An independent presidential aspirant, Richard Sumah, has revealed plans to merge the NPP and NDC into a “union government” if elected into office.
Speaking to the press on Thursday, June 13, 2024, Richard Sumah asserted that although initial efforts to form an alliance with either of the two leading political parties through their leaders have been unsuccessful, he is still fixated on bringing them together to form a union government in the near future.
According to him, it is for this reason that he is vying to run as an independent presidential candidate in the December elections.
Mr. Sumah highlighted that the informal sector can serve as a vital income source for other sectors, particularly agriculture, which requires development.
He explained that his administration would generate revenue by investing in the private, informal sector to boost their businesses, and the dividends could then be used to support other economic sectors.
“With the issue of money, we will have lists of all the traders who do petty businesses, such as kooko and waakye sellers, where we will give them capital to start with, and as they trade for some time, we will start taxing them small, which [revenue] will later be pushed to other parts of the economy, such as the agricultural sector,” he said.
He reasoned that the funds will be used for sugar cane and cassava farming, with the potential to serve as collateral when the country’s present natural resources, including gold and timber, become fully depleted.
“Even though the timber and gold we are extracting will be finished very soon, what next shall we use as collateral to borrow in the international world? That is why we are saying that we are not going to borrow money abroad, but then we are going to do domestic revenue mobilisation,” he remarked.
The independent presidential aspirant believes that Ghanaians, by their nature, will buy into his ideas, adding that when Ghana’s first president, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, had the opportunity to rule, he was helped by businessmen and women from the informal sector, including market women.
“When Dr. Kwame Nkrumah arrived to lead this nation as the first ever black president to lead his own people, it was market women, such as people who sell tomatoes, who helped his government succeed. Ghanaians are nice people who are ready to help, but upon paying, if they realise that it’s just a few people enjoying it, that is where they will resist paying the taxes,” he said.
He said that is why he and his team, as part of their plans, sat down to critically examine how the problems of the country could be solved.
Mr. Sumah contended that no political party or international agency, including the International Monetary Fund (IMF), can solve the country’s problems, adding that Ghanaians need to come together as one and consider critical ways in which revenue can be mobilised domestically to help the Ghanaian people.
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