Forty-five years ago, Ghana was in a deep economic crisis - high unemployment, especially among the youth; crippling poverty; rampant corruption; economic mismanagement; and a struggling currency. This is what led to the uprising, whose anniversary we commemorate today and subsequently the 31st December Revolution.

Our theme this year is Unity, Loyalty, and Vigilance for Victory 2024. As you all know, I am associated with the revolutionary cadre element in the NDC – the brave women and men who bore the brunt of the sacrifices called for in those difficult days.

Cdes Samuel Garba, Yaw Akrasie Sarpong, Antwi Boasiako Sekyere, Huudu Yahaya, Cecilia Johnson, Mahama of blessed memory (CDR Coordinator, Brong Ahafo Region), Mike Akpatsu who died while he was mobilising NDC supporters for the first congress in Cape Coast, Nartey (GTP Cadre who died a few days ago), Osei Wusu (NDC’s First Propaganda Sec), Sherry Ayittey, Chris Atim, Kyeretwie Opoku, Kwame Mfodwo, Yao Graham, Albert Pinto, Ato Austin, Kofi Attor, Samuel Nuamah Donkor and many many more, who set out on a journey to transform Ghana. And, of course, we cannot have such a Remembrance Day without recalling our own great leader, Flt Lt JJ Rawlings, whose passion for change, accountability, integrity and development has become a beacon to which all of us who are committed to social democracy, a stronger progressive NDC and the transformation of Ghana.

At this time, we must also recall the outstanding lieutenants of Rawlings who participated in the Ghana transformation project. Cde. Capt Kojo Tsikata. Cde P.V Obeng. Cde Ebow Taylor, Cde Aana Eni and Cde Tsatsu Tsikata.

And despite the parting of ways with the NDC, we can never forget the contributions of Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings. Her sacrifice and dedication to the upliftment of Ghanaian women are deeply rooted in the NDC tradition and outlook.

As cadres, we can only understand this theme as a call to arms beyond electioneering. We must give this slogan its broadest national developmental relevance. We do so out of respect for our comrades who gave their lives in the June 4 and 31st December struggles. We owe it to them to contextualize June 4 constructively as an event that sought to rescue a nation in distress – not just achieve a change of the guard.

So, I would like to suggest that the “unity” we seek to build is not just unity within the NDC party but a unification of our nation, especially our youth and women, around the concrete challenge of building a better Ghana. We will win the election, John Mahama will become president again, and we will continue to unify our tattered nation, rising above ethnic, religious, gender, and age distinctions. One Ghana for all.

If you are a cadre, then you know that our “Loyalty” is always to the people— the workers, farmers, indigenous entrepreneurs, womenfolk, and youth. Our loyalty to our party derives from its instrumentality in ensuring the availability of basic needs and social and economic rights of ordinary Ghanaians. We commit to building our Party in ways that prioritise the People over ourselves.

Cadres know all about vigilance. For many years, our vigilance has been over the total national political system – not just the electoral system. We will be vigilant in December and ensure that the Electoral Commission, the Ghana Police Service, National Security and the Courts do their jobs and give Ghanaians peaceful, free and fair elections. But we will still be vigilant next year and every year to ensure that destructive forces do not take us back to the old unacceptable ways.

In short, comrades, “victory” is not just about 7th December 2024. 7th December is just a milestone, an important one, in the ongoing battle with the forces that work round the clock to keep us dependent and poor. Defeating NPP will not, however, end this struggle. Victory is about winning the war we launched many years ago against exploitation, poverty, ignorance, and the marginalisation of our people.

So, our call for unity and loyalty should aim for victory in the elections as a necessary first step. We must unite to see the end of the gruelling eight years under the NPP’s misrule. However, our goal is not just to replace them and replicate their mistakes. We must aim for more. We must rededicate ourselves to the ideals of the uprising and resolve to uproot the fundamental issues that have hindered our nation’s progress and kept us from building a prosperous society. We must unite to secure a lasting victory over the scourges of poverty and unemployment and to secure a prosperous future for our people. This will be a truly transformative Victory, one that redefines Ghana’s destiny; One that is worth celebrating.

And comrades, the struggle ahead, as the struggle before, will not always be in the streets and at the ballot box. The ultimate struggle which we must win is an economic struggle. June 4 and December 31 were political events, but their goal was to enable Ghanaians to effect economic change, which in turn would secure people’s power and entrench probity and accountability in governance. June 4th and the 31st of December sought to address Ghana’s fundamental issues and create a new political culture based on a self-reliant economy.

The transformation agenda started with the June 4th uprising and continued with the 31st December revolution very quickly recognised the need to stabilise the Ghanaian economy and rescue the country from the path of an implosion. This required the necessary tactical compromise of inviting the orthodoxy of the Bretton Woods institutions. Unfortunately, what was to be a tactical accommodation has evolved to become an almost strategic necessity to the detriment of our advancement to an integrated, self-reliant economy.

The return to civilian constitutional rule in 1993 was meant to free the mobilizing power of the revolution from its quasi-military trappings and move Ghana upward and onward into the construction of a nation with accountability and solidarity at the core of its culture of leadership. Yet despite our best efforts, after 45 years, we find ourselves even worse off today than we were in 1979.

