A new political movement, the United Movement for Change (UMC), Ghana’s version of the Tea Party Movement in the United States, has been launched. Founders of the UMC say Ghana’s development had stagnated as a result of partisan party politics. They said many politicians had shied away from taking proactive decisions that will fast-track the development of the nation because of political considerations. The Secretary to the UMC, Mr John Aggrey, said the country would have achieved significant economic development if politicians were not bound by the restrictions of political parties. UMC will therefore sponsor and support independent candidates for the various levels of the country’s political strata – the president, Members of Parliament and so on. Published below is a full statement presented by a Co-founder of the UMC, Mr Jacob Osei Yeboah, at the launch of the movement Saturday, on the objectives, rational, and aims of the UMC. UMC’s -Tripod By Jacob Osei Yeboah- Co Founder UMC at the Launch of United Movement For Change (UMC) At the British Council Accra, on 30 Oct. 2010. Theme: Establishing the foundation for the emerging Ghana – A task for UMC Your Excellency, Nouhoum Assouma, The Republic Of Benin Ambassador to Ghana, Nii Ayi Bonte II- Gbese Mantse and Adonte of the Ga State and your Distinguished Elders, Religious Leaders, Nananom, Niime, Naame, Distinguished Guests and Speakers, Ladies and Gentlemen, All protocol Observed: The theme for the launch of UMC –“Establishing The Foundation For The Emerging Ghana, A Task For UMC”- is appropriate especially now that Ghana has attained 18 years in its 4th Republic democratic expedition. The Theme is equally relevant for the broader African Continent as the year 2010 is the Golden Jubilee year for most of Africa country’s Independence. The majestic presence of the diverse of culture in this assembly is the demonstration of unity as a critical tool in building a solid foundation for the emerging Ghana and therefore of Africa. A task for UMC in setting out the very foundation for emerging Ghana hinges on Respect, Intelligence and application of our identity in pitching Ghana towards a developmental paradigm that every Ghanaian will be part. The foundation for the emerging Ghana that we are talking about is premised on what we call the UMC’s Tripod- The Tripod of which are UMC’s Argument, Alternative and Agenda (3As). Your Excellency, for the purpose of the launch, I will base my discourse on the Argument leg of the Tripod. Under the Argument, I will talk on three key issues, Economic, Social and Political. UMC Argument – Economic Now, we are talking about a foundation upon which wealth for a nation and her citizenry is built, isn’t it? Now what is the foundation? The foundation could only be the resources that nature has given Ghana. What are the resources, Ladies and Gentlemen that we are talking about? The almighty God in His infinite Wisdom, has given Ghana a rich soil or land from which we extract the mineral resources (Gold, Manganese, Bauxite, Diamonds, Lime etc). The same soil has Rivers, Lakes and Streams in abundance for drinking, irrigation and fisheries. More importantly, we have the climate and how many have considered the climate as an economic resource? The largest source of energy, the Sun is in abundance for most part of the day. Aren’t these valuable economic resources that nature has graciously given onto us? The final most important Resource is the Human Capital well endowed with the knowledge to transform the other inert resources mentioned above into creative wealth. The human resource can make a nation either rich or poor. Ghana had her meaning to its market activities as far back as in the late 13th century by actively engaged in batter trading of Kola and salt, especially at Salaga market by countries such as Nigeria, Mali and Burkina Faso before it was turned into the infamous slave trade of inhuman activities. There was therefore an established regional trading integration without artificial boundaries that was later created by colonialism. These pre-modern ancestors did not lift up begging bowls for our development partners to supplement our yearly budgets, did they? No they didn’t. So how modern or more sophisticated are we? Clearly, Your Excellency, there is something that is fundamentally wrong with the very foundation upon which to build our economy and to set the right records of our economic indices. We (as Ghanaians) therefore need to diagnose the disease of Ghana’s economic deprivation before we are quick to prescribe camouflaged drugs of economic indices. These economic indices not only worsened our economic plight and served as a huge inertia to our immeasurable potential and resolve as a nation to emancipate ourselves from this shameful plight but also rather insult the emotional intelligence of the good people of Ghana. Are Ghanaians not smart enough to understand our plight and how these indices reflect in our social interaction? Your Excellency, Whose responsibility is it to transform our natural resources into wealth creation? If we cannot build a stronger economy out of abundance of riches and we are to send our begging bowls to nations that had nothing to supplement our yearly budget, then we need to have a second look at our Political Leadership, i.e. our human resource. Your Excellency, distinguished guests, UMC’s economic argument is that, there are three sectors of Ghana and Africa economy. That is the Modern sector, the Traditional Sector and the Informal Sector. The modern sector is the seat of government that has for a very long time been abysmally dysfunctional. The modern sector has not strategically had the key to unlock the country’s economic potential. Your Excellency, the other two sectors, i.e the Traditional Sector and the Informal Sector is where the Ghanaian resides. Unfortunately, the traditional sector that has a sterling potential to create wealth has been sucked of its economic vitality and segregated to almost inactivity by the constitution and sadly reduced to beggars of the begging central government. The plight of the Informal Sector is worse off, being depicted as the symptoms of economic deprivation, poverty, diseases, angry souls of nobly created and strongly built Ghanaians working hopelessly and helplessly in their own country. These Ghanaians risk their lives on the desert to journey back to our colonial master not as colonialists in this quest but rather to even be enslaved possibly. What a shameful state of the Ghanaian and over 50years after independence, the Blackman, given the chance by the colonial master had still not proven his capability of managing his own affairs. The launch of UMC in the edifice of our colonial masters, is therefore symbolic and humbly enough, to firstly congratulate our British colonial masters of their strategic achievement and our readiness to learn and set the foundation of our economic activity right and no longer to blame imperialism and neo-colonialism but to firstly blame ourselves, the Human economic resources. Again UMC is launching in this British edifice to dramatise the shameful state of the perennial Ghanaian economy, for it is through this act of humbleness and introspection of our economic performance that we can remove the scale of vampire states by our governments from our eyes and galvanise the obligatory energy of nation building by holding our leaders responsible. UMC believes that, it is about time, after over a hundred years of mining, that Ghana by its maiden name, Gold Coast, established large scale mining companies in the likes of AngloGold, Newmont, Goldfields etc. Over fifty (50 years) years the hopeful farmer continues to use hoes and cutlasses. Whereas only three percent (3%) of our colonial master’s farmers can feed their nation with surplus, we on the other hand can boast of over 60% farmers who cannot even feed the population. Over fifty years, we’ve not Improve upon on our regional trading based on country’s specific advantages and encouraging the business communities to invest in one another’s country to increase the flow of FDI and technology improvement. Who is responsible, is it our Traditional Leaders or Religious Leaders or Political Leadership? Where is the social cohesion and energy that we can tap into transforming our inert resources? This leads me to talk about UMC Argument on the Social Foundation.