HANG ME IF I FAIL!… Nana Akufo Addo signs social contract with Ghanaians
By Stephen Odoi-Larbi
Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo, the man working himself into frenzy in his bid to depose what he called the incompetent Mills-Mahama-Amissah Arthur hegemony, virtually signed a social contract with Ghanaians yesterday.
He asked Ghanaians to hang him of he fails to deliver on his promises, particularly, the fee free second cycle education, if the people give him the mandate on December 7, 2012.
The presidential hopeful, running on the ticket of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), said he and the political party that propped his presidential bid were on course to deliver the innovative idea of kids throughout the country benefitting from quality second cycle education.
“I should be taken to the cleaners if I renege on my avowed promise of actualising the free SHS concept,” the former Foreign Affairs Minister said to the applause of a gathering in Kumasi.
He made this observation when he officially introduced the NPP parliamentary candidate for the Asokwa Constituency, Mrs. Patricia Appiagyei, to her constituents, during his just-ended tour of the Ashanti Region.
According to Nana Addo, his free SHS concept was arrived at, after having received numerous complaints of hardship from parents across the country, who could not afford to send their wards to SHS, after completing the Junior High School, during his ‘Listening Tour.’
He said in order to restore hope for the less privileged, while providing a level playing field for every child to develop his God-given talent, it was incumbent on him to introduce the free SHS policy to realise that dream.
The youth, he noted, “are the future of this country, and, therefore, deserve every opportunity to develop their talents.”
Rationalising his resolve to get the policy done, he told his audience that ironically, President John Dramani Mahama benefited from the free SHS concept, introduced by the late Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah for the people of northern descent, and wondered why the President would oppose it now.
According to Nana Addo, Mr. Mahama took advantage of the free SHS education when his father, who was then a minister at the time, and could have afforded to pay for his education, sent him to the north upon the completion of his basic school at the famous Achimota School.
He questioned the commitment of President John Mahama, “who claims he is caring and working for Ghanaians,” to move the country forward, while he opposes the free SHS concept.
When she took her turn, the parliamentary candidate for Asokwa, Patricia Appiagyei, told the teeming crowd to believe in what Nana Addo had told them and vote for him massively, to enable him put things right, and make their dream a reality.
She said Nana Addo had carefully thought through the policy, and done all the calculations to implement it without any hindrance.
She promised to work assiduously to continue the good works of her predecessor, Maxwell Kofi Jumah, when given the nod to represent the people in Parliament.
Commenting at the event, the incumbent MP, Maxwell Kofi Jumah, told the crowd that the Asokwa seat was not his personal and bonafide property, neither was it for any individual, hence, the need to pave the way for Madam Patricia Appiagyei, after losing to her at the party’s primary.
He urged them to vote massively for Mad. Patricia Appiagyei and Nana Addo.
On his part, the Gyaasehene of Kaase, Nana Kwasi Prah, urged the people to debunk the claim that Nana Addo’s free SHS education concept was not feasible.
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