Akufo-Addo begins tour of Volta Region
The 2016 Presidential Candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, will from today begin a four-day tour of the Volta Region.
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Nana Akufo-Addo last Wednesday ended the first phase of his four-day tour of the Greater Accra Region with a visit to the Ashaiman Constituency.
During the tour of the constituency, he reiterated his commitment towards bringing wealth and prosperity to all parts of the country without discrimination, after Ghanaians had given him the mandate in this year’s election.
Responding to questions by some members of the Ewe community in the Fitter Line area of Ashaiman last Wednesday, Nana Akufo-Addo appealed to residents, largely made up of people from the Volta Region, to ignore the NDC propaganda making the rounds that the NPP was an anti-Volta party.
Voltarians sceptical
A statement from the party, read by a representative of the women’s group in the area, Ms Francisca Ametepe, noted that Voltarians were largely sceptical about voting for the NPP even though they had been abandoned by the National Democratic Congress (NDC), a party they had been voting for massively in elections.
“We are prepared to let bygones be bygones and try the NPP this year. I am asking, on behalf of my Ewe brothers and sisters, what you will do specifically for us Voltarians if we vote for you in this election?” she asked.
Nana Akufo-Addo’s response was that “there are all kinds of people in Ghana, including Ewes, Ashantis, Gas, Dagartis, Mamprusis, Grunshis and Dagombas. We are all one people. I am coming to do a job for every Ghanaian, not for Ashantis, Gas, Ewes, Dagombas or Akyems. I am asking you to trust me and to have confidence in me. I am not coming to cheat anybody. I am coming to put all my energy to work for Ghana and not to steal people’s money into my pocket.”
According to the statement, the Chief of the community, Togbe Afari, asked “If you want us, as a people, to vote for you, what policy will you implement to solve the problems of the area? As you know, about 60 per cent of Ashaiman’s population are Voltarians, so what you do for us, you do for the people of the Volta Region. What will you do to help the region so we can also help you break the NDC hegemony in the Volta Region?”.
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Policy initiatives
Nana Akufo-Addo assured them that, “We are going to concentrate on two main things when you give us your mandate, which is how to develop our industry and develop our agriculture. These are the two main things we will put our energy in,”.
In order to boost production in Ghana, the NPP flag bearer explained that “import duties on raw materials will be scrapped. Import duties on manufacturing equipment will come in zero rate, so that we can strengthen our industries and production. That is how we are going to bring jobs to young people.”
On agriculture, Nana Akufo-Addo referred to the boom taking place in Cote d’Ivoire, where exports of five major cash crops earned the country $12 billion, whereas the value of Ghanaian agricultural exports earned Ghana a mere $2 billion, largely dependent on the export of cocoa.
“If we want to better these statistics, we need to focus on diversifying our agriculture to include cash crops such as cotton, coffee, cashew, oil palm and maize in our exports. We will ensure marketing boards and a guaranteed price for all these cash crops so we boost agricultural production. The Volta Region will benefit from what I am saying,” Nana Akufo-Addo said.
Concerning the NDC’s tribal propaganda being waged against the NPP, he stated that: “I don’t buy this propaganda. We are all one people in Ghana. Some people need to make this propaganda for their politics. We are one people in Ghana and we will stay as one people.’