Ghana’s ruling party launches manifesto ahead of elections

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Sekon­di-Tako­ra­di, Ghana — Ghana’s rul­ing New Patri­ot­ic Par­ty (NPP) launched its man­i­festo Sun­day in a vibrant event in Tako­ra­di, as the par­ty gears up for a fierce bat­tle in Decem­ber’s polit­i­cal­ly charged elections.

The par­ty’s pres­i­den­tial can­di­date, Vice Pres­i­dent Mahamudu Bawu­mia, unveiled the doc­u­ment, which places a strong empha­sis on job cre­ation and eco­nom­ic development.

“Our vision is clear,” Bawu­mia said to enthu­si­as­tic sup­port­ers decked out in the NPP’s sig­na­ture red, white, and blue.

“We will cre­ate jobs, empow­er the youth, pro­vide tax amnesty, and unleash the poten­tial of the pri­vate sec­tor to dri­ve Ghana’s eco­nom­ic transformation. 

“We are the par­ty of jobs, and under our gov­ern­ment, every Ghana­ian who wants to work will find the oppor­tu­ni­ty to do so.”

The event drew a sig­nif­i­cant crowd, includ­ing high-rank­ing par­ty offi­cials, mem­bers of the diplo­mat­ic corps, and Pres­i­dent Nana Aku­fo-Addo, who is set to step down after serv­ing the max­i­mum two terms in office.

Unem­ploy­ment is one of the coun­try’s most press­ing problems.

With young peo­ple mak­ing up a sig­nif­i­cant por­tion of the elec­torate, the NPP is aim­ing to appeal to young vot­ers by promis­ing more oppor­tu­ni­ties and a brighter future. 

“We know the chal­lenges our youth face, and we are com­mit­ted to tack­ling unem­ploy­ment head-on,” said Bawumia.

Tax, edu­ca­tion

The man­i­festo also high­lights a tax amnesty pro­gram designed to encour­age busi­ness­es to com­ply with tax reg­u­la­tions with­out fac­ing penalties. 

This, “will bring more busi­ness­es into the for­mal econ­o­my, increase gov­ern­ment rev­enue, and ulti­mate­ly cre­ate more jobs,” said Bawumia. 

Bawu­mia also promised to expand access to edu­ca­tion and improve infrastructure.

“We will ensure that every child, no mat­ter where they come from, has access to qual­i­ty edu­ca­tion. This is not just a promise — it is a com­mit­ment we will fulfil.”

Some observers, how­ev­er, remain skeptical. 

For Joshua Jebun­tie Zaa­to, a polit­i­cal sci­ence lec­tur­er at the Uni­ver­si­ty of Ghana, par­ty man­i­festos are “shop­ping lists” that often go unfulfilled. 

“Polit­i­cal par­ties tend to promise the moon dur­ing cam­paigns, but the real­i­ty of gov­er­nance often lim­its what can actu­al­ly be deliv­ered,” he told AFP.

The NPP is seek­ing an unprece­dent­ed third con­sec­u­tive term in office but faces a for­mi­da­ble chal­lenge from the oppo­si­tion Nation­al Demo­c­ra­t­ic Con­gress (NDC), led by for­mer Pres­i­dent John Mahama.

Mahama is deter­mined to reclaim pow­er. Both Bawu­mia and Mahama hail from north­ern Ghana, adding a region­al dimen­sion to the contest.

Ghana, one of West Africa’s sta­ble democ­ra­cies, faces sig­nif­i­cant eco­nom­ic chal­lenges, includ­ing a $3 bil­lion-loan agree­ment with the Inter­na­tion­al Mon­e­tary Fund after an eco­nom­ic down­turn in 2022 result­ed in record-high 54% inflation.