There is no parallel to what we see today in terms of the corruption of our national political leadership and institutions, and their arrogance towards citizens. Today’s rampant corruption is carried out with an audacious sense of entitlement and reckless impunity even as other neocolonial states in our region are falling again like flies. Clearly, lessons of history have not been learned. Our country remains trapped in the neocolonial economic and political chaos that has plagued us since the 1966 coup that overthrew Nkrumah.

The Need for a Paradigm Shift

Winning the economic struggle I have described above requires a lot of hard work and a paradigm shift in how we perceive and tackle our challenges. We must understand that our current approach to development has been inadequate. For too long, we have been trapped in a cycle of doing the same things over and over again, expecting different results. We have entered into the IMF programme 17 times, yet we still grapple with the same challenges.

For 17 years, the Bank of Ghana has had as its prime objective achieving an inflation target of 8±2 per cent. We have achieved this only five times. We have only achieved this five times, and even then, it has not translated into sustainable growth and prosperity for our people. It is clear that we need to start thinking and doing things differently. Traditionally, our measure of success has focused on economic indicators like GDP growth rate and debt-to-GDP ratio. While these metrics are important, they only paint a partial picture. In 2011, Ghana was hailed as the fastest-growing economy in Africa, with an impressive 14% growth rate. Yet, despite this growth, unemployment continued to rise, and our fight against poverty remained stagnant. Today, unemployment hovers around 15%, and poverty levels close to 50%. This is unacceptable.

The reason for this disparity is simple: our growth has been driven by capital-intensive sectors, often powered by foreign machinery and personnel. In essence, our growth has been creating jobs and wealth in other countries at the expense of our own people. To break free from this cycle, we must ensure a strong focus on local production, ensuring that our growth is powered by Ghanaians in Ghana. While foreign direct investment has a role to play, we must approach it with a clear strategy and an understanding of how it will contribute to job creation and the building of a prosperous society. This should be the focus of the NDC when we emerge victorious in the 2024 election.

The Role of the NDC

The character of the NDC, as we assume the government, will largely determine our progress from victory at the polls to victory over poverty and unemployment. This character will define our approach to development and mobilisation and, ultimately, our vision for Ghana's future. We face a choice: we can become like the NPP, adopting a top-down approach where power is concentrated in the hands of a few at the top, party branches are demobilised, and the centre operates without accountability to the people. Or we can become a government that believes in genuine grassroots empowerment and accountable leadership, understanding that true development starts with self-organised and self-motivated communities, not from the lofty heights of the seat of government or the corridors of ministries.

An NDC government that believes in genuine grassroots empowerment and accountable leadership will have the capacity to unlock our nation’s potential by linking the over 39,000 communities in Ghana through national institutions and leadership. It is in these communities where we live and work, where the problems are felt most acutely and where the solutions lie. This is what we call the mobilisation approach to delivering government policy.

Under this approach, we will rely not just on traditional tools like procurement and implementation by government agencies but also on the mobilisation of individuals, formal and informal organisations and associations, student and youth groups, schools, churches, families, etc. We have successfully used mobilisation in the past.

The Student and Youth Task Force, the CDRs and the PDCs are all examples of mobilisation in action. But it has since fallen into disuse. Reviving this approach is crucial for our success. It helps us demonstrate a commitment to rebuilding the country with a distinctly different political culture from the NPP, enforcing discipline, productivity, and high-quality work while combating the neglect and theft plaguing both the public and private sectors.

Let me share a personal example of how this bottom-up approach can yield remarkable results. In the mid-90s and early 2000s, I worked with communities to create prosperity using the humblest of crops: cassava. By mobilizing cooperatives, establishing new markets, developing supply chains, creating jobs, and delivering productive infrastructure, technology, and consumer items, we built an industry worth several million dollars per year and provided employment to many people around the country. Today, the market opportunities are even more vast, if only we organise ourselves to seize them.

Ghana has a rich local natural and human resource base, especially in agriculture, and scores of youth yearning for employment. Local and international markets beckon. Our task is to understand these markets and devise strategies to supply them competitively and profitably. The NDC must then mobilise the District Assemblies to support our plans.

Our approach must also be inclusive, ensuring that everyone is carried along and that the country's growth benefits every one of us. However, inclusivity also means that there can be no spectators in the struggle ahead.

You cannot sit on the fence. You are either contributing to the progress of our nation or perpetuating its problems. You are either part of the solution or part of the problem. Our leader, President John Mahama, has promised a national economic dialogue within one hundred days of assumption of office. We should all be a part of this. This will be the beginning of mobilising our people to collectively rethink our challenges and solutions. We must all be a part of this dialogue and endeavour to make it truly national and representative in character.

As we commemorate the 45th anniversary of the June 4th uprising, let us choose to be agents of change. Let us unite not just for a fleeting electoral victory but for a victory that enables us to create lasting change. Let us embrace a bottom-up approach to development, one that empowers our communities and harnesses their potential. Let us rededicate ourselves to the ideals of the uprising, adopt a new paradigm of thinking, and work together to build the prosperous and inclusive Ghana we all deserve.

As we leave here today, let us carry the spirit of the June 4th uprising in our hearts and be united in our resolve, loyal to our cause, and vigilant in our pursuit of a better future for Ghana and Africa.