The opposition New Patriotic Party has stated its intent of recapturing political power with the launch of its audacious “Transforming Lives, Transforming Ghana” manifesto at an impressive ceremony in Accra. The manifesto revolves around areas such as Economy, Infrastructure, Governance, Health, Youth, Education, Trade and Industry, Agriculture, Foreign Affairs and other thematic areas. The manifesto which was adopted by the party at a special delegates conference in Accra last Saturday, saliently talks about transforming Ghana’s agro-based economy into a modern industrialized one with abundant job opportunities. The NPP flag bearer, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo who launched the manifesto said the NPP has the personnel to pursue the transformational agenda as contained in the manifesto. He added that, “we believe that once our fundamental objectives such as education are met, Ghana will move forward more easily. With a competitive workforce, nothing can stand in the way of our project.” According to Akufo-Addo, “the figures might look expensive, but we can no longer continue to shirk our responsibility to the youth. Teachers will play a critical role and I will lead the way to seeing that society accords teachers what they deserve. The lot of teachers will be a happy one.” Professor Gyan Baffour, a former deputy Finance Minister who presented the NPP’s policy on education at the manifesto launch said, "the goal of our educational policy is to transform education so that it will produce a capable, confident, skilled, educated human resource base to feed and support an expanding economy". He also touched on the much talked about Free SHS Policy saying government will bear the cost of boarding, SRC dues, admission fees, exam fees, dining fees, utilities, and other costs in addition to the tuition, which is already free to relieve the burden on parents. According to him, government has made a provision to boost the educational infrastructure immensely to accommodate the all JHS graduates who will be progressing to the SHS level. According to Prof. Gyan-Baffour, an Akufo-Addo-Bawumia government will rather finance the Free SHS policy than to pay dubious liability debts. MP for Bimbilla, Dominic Nitiwul delivered NPP’s agenda on infrastructure saying the party would overhaul the rail sector, building a railway from Accra through Akosombo to Paga to ease the pressure on the roads by heavy duty vehicles going to neighboring countries. He also revealed that an NPP government will liaise with the private sector as well as boost the capacity of the Ghana Civil Aviation Authority to spearhead the expansion of the Kotoka International Airport. He also said as part of the NPP’s measures to boost aviation sector, an airport of international standards will be built in the Western region. Other speakers at the manifesto launch also touched on some thematic areas the NPP government will focus on. Adwoa Safo, spoke on the NPP's policy for the youth, Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh spoke on Health, Isaac Osei spoke on Trade and Industry, and Agriculture, whereas Cecilia Abena Dapaah spoke on Housing. Former Deputy Attorney General, Gloria Akuffo also delivered the NPP agenda for Governance, with MP for Weija, Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey spoke on Foreign Affairs and Diplomatic Relations. Click to read the full 2012 NPP Manifesto