FULL SPEECH FOR THE TPP CELEBRITY DINNER

Greetings ladies and gentlemen. I am very grateful to have all of you here today. I know how busy your schedules are considering what you do, but you managed to take time off to honor this invitation. Without wasting too much of your time, I will get to the point straight ahead.

It is an undeniable truth that, celebrities across the world have a great role to play when it comes to national issues because of the integrity and followership they build in the course of their career which gives them a stronger voice over individuals that are not in the celebrity space. It is again factual that, many of us seated here once or on several counts found ourselves playing these roles by driving the masses along to champion national agendas. A typical example is how our own sister, Yvonne Nelson singlehandedly triggered a demonstration against DUMSOR under the erstwhile administration and got a massive support from the people. This and many others that were done by some of us shows the impact of celebrities in national development.

However, comparing the huge number of celebrities that Ghana is blessed with to the few celebrity activisms so far shows that, we are not doing much when it comes to national issues. An obvious reason among many, which I, Kwame A Plus agrees with absolutely, is the cautiousness about our various careers. Many of us fear to speak to issues because of the negative effect it may have on our career if our concerns do not go well with either the government or the people. The second reason worthy of note is the DIVIDE AND RULE strategy that the politicians use to break the chain of unity among celebrities. Knowing well, how lethal the collective force of celebrities could be, our two major political parties whom I refer to as the enemies of this nation, have successfully dragged some of the celebrities to their sides just to kill their tendency of raising genuine concerns against the rots in their various government. Unfortunately for them, some of us did not keep quiet even after joining them. We spoke and are still speaking against their ills, but a lot of people have been compromised.

I have however made an observation about the evolving relevance of celebrities to Ghanaian politicians and the political space. In our country, it is an obvious truth that, the fact that an individual or a group identifies as celebrities, appear in a movie, a music video or plays football, such people are perceived as not being fit to hold national positions or contribute ideas during critical decision making processes in Ghana. There is a hidden stereotypical tag of inferiority on celebrities, created by the politicians, which I know of course, they will deny with their last blood, but it is real. The average Ghanaian politician considers the celebrities, as tools to be used for political campaigns to win elections rather than a set of people who are full of potentials to effect a positive change.

Fortunately, we have a platform with which to change this narrative. I and some few individuals have put together THE PEOPLE’S PROJECT (TPP), which is not a political party but a non-violent and non-partisan third force purported to demand for social goals and constitutional reforms from political actors in order to promote development. The main reforms that we are advocating for are, a workable twenty-year development plan for Ghana, an end to the wasteful Ex-gratia, and a whole new constitution to replace the current one which is full of flaws. We are equally empowering the masses to place developmental demands in their various communities and sign performance contracts with politicians before giving out their votes. This we believe will contribute greatly towards our development.

You will all agree with me on the statement that, if you talk or complain about a problem without lending a helping hand, you are part of the problem. Taking that into consideration, TPP was not established to talk all day with no real impact. Whilst we hold leadership to task and push for reforms, we implement social initiatives to improve upon the wellbeing of the good people of Ghana. As a commitment to the people, we are currently building modern standard boreholes with purification systems for communities that lack good drinking water across the country. Out of the ten that was constructed so far, the people of Ablekuma were blessed to have theirs commissioned few weeks ago. This commissioning was done by our own ace journalist and businesswoman, Nana Abah Anamoah. We are giving start-up capitals to as many youth as possible, we have coverage for persons with disabilities under which, we recently donated wheelchairs to the national chief Imam to be given to disabled people in his community, we have, together with our sister Nana Ama Mcbrown mobilized funds to support the heart surgery of our brother Jagapee, we paid for the surgery of our brother Prince, who was run over by a car. We also supported Patrick when a billboard fell on him, we bought provisions and travelled all the way to Adansi Fumso in the central region to set up a shop for the woman whose children share just one uniform, among many other impactful initiatives. We hope to do more for the ordinary Ghanaian with your collective support and influence.

The good thing about the membership of TPP by the celebrities is that, the movement is not aligned to any political party. It is a separate entity on itself that focuses solely on the development of our beloved country Ghana. This implies that, no politician can threaten your career for championing a better Ghana agenda. The ever-discerning people of Ghana will come for them if they dare try. Moreover, TPP is full of opportunities for all of us as celebrities. Aside the bigger picture of the good history we will write for future generations to appreciate by pushing for development, we equally have the business side of it that will promote personal crafts. The skyrocketing membership of TPP will be hosted on a mobile application that we are currently building. We aim to mobilize millions of Ghanaians, of which we have gotten over 700,000 out of the 535 branches worldwide. An exposure of our crafts, be it a movie, music, business ideas or whatever each of us does to this expected membership will boost its success a great deal, although the overriding attention is on national development.

Additionally, the entertainment industry has for some time suffered neglect and selfish political interest. The best the politicians do for the industry is to dictate fruitless policies without the active participation of the experts in the field leading to such policies failing woefully without achieving their respective goals. With a collective and united celebrity front, we will have a larger bargaining power with which to present our own policies and concerns that best serves the interest of the industry and push for its implementation. With a common voice, our musicians, actors and actresses, footballers among others can get better offers and as well gain grounds beyond the boundaries of this country. Together, we can revive the industry.

Conclusively, I will say that, same as the industry, our beloved country Ghana has suffered a lot in the hands of these two main political parties who trick we the celebrities together with the masses into voting for them by presenting pure lies in the form of manifestos and deceptive campaigns just to get the mandate end up doing the complete opposite of what they promise by reverting to the much criticized corruption, nepotism, selfish interest and many other bad behaviors to wreck the nation. We have equally supported these people for some time now and I think they have exhausted their opportunities without impressing us. What is much needed now is neither partisan politics nor a divided front, but the unity of the people against the political establishment and we are the major agents needed to drive this course. Let’s come together and build an admirable credential in positive activism, mobilize and empower the people to speak to issues to help promote the development of our beloved country Ghana. Always remember that, together we will bargain for our rights but divided, we will forever beg and fear the politicians.

Thank you so much for your time and audience; together, we will make Ghana a better place.