The 2016 presidential candidate of the New
Patriotic Party, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, on Monday, October 24, 2016, began
his 5-day tour of the Volta Region with a clarion call to residents of the
region to help change President Mahama’s government on December 7, and return
the country onto the path of progress and prosperity.According to Nana
Akufo-Addo, “the time has come for us to put people in office who are capable of
giving this country a really effective and efficient government, so that we can
make progress in our country.”
The NPP flagbearer made this known when he
addressed Togbui Agamela IV, the acting Paramount Chief of the Peki Traditional
Council, in the South Dayi constituency, which was his first port of call in the
Region.
“The President is going around telling everybody that in his
next term, he is going to create jobs. In his next term, he’s going to
concentrate on agriculture. Everything is in his next term. He doesn’t tell us
anything about what is going on now.
“He’s been in power for 8 years,
and apart from the green book, we don’t know what else he’s been able to
produce,” Nana Akufo-Addo said.
He assured the Chiefs and people of Peki
that “it is possible for us to develop rapidly if the correct policies are put
in place. We have outlined many of these policies, which are to do with reviving
our agriculture, reviving our industry.”
Nana Akufo-Addo reiterated his
commitment of helping to establish a factory in each of the 216 districts across
the country “in order for the districts to be the centre of economic activity
and growth.”
On the rationale for setting up the Infrastructure for
Poverty Eradication Programme, Nana Akufo-Addo explained that, “we (in the NPP)
want to change the way the monies of our country are allocated. The monies are
not getting down to assist the people to deal with the issues confronting
them.”
“That is why we have proposed that, from the 1st budget of our
government, every constituency in the country is going to be allocated directly
the equivalent of $1 million a year to deal with basic infrastructural needs of
the constituency.”
The NPP flagbearer also assured of the effective
implementation of the Free SHS policy, as well as the revival of the National
Health Insurance Scheme, which, he described as “one of the greatest social
programmes, not just of Ghana, but in the whole of Africa.”
The NHIS,
however, “in the hands of President Mahama and the NDC is being compromised. The
NHIS is in serious decline, and it is my hope and intention that, if the people
of Ghana bring the NPP back into office, we are going to revive the NHIS to make
it work for everybody, as was the original intention.”
Nana Akufo-Addo
appealed to the people of South Dayi to throw their support behind him and the
NPP, so development, jobs and wealth can be brought to every part of the country
without discrimination.
“I have come to you here in Peki, and in other
areas of the Volta Region to ask for your support. It has not been forthcoming
to us in big numbers in the Volta Region. But, I was happy to hear you (Togbui
Agamela IV) say that I shouldn’t assume everybody is an NDC member here. That is
a very reassuring statement for me. I am also hoping we will get many people who
will say they are not NDC, and will help the NPP come back into office,” he
added.
Nana Akufo-Addo, in concluding, assured the Chiefs and people of
the Volta Region that “the NPP will not be the origin of any disturbance in our
country over these elections”. He urged the Electoral Commission to also play
its role as a fair and impartial referee, as “this will enhance the peace and
stability of our country.” |
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