Change your paradigm - Afriyie-Ankrah tells TEIN members

In a recent orientation session with TEIN members drawn from the Kumasi Technical University, Elvis Afriyie-Ankrah, NDC’s Director of Elections mesmerized them with some thought provoking exhortations.

Although the meeting was a purely political one, the experienced grassroot organizer took everyone by surprise when he decided to take his presentation a notch higher to inspire the participants.

He

Read full articlechallenged the students to recognise that they were currently in a globalized world so the earlier they had a mind-set of building themselves to be able to compete globally, the better it would be for them.

He advised them to balance their political lives on campus with hard work academically in order to achieve their primary aim of enrolment.

He also urged them to aim at going beyond the first degree and prepare themselves for higher academic qualifications in order to be internationally competitive.

He explained that anytime a well-paid job was advertised, candidates applied across the world so only highly qualified applicants would be shortlisted. As far as he was concerned, the days when TEIN members used to dream that they would wait for their party to come to power in order to ‘get something to do’ was over.

He therefore encouraged the students to strive to be the best version of themselves and have a paradigm shift that focuses on building their capacities in readiness to take any opportunities that come their way in future.

The above notwithstanding the Director of Elections also gave the youngsters hope that they were better off working hard for NDC to wrestle and
maintain power.

Tracing the antecedents of the NDC, he stressed that NDC gave more opportunities to young people. He cited examples of former President Rawlings who gave opportunities to the likes of young Totobi Quarkye through Professor Mills who appointed the Ablakwas to President Mahama who appointed the Ofosu-Kwakyes.

He also mentioned their Communications Director, Sammy Gyamfi and their current youth organizer as examples of those who NDC had given opportunities. He then predicted that some of the students in the audience might be future leaders in the party or an NDC government. That is why it would pay off if they continued to repose their confidence in their leaders.

Honourable Afriyie-Ankrah recounted his university days when he and the likes of Honourable Haruna Iddissu, Honourable Baba Jamal and Honourable Okujeto Ablakwa were student leaders in various capacities.

He further said they competed favourably with the puffed up NPP supporters in their days so the current crop of TEIN members must believe in themselves and refuse to be intimidated by others, especially their loud NPP counterparts. “When the opportunity arises to debate the NPP members on or outside campus, you must confidently stand toe to toe with them because sector by sector, NDC’s performance is superior and remarkable”, he observed.

According to Honourable Afriyie-Ankrah, with far less resources at his disposal, past NDC governments embarked on massive infrastructure development that tremendously opened up the economy.

He recalled that there was a time when Ghana did not have electricity beyond the Ashanti region. President Rawlings decided to embark on Rural Electrification Project and by the time NDC was leaving office, electricity coverage in the country was over 70 per cent. Deserving Ghanaians in the northern part of Ghana and the Afram Plains got access to electricity.

The story is the same with the health sector. Whereas NDC built many hospitals, clinics and other health infrastructure the current NPP government does not have even one regional hospital to boast of. Their confused ‘Agenda 111’that metamorphosed into ‘Agenda 88’ still remains an illusion. NDC’s achievements in the education sector also stands tall. The imposing E Blocks, technical universities and removing thousands of schools under trees readily comes to mind.

NDC’s Director of Election said, “The funds we set up including District Assembly Common Fund, GET Fund, Sinking Fund, ESLA, Heritage were visionary and expected to cushion the country in trying times but this government has dissipated all of them through reckless collateralisation and profligacy”. He wondered why all of a sudden the government was doubting the international rating agencies who have fairly and independently rated government’s performances over the years. He likened the behaviour of NPP to the character in Shaggy’s hit titled “It wasn’t me”. The Jamaican-American reggae musician, in that song narrated a story of a man who was caught red-handed having sex with a lady but vehemently denied doing such thing. He thus mocked NPP members who he believed were in denial of their government’s monumental failure as behaving like the man Shaggy sang about. Meanwhile, every single Ghanaian but NPP supporters and communicators is feeling the harsh economic conditions as a result of the government’s mismanagement.

Honourable Afriyie-Ankrah who was also a former Minister of Youth and Sports in the Mahama Administration assured his audience that a future NDC government will bring Ghana’s economy back on a sound footing.

He referred to how the NDC and President Mahama dealt with the energy crisis. He corrected the impression that the crisis was caused by the former president. He enlightened the youth present that the crisis arose every seven years because of the cycle of low levels of water in the Akosombo dam. He reminded them that former President Kuffour had to take Pastors to Akosombo to pray for a downpour to fill the dam. After promising to ‘fix it’, President Mahama brought experts together and solved the problem permanently. By the time the NDC was leaving power Ghana had excess capacity of energy. “Today, due to President Mahama’s vision the Ameri Power Plant has become Ghana’s property”, he concluded.