�I Can Make Ghana Work Again� - Dr. Apraku

Flag-bearer aspirant of the New Patriotic Party (NPP,) Dr. Kofi Konadu Apraku, has called on his party delegates to consider him as a viable choice to lead the party to the 2016 elections since he is a candidate with the �techniques to make Ghana work again.� Dr. Apraku argued that he has all it takes to solve the many problems facing the country and hence urged his party delegates to consider him other than the six other party candidates contesting him for the job of a party flag-bearer. His background as an economist, he added makes him more than qualified for the highest position of the land and this, he maintained can help in the management of the country�s economy. Dr. Apraku served as a Minority spokesperson of Finance when the NPP was in opposition between 1996 and 2000 and proceeded to help with the country�s economic management when Kufuor ascended to the highest office of the land. Many expected me to be the finance minister when Kufuor came to power but didn�t happen but I was still okay with what I was offered�.,� he said in an interview with Today. However, he said his many years of work have also made him gather the needed connections and experiences to help the country regain its former glory. Dr. Apraku stated that he has worked with various international organisations including the United Nations (UN). ��do you think President Kufuor�s monumental successes were achieved on a silver platter? Obviously no, we all had to make use of our external links to help�,� Dr. Apraku said. He continued that his works on the international front started some seventeen years ago when he had the opportunity to serve with a UN Mission to Croatia after contesting as a Member of Parliament (MP) for Offinso North on the ticket of the NPP in the 1992 parliamentary elections. Dr. Apraku continued that he and other members of the team having been commended for a good job done was also sent to help with the conduct of the 1994 general elections of South Africa which marked the end to apartheid rule in that country. He said he was actively involved in preparing the people of that country to also take over the leadership of that country from the White minority rule who he said was obviously on their way out after the elections. His position as the Regional Integration and New Partnership for Africa�s Development (NEPAD) minister, he said also helped him a lot in the building of these links which to him the Mahama administration lacks. Dr. Apraku recalled that it was under his period as a minister that Ghana became the first country in Africa to successfully complete the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) programme. The APRM, he noted was a major determining factor in the country�s selection and subsequently become a beneficiary of the Millennium Challenge Compact from the United States. The MCA money of $147 million dollars was invested into various sectors of the economy including the building of road infrastructure and improvement of Agriculture. The APRM programme, he said also helped in Ghana receiving funding for the Ghana School Feeding Programme which is currently in jeopardy in the current administration. All these, he said are among the list of credentials that makes him, Dr. Apraku, the right candidate to lead the NPP and subsequently help in building a prosperous Ghana. His passion to serve, he said emanates from his upbringing as a rural Ghanaian boy who had the opportunity to travel outside under a scholarship programme. It is this same opportunity; he promised, a Dr. Apraku�s presidency would offer Ghana on assumption of office.