Agenda 50-50 Is Laughable—NPP Tells NDC

Three newly elected parliamentary candidates of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the Eastern Region have described the agenda of the ruling NDC government to split equally the votes in the region in the 2016 election as laughable, and nothing more than a mirage which will never see the light of day.

The Eastern Regional secretariat of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) has launched a project dubbed 'Agenda 50-50', with the objective of the project code named, 'Kyemu pe', as gathered, being an equal sharing of the total valid votes to be cast in the region in 2016 with the New Patriotic Party (NPP), albeit the region being one of the strongholds of the NPP.

However, Joseph Frimpong Osei, the NPP's candidate for Abirem; Mercy Adu Gyamfi, the candidate for Akwatia; and Samuel Nuertey Ayertey, candidate for Lower Manya, during their courtesy calls on Nana Akufo-Addo, promised not to allow the NDC's agenda see the light of day.

Joseph Frimpong Osei, a former special aide to Yaw Osafo-Maafo, who beat incumbent MP Esther Obeng Dapaah, was the first candidate to call on Nana Akufo-Addo. He said his agenda is to see a massive upsurge in the votes of the NPP from the 17,000 the party garnered in 2012 to 30,000 votes come 2016.

'The delegates of the NPP and constituents have resolved to make this possible. They are fed up with the incompetence of this government and are desperately crying for change. I can assure you that come December 2016, when the results of the election in Abirem are announced, you will hear nothing short of votes in the region of 30,000 for the NPP,' he said.

Akwatia
Mercy Adu Gyamfi, the candidate for Akwatia, who was next to call on Akufo-Addo, pledged to reclaim the seat the NPP lost by 557 votes in the 2012 election to Baba Jamal.

She promised to win the seat for the party with 'an unprecedented margin of victory.'

Lower Manya Krobo
Samuel Nuertey Ayertey from the Lower Manya Krobo constituency, who is the youngest male aspiring MP in the region, was the last to call on Nana Akufo-Addo.

Teddy Braino, as he is popularly called, told Nana Addo that though the Lower Manya Krobo seat has often been won by the NDC—albeit with margins ranging from 2,000 to 6,000 votes—he was confident that being a 'home boy' who had lived and worked in the constituency, coupled with the fact that NPP executives in the region are united, the seat could be won by the NPP.

Nana Addo's Reaction
Nana Akufo-Addo, on his part, reiterated his appeal to the newly elected candidates to ensure unity prevails in their respective constituencies at all times, with the surest way of achieving this being the bringing on board of all losing aspirants and their supporters.

The general consensus among Ghanaians, according to him, is that change is necessary to rescue Ghana from the dire circumstances in which she finds herself under the leadership of President John Mahama.

'When we took over the reins of office in 2001, Ghana was a HIPC country. We are back there again under the NDC, with our debt-to-GDP ratio close to 70%. Under the Kufuor administration, we were able to put this country back on track again; and we will do so again under Akufo-Addo,' he said.

An Akufo-Addo government, he noted, will be coming to 'work for everybody in Ghana, and not for a select few. NPP is coming for Ghana.'

The NPP flagbearer pledged to assist the constituencies with the needed resources to enable executives and candidates work effectively and win their respective seats for the NPP.

BY Daniel Bampoe