PNC candidate for Sissala-East launches campaign
The People’s National Convention (PNC) Parliamentary Candidate for the Sissala-East Constituency, Mr Kingsley Kanton, has launched a campaign to get the mandate of the people during the parliamentary elections on November 7, 2016.
Advertisement
He is contesting Honourable Hajia Alijata Sulemana, the MP for the area on the ticket of the National Democratic Congress (NDC). Mr Kanton has told the electorate that the constituency needs an inspiring candidate such as him for the realisation of their aspirations.
He is campaigning on the theme “Knowing Me, Knowing You” and is optimistic that the people are ready to have the PNC elected back to the seat.
After the party’s three-week campaign tour to the constituency, Mr Kanton gave an assurance to the Daily Graphic that the PNC is poised to capture the seat and represent the interests of his constituents again.
Contest
In his view, after all the years under the NDC government, there has been no remarkable change in the lives of the people in the constituency and that all that is happening is in-fighting and power struggle among the various NDC officials.
“So with the message Sissala must work again, the people want the PNC to come back as a unifier and intervene directly in solving some of the developmental problems of their constituency,” he assured.
But Mr Sulemana has also declared: “I will use my rich experience to participate effectively, make input into legislation and lobby for viable and sustainable programmes to improve the well-being of all”.
She has also appealed for their mandate during the forthcoming elections to win her second term to ensure that she draws attention to development in the area.
Other Trending Stories
For her part, Madam a Sulemana said the government had drawn up an elaborate programme for the roads in the region and added that the fact that all the bridges on the roads in the region had been constructed showed that the road network, especially the Bolgatanga-Tumu-Han and the Wa-Hamile roads, would be completed to enhance the movement of goods and people. She mentioned that special attention had been given to the ongoing infrastructure projects, including the new UWR referral hospital at Wa and Wa water projects.
“The construction of the 200 new community day senior high schools across the country, with emphasis on the districts where there are no such schools, is on course”, she said. She has, therefore, urged the electorate to participate effectively in the forthcoming election and vote massively for the NDC to explore avenues for socio-economic development of the country.
According to the pundits, however, this time round, it is Kanton’s goodwill that will win the votes for him while Madam Sulemana’s grass-roots mobilisation skills may win her the seat.
Sissala East Constituency
The Sissala East Constituency, which serves as the food basket in the production of maize and groundnut in the UWR, has remained a swinging parliamentary seat for both the PNC and the NDC. There is no one political party which has owned the seat since the inception of the Fourth Republic in 1992. While the NDC has won the seat on three occasions, which is in 1992, 2008 and 2012, the PNC has also won it twice: in 2000 and 2004. The New Patriotic Party (NPP) has never won the Sisala seat. It used to be part of the Sissala-West Constituency, with its capital now in Gwollu, until 2004 when it was divided into two.
However, this year’s election can pull a surprise, with both seats falling to the PNC which is confident that the spirits of the founding fathers will guide them to ensure that they perform creditably well to achieve some of their legacies. This is because the Founder of the PNC, Alhaji Moro Igala, and Dr Hilla Limann, a former President during the Third Republic, between 1979-1981, both of blessed memory, hailed from the then Sissala District.
The late Alhaji Igala’s hometown is Peng, now in the Sissala East District, and late President Limann had his ancestral home at Gwollu in the Sissala West District. Both constituencies share boundaries with Burkina Faso in the North and Wa-East and Daffiama/Bussie/Issa (DBI) constituencies on the East and West,respectively.
According to the Mr Kanton, “the PNC party is deeply rooted in the area. At the moment, the party is engaged more in a door-to-door campaigning to reclaim its lost seat. We believe that the message of rebuilding and rebranding the PNC to position itself for the parliamentary seats has touched the hearts of the electorate for a landslide victory”, he said.
Mr Kanton’s campaign is on five thematic areas, namely women empowerment, education, health, youth employment and peaceful co-existence. He hopes to ensure that the women are empowered since they are the bread winners of the family. That he hopes to achieve by assisting women to have access to credit facilities to go into income-earning projects. On health, he said adolescent reproductive health issues would be his main concern since unsafe abortions, which leads to high maternal mortality, is rife in the area.
He sees education as a boost because there is a high rate of school drop-outs in the constituency. Unemployment, he said, would be vigorously tackled by encouraging the youth to go back to the land and also by equipping others, including the disabled persons, with entrepreneurial skills. Peace, to him, is a necessary factor for development and growth and as such, the candidate said he would see to the peaceful resolution of the numerous disputes of the area. “Peace is the passport to progress and great towns are built in peace,” he added.
Mr Kanton operates a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) named Sustainable Aid through Voluntary Establishment (SAVE) and he is already engaged in some of the promises he is making. He has so far supported the Gwollu District Hospital with the establishment of a Blood Bank and intends to assist in the refurbishment of the Tumu District Hospital. He is also embarking on sponsoring some female students to the Midwifery School at Tumu as a measure to solve the shortage of midwifery personnel in the health centres and hospitals.