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Flashback: I’ll build Ghana from bottom-up – Akufo-Addo

Ahead of the 2016 presidential elections, the flagbearer of the New Patriotic Party, Nana Akufo-Addo, promised electorates that he was going to adopt a bottom-up approach in his government when elected.

He noted that his plan was going to ensure that the national cake was distributed fairly. He again promised that no one will be left behind under his rule.

Read the full story originally published on August 31, 2016, on Ghanaweb

The 2016 presidential candidate of the New Patriotic Party, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, says the policies and programmes outlined by him so far are indicative of the fact that a future NPP government will employ the “bottom-up” approach to national development.

The bottom-up approach, according to Nana Akufo-Addo, means that local actors will participate in decision-making, and in the selection of the priorities to be pursued in their communities. This, he noted, will achieve balanced national development, creating wealth and prosperity for all Ghanaians, without discrimination.

“We are going to build our country from the bottom-up. That is why we’re talking ‘1-District-1-Factory’, ‘1-Village-1-Dam’. We’re building Ghana from the bottom-up, so that we can get everybody involved,” Akufo-Addo said at a mammoth rally in the Bunkpurugu constituency, in the Northern region.

At the same rally, the party’s vice presidential candidate, Alhaji Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, also unveiled the Infrastructure for Poverty Eradication Programme (IPEP), which seeks to draw US$275 million per year from the nation’s capital expenditure budget, out of which each of the 275 constituencies will receive the equivalent of US$1 million each per year, to tackle issues relating to infrastructural development and poverty eradication in rural and deprived communities across the country.

With thousands defying the rain to listen to Nana Akufo-Addo’s message of hope, the NPP flagbearer assured residents of Bunkpurugu and its environs of addressing the concerns put forward by the Paramount Chief, Alhaji Naba Abuba Nasimong.

The Bunkpurugu Chief, in his interaction with Nana Akufo-Addo, stated that their concerns were the construction of the deplorable roads leading to and within Bunkpurugu; the conversion of an inadequate clinic into a district hospital to serve more effectively the health needs of the peoples of the Bunkpurugu/Yunyoo district; and a refurbishment of the rundown secondary schools in the area. He stressed that the needs outlined were for the improvement of the living conditions of his people and not for his own benefit.

The NPP flagbearer assured residents that “I commit myself that if God favours me in December, we’re going to do to all these things to bring up Bunkpurugu”.

With this year’s election being his third attempt at the Presidency, Nana Akufo-Addo appealed for the support of residents, stating that “I want your support so we can go into Jubilee House and bring prosperity to all parts of Ghana.

“Ghana is not a poor country. We are not a poor people. It is poor government that has brought us to where we are. We are looking to come to office to put in place policies that will bring about the revival of our nation, and, for that, we need your support so that in December this year, all of us will say to John Dramani Mahama, President of the Republic, goodbye.”

Nana Akufo-Addo also visited the Nalerigu/Gambaga constituency, where he appealed for the support of the Nayiri, the great and highly respected King of Mamprugu, Naa Bohogu Mahami Abdulai Sheriga II, and also urged residents to elect Hajia Alima Mahama as their Member of Parliament, so as to help bring into fruition the NPP’s programme of development for the constituency.

The NPP flagbearer’s final stop was at midnight, in the Walewale constituency, where he addressed residents of Kparigu, assuring them that his government will help establish a watermelon processing factory in the district, which, will amongst others, help create jobs and bring prosperity to the district.

“I am not one to make promises I know I cannot keep, all in the name of getting votes. I have too much love and respect for Ghanaians to make promises which I cannot fulfill. I will never do that,” he reassured.

SHop@torsaa