Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto, a contender for the New Patriotic Party’s (NPP) flagbearer position, asserts that he stands as the sole candidate among the ten vying hopefuls with comprehensive strategies to enhance the quality of life for all in Ghana.
Highlighting his vision of utilizing agriculture as a foundational pillar to drive economic growth across various sectors, he emphasized that his innovative plans, combined with his intention to establish businesses for the NPP, are pragmatically designed to bring about the long-awaited positive change for Ghanaians.
Having extensively toured the nation, Dr. Akoto revealed he’s fueled by the determination to uplift the spirits of people burdened by economic hardships.
He argued that his proposals transcend conventional business and management principles, offering the potential to significantly improve lives for the better.
In an interview held at his campaign headquarters in Accra on August 15, 2023, Dr. Akoto underscores that his proposal to establish NPP-affiliated businesses is not a novel idea, as similar projects have proven successful in other global jurisdictions. These ventures not only generate substantial revenue but also create employment opportunities for unemployed party members.
Acknowledging the current low morale of the people, Dr. Akoto sees his plans as a means to rejuvenate their spirits. With a focus on using agriculture as a catalyst to elevate various sectors, he positions his ambitious initiatives as priorities for leading both the NPP and the nation forward.
Explaining what he intends to do for the UP tradition when elected as its flagbearer, Dr. Akoto, who is a former two-term Member of Parliament (MP) for Kwadaso, said his big plans for the party is to set up a chain of party-owned businesses at national, regional, and constituency levels that will be managed by a holding company.
These businesses, he noted, will generate revenue to run the party as well as provide gainful employment opportunities for its members to alleviate their plight.
This ambitious plan, he added, is the best sustainable means of effectively managing the party at all levels as is being implemented in Taiwan by the Kuomintang (KTM) or Nationalist Party of Taiwan, ANC in South Africa, RPF in Rwanda, the French Communist Party, Social Democrats in Germany and Austria, Scandinavian socialist and communist parties among many others.
KMT of Taiwan
For instance, the Kuomintang (KMT) or Nationalist Party of Taiwan amassed a vast business empire of banks, investment companies, petrochemical firms, and television and radio stations. The party which is currently struggling financially was thought to have been the world’s richest political party at a point, with assets once estimated to be around US$2 to US$ 10 billion.
ANC in South Africa
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RPF in Rwanda
Crystal Ventures, the Rwanda Patriotic Front’s (RPF) holding company, has investments in everything from furniture to finance. It owns the country’s biggest milk processor, its finest coffee shops, and some of its priciest real estate. Its contractors are building Kigali’s roads. There are several firms offering security services in Rwanda but the guards from ISCO, part of Crystal Ventures, are the only ones who carry guns. The company is reckoned to have some US$500 million in assets.
“My vision for the party is really simple in the sense that it is something that is happening elsewhere. It is not my own imagination. We are talking about the African National Congress (ANC) of South Africa which owns mining companies, insurance companies and owns shares in big companies in South Africa and beyond so they can afford to pay average wages and salaries to their functionaries and activists on the ground and create jobs and others. That is the vision that I want to bring to the New Patriotic Party and that will really put us in a level which will enable us not to only break the eight but the 16, the 32 and whatever to help the people of this country to develop and enjoy a good standard of living like any other descent society”, he posited.
Commenting on his vision for the country, Dr. Akoto said “This country is sitting on wealth. It hasn’t been exploited. My vision is to use agriculture to spearhead the breaking of the poverty cycle in this country. We’ve been financing our development with debts; pensioners’ funds and borrowing money from the International Monetary Fund. Since the beginning of our republic, we have had to rely on them for our development. It won’t work; it has never worked, and it will never work. We have to get away from the cycle of borrowing money to fix our roads and finance our infrastructure. Agriculture has the tools to be able to do that. The farmers of Ghana have demonstrated to me clearly in my six years at the Ministry of Food and Agriculture and given the necessary support, they will deliver. So, to me, the priority is that we will support farmers in whatever that they are doing and create the institutions to assist them”.
It was based on this vision that he led the Ministry of Food and Agriculture to establish the Tree Development Authority (TDA) to develop six tree crops – rubber, oil palm, coconut, mango, cashew and Shea under one roof to be developed to the level of cocoa where production could generate between US$6billion to US$12billion for the country annually.
“This is the vision that I have. Compare this vision with the others and you will see that this is a very doable and very easily digested concept that can turn around the country. So, I am appealing to the delegates that your best bet is Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto. So, when it comes to August 26 and November 4, remember me in”, he noted.