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Friends of Nana Akufo-Addo (FONAA-USA) was officially inaugurated on Saturday, September 13, 2014 at a heavily attended fundraising dinner at the A & C Banquet Hall in Woodbridge, Virginia, USA. Within 25 minutes of making appeals the event had raised $35,000, with others making pledges. As you can see the gathering here is not just NPP members and sympathisers, but we also have in our midst many Ghanaians here in the US who ordinarily care very little about partisan politics in a Ghana. But they are saying today, 'Our nation is going down. We have heard Akufo-Addo's vision for Ghana and we want to help him succeed," said Ms Aisha Salifu, the Co-Coordinator of FONAA-USA. The audience were inspired by motivational speeches by speakers who flew into the US for the programme, London-based business consultant and founder of Danquah Institute, Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko, NPP Ashanti Regional Chairman, Bernard Antwi-Boasiako, aka Chairman Wontumi, Ms Freda Prempeh, Member of Parliament for Tano North, and her colleague, Ms Adwoa Safo, MP, Dome Kwabena. Ghanaians flew in from various states to be part of the programme and to contribute towards Akufo-Addo's push to rescue Ghana on the ticket of the NPP in 2016. The NPP holds its primary to choose its presidential candidate on October 18. Akufo-Addo is the clear favourite. Co-Coordinator of the fully incorporated group, Dr Philip Barnor of Tennessee, said of the event, "People were donating as much as $5,000 each. That is remarkable and a very positive start. What was even telling was a student who contributed $50 saying, 'I don't have much but I want to play my part to get rid of the NDC and get Ghana working again under a competent government that will come in to serve.' I think that is the kind of spirit of volunteerism which will be driving the NPP onto victory in 2016. Ghanaians are simply fed up and they all want to get involved." He added, "It is not all about raising money. It is also about adopting constituencies and supporting them. FONAA-USA want to play a strategic role in pushing Nana Akufo-Addo's message of building a One Ghana. We want to de-tribalise politics in Ghana and will come up with strategies and programmes to help the candidate achieve this goal. We want to help go to the grassroots to reach out to all groups and let them know why Akufo-Addo will be good for them and their children." Ms Salifu stressed, "We believe Nana showed this One Ghana thing by putting the country before his party when he acted quickly to calm the nation down and announced that there will be no review of the election petition case. The next step is to support the process of helping Ghanaians to vote according to their needs and issues and not according to their prejudices or propaganda." The influential chief and respected community leader in the Washington Metro Area, Nana Kofi Boateng, who chaired the function, admonished members of FONAA-USA to adopt a �win win� approach and open their doors wide to every Ghanaian and be proactive in reaching out to everybody. The successful chartered accountant described Nana Akufo-Addo as the man with the plan and commitment to transform Ghana and that Ghanaians are clear in their minds he can bring the nation back onto the path of prosperity if given the chance. It is the work of his campaign people to help make it happen. He said there were always people who want to support candidates without necessarily wanting to be tagged as partisan and he hopes groups like FONAA-USA can help in that process in helping candidates to reach out wider.