on Thursday, Dr. Nduom said the five year and seven year development plans of the first President of this country should be revisited.
Dr. Nduom who shares in the vision of he first president suggested that the two development oriented blue prints should be updated and used as a national agenda to guide the country’s development, irrespective of the party in office.
He said some people may disagree with the personality of the late President who led Ghana to independence in 1957, but his plans and vision could not be wished away.
Dr. Nduom explained that the plans, programmes and visions of Dr. Nkrumah as encapsulated in his party – Convention People’s Party manifesto – were well thought out and prepared in a simple language with achievable targets.
He said the difference between D. Nkrumah’s plans and other manifestoes was that whereas the manifesto of his party were realistic and achievable, other manifestoes were carved out to whip up the emotions of people, describing them as “propaganda tools”.
Dr. Nduom lauded Nkrumah’s development plans that ensured wide range of industries and other development projects across the country that had led to the creation of jobs and approved living standard of the ordinary Ghanaian.
He said but for the coup d’etat of 1966 that brought about the over throw of Dr. Nkrumah, the country would have been a far better placed than now.
Speaking with passion, Dr. Nduom questioned the rationale behind the importation of jute sacks from Bangladesh for the package of our cocoa for export when Dr. Nkrumah had established a jute factory in Kumasi which had been truncated following the coup d’etat that toppled him.
He also cited the example of the bamboo and rattan factory established by Dr. Nkrumah at Assin Fosu to process bamboo and rattan into furniture and other products, and regretted its demise after the coup.
He said several years after coup, the country had now seen the need to explore the use of bamboo and rattan for furniture and other products as substitutes to the depleting forest.
Dr. Nduom said Nkrumah’s personality could not be surpassed, explaining that he was an icon for the world.
Dr. Nduom expressed worry about “political intolerance into our body politic which occasionally erupts into violence and conflicts. We should discard this politics of we and them.
He said Ghana had become a reference point in democratic governance and urged Ghanaians to keep this record intact and deepen democratic culture for the benefit of posterity.
*Source:
The Ghanaian Times - Page: 21 Monday, September 21, 2009
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