Full text: Acceptance speech by Prof Naana Opoku-Agyemang as Mahama's running mate

It is to embrace everyone in building a Ghana that functions, again.

It is to work towards a Ghana where citizens have confidence and hope and are determined to regain their independence of thought and agenda.

The report would have no reference to the following:

A multi-million-dollar dugout; I don’t know about you but the image I get looking at the trench is that of a hole in utter shock that anyone could believe it was intended as a thanksgiving gift to the Almighty, Invisible, God Only Wise A free SHS at war, with the battle fought on the grounds of food, shelter, space, calendar, teaching and learning materials, or those who spend a couple of weeks at school and several months idling at home; past questions instead of textbooks and science equipment, or an atmosphere that suppresses learning.Free water and electricity to a few that turns out to be the most expensive for all.

Such a report would not find:

Covid-19 money is shared for partisan political campaign purposes, while people die from a lack of support at our health facilities An Agyapa-like manifesto under the NDC led by JDM

It would not include:

A president clearing malfeasance and writing love letters to prejudge a bad situation

It would not find:

Unemployment has jumped from 8 to 14% (check out the actual numbers), a GDP that has gone AWOL or a cedi that refuses to be tamed.

The report would tell of a timetable for load shedding, provided to respect the dignity of citizens and acknowledge their right to plan and also to learn the truth of our situation with energy.

The report would contrast the existing arrogance in leadership with that of the respectful JDM, who builds the children and youth by offering quality education, serious, adaptable training, lasting skills, who opens up the economy to create more space for jobs and for self-actualisation. It would highlight a JDM who does not line up desperate, young people in the heat of the tropical sun, to march and salute him as head of state, for jobs that have no head, tail, or future.

The report would explain the foundations of the policies of the NDC that thrive on consensus building- from observation, study, analysis through vigorous debates that tolerate all views, to an agreement on the options at hand and end with well-thought-through implementation plans.

I am not surprised at all that many significant labour groups, businesses and individuals have embraced the concept.

It is a vision anchored on the firm belief that with the right policies and incentives in place, we can inspire a new generation of enterprises to adopt a multi-shift work system and wider participation in the economy, thereby ushering us into a new golden era of Ghanaian industry.

Do not fall victim to those who have realized that having failed in sloganeering and packaging, they have exhausted their strategies and therefore resort to deception and destruction.

He does not rush with decisions that have serious effects on the lives of others.

And please don’t tell us that the Bank of Ghana, rather than defending itself from accusations of breach of procedure, can choose to label those who raised the matter publicly as hooligans who should have followed procedure. 

And at the time of accounting to the people, let no one pretend that they have more human rights than those they have consciously disenfranchised and those to whom justice has been shamefully denied. 

When those otherwise loud voices we assumed spoke for the voiceless have gone into self-imposed silence, and deafness and blindness, should we honestly be surprised at the high levels of cynicism if not downright mistrust of leaders?