President Akufo-Addo’s call on the rank and file of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) to support him to achieve the “last great political feat” of his political career by winning the 2024 general election convincingly and handing over to an NPP-elected President is one of the trending stories in the Ghanaian press on Monday.
The Graphic reports that President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has called on the rank and file of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) to support him to achieve the “last great political feat” of his political career by winning the 2024 general election convincingly and handing over to an NPP-elected President.
“I want you to help me achieve the last great political feat of my career in Ghanaian politics — that on January 7, 2025, I will go to the Black Star Square and hand over the mantle of leadership to the next NPP-elected President,” he told the party faithful.
The President made the call at a national thanksgiving service at the Dr Kofi Ohene Konadu Auditorium of the University of Professional Studies, Accra, yesterday to mark the 30th anniversary of the birth of the NPP.
He indicated that one of the major goals of the NPP was to ensure that the party was retained in the 2024 elections to continue with its good works, declaring: “Victory in 2024; that’s our goal, that’s our task; and by the Grace of God we will achieve that.”
The event was on the theme: “Our shared tradition: Holding and working together a stable and prosperous nation”.
The colourful service at the fully packed auditorium attracted NPP bigwigs and other members of the party, all draped in bright and white apparel to suit the occasion.
The President observed that since the return to constitutional rule in the Fourth Republic, the NPP had presented itself as the most dominant force in Ghanaian politics.
That, he said, had been made possible by what he described as “a culture of sacrifice, commitment and fidelity to firm up its core values”.
The newspaper says that the fifth edition of the Ghana Industrial Summit and Exhibition slated for August 16-18 will help leverage opportunities in the single African market for businesses.
Themed “Investing in Ghanaian industries to leverage opportunities in the single African market,” about 150 individuals and 40 companies have been billed to participate in the summit.
It is an initiative of the Association of Ghana Industries (AGI) and supported by Volta River Authority (VRA), Fidelity Bank, Nuclear Power Ghana (NPG) and other partners.
Launching the annual summit and exhibition in Accra on July 28, the President of AGI, Dr Humphrey Ayim-Darke, said the event was designed to provide a supportive and competitive business climate, which will make businesses locally and internationally competitive.
He said this year’s edition, among others, aimed to create a global platform for industries to share ideas on innovation and technology to enhance industrialization.
He said it also seeks to establish and encourage networking between the industrialists and their international counterparts for knowledge and to engage key government agencies in a constructive dialogue in search of viable solutions to challenges facing industry.
He said the 2022 edition would create an ecosystem for equity investors to engage with businesses in the region to create the prospects for companies in the agribusiness and processing sectors and huge investments in these sectors.
The President said Ghana’s economy was struggling because of the heavy dependence on imports and, therefore, investments in the productive sectors to provide the country’s essential needs was imperative for the structural transformation of the economy.
He lauded the government’s effort to restore macroeconomic stability and called for more engagement on ways to bring relief to businesses.
The Graphic also reports that on September 29, 2020, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo inaugurated a 29-member Board of Directors of the Tree Crops Development Authority (TCDA), chaired by Stephen Sekyere-Abankwa, with a former Deputy Minister of Agriculture, William Quaitoo, as the Chief Executive of the authority.
Other members are a representative each from the Ministries of Food and Agriculture, Trade and Industry and Finance. Additionally, stakeholders in the selected tree crops have four directors each on the board to make up the 29-member board. The TCDA, with headquarters in Kumasi, has the responsibility to spearhead the diversification of the agricultural sector, with a focus on the development of tree crops and the consequential benefits to accrue to the country.
Started with six out of the seven tree crops being promoted under the Planting for Export and Rural Development (PERD) programme — cashew, oil palm, shea, coconut, mango and rubber, the TCDA is modelled along the lines of the Cocoa Marketing Board (COCOBOD).
Per its operation, the TCDA is positioning the country to earn about $16 billion annually from the six selected tree crops from 2028. This is to diversify the overreliance on cocoa as the major export commodity of the country, with an annual income of about $2.5 billion.
It is surprising and unacceptable that 70 years after the establishment of COCOBOD, the country remains a mono-crop agricultural economy.
So, during the inauguration of the authority, President Akufo-Addo described it as a game-changer, stating that the selected crops had the potential to change the economy of the country and overtake cocoa as its major cash crop.
To actualise the expectation of the President, the TCDA last week launched a five-year strategic plan to nurture a competitive and sustainable tree crops industry.
The plan, covering a period of 2022 to 2027, is expected to rake in $12 billion annually from the six key tree crops.
GIK/APA