President J. A. Kufuor has pledged to dedicate his last year in office to strengthening the purchasing power of the Ghanaian. On the occasion of Christmas, the President said his goal in the coming year was to continue to maintain the sound economic management of the country and ensure that the macro-economic stability so far attained reflected in the lives of individuals and the private sector. The occasion also coincided with a party at the Castle organised by the Ministry of Culture and Chieftaincy Affairs to mark the President's 69th birthday, which fell on December 8, 2007. The birthday lunch was attended by traditional rulers, including the Ga Mantse, Nii Tackie Tawiah III, Ministers of State and Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, the newly elected flag bearer of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) for the 2008 elections. The President said members of his party were democrats who did not espouse democracy just to obtain votes. He said the party members believed that the first thing in any society was respect for human beings, a fundamental right which accorded people the right to think and to take initiatives for themselves. That, he said, was the kind of democracy which the NPP had been trying over the years to promote in the country. "When you allow a man to think and express himself in a way he will turn on a safety valve. Such a person cannot be unduly angry; such a person will not ordinarily resort to subversion and acts of wrongdoing," the President stated. "It is when you bottle up his feelings and there is no escape or way for him to express himself that you force a man to think under or in dark corners. That is where the trouble issues from," he added. President Kufuor said for traditional rulers, who were monarchs and not democrats, to pay tribute to him for his role in establishing democracy in Ghana was a source of pride to him. The Ga Mantse, Nii Tackie Tawiah, and the Paramount Chief of the Asokore Traditional Area in Ashanti, Nana Dr S.K.B. Asante, congratulated the President on laying the foundation for true democracy and said he would go down in history as a real pillar of democratic conduct in Africa. Nana Akufo-Addo said he had sought for himself the enormous responsibility to fill the shoes of President Kufuor and promised not to do anything to disappoint the NPP. Later in an interview with GTV shown on Christmas Day, the President said the Central Bank would be enjoined to manage the currency well so that it did not lose value. It would also be required to hold inflation in check. So far he said, the government had done well and was even "over performing". "Ghana has been blessed. Now it is very easy to envision that within the next two/three years per capita income will move from $500-$600 to, say, $2000. Somebody may say it is because of the oil find, but even before that the government has been able to move per capita income from about $300 to $560. This is highly commendable," he stated. The President said the government was making the effort to pay living wages but added that a mix of challenges made people to feel things were still too high. In spite of some of the difficulties inherent in the economy, the President was of the view that incomes were far better than they used to be in the past. "I am telling you that but for the economic performance of this regime, even the ¢1 million or ¢2 million we got in 2001 would have reduced to ¢500,000 in real value," he said. Making reference to the hikes in fuel prices on the world market, the President said the upsurge had an oscillating effect on projections which were made in 2007. Originally, he said "the price of fuel was pegged around $70 in the worst scenario in 2007 but the price now hovered around $100 a barrel, a development which affected many projections. Additionally, President Kufuor said as the nation entered 2008, which was an election period, the security agencies would be empowered to maintain law and order. On the media landscape, the President said the government had respected the media and would continue to encourage them to ensure the expression of responsible opinion so that people could be better informed. He also spoke of the intention of the government to trumpet its own success stories for Ghanaians to appreciate the phenomenal achievement it had chalked up in many areas, especially infrastructure and social services delivery, particularly education and health. "We want the people to vote very wisely so that all these good things issuing from the government will be sustained and the people will vote for continuity," he stated. President Kufuor dismissed any suggestion that the government failed to anticipate the energy crisis for it to take any remedial measures. He explained that but for the efforts which were made to retool the Aboadze Thermal Plant and the turbines at the Akosombo Dam, the current energy generation could not have been achieved, even when the rains set in. "We were not sleeping," he said. On his legacy, the President said, "I want Ghanaians to remember Kufuor as a true man who really cared for people, who wanted to infuse self-confidence and instil in Ghanaians the can do spirit and attitude," he said. Ghanaians had a very eventful year in 2007. They celebrated the Golden Jubilee of the country's independence, played host to the historic African Union Summit and discovered oil in commercial quantities after more than 20 years of exploration. In 2008, the country is billed to host the African Cup of Nations and the 12th meeting of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), as well as receive high profile visitors. Source: Daily Graphic