NPP aspirants are not wasting money, says Owusu-Ankomah

A presidential aspirant of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Paapa Owusu-Ankomah, has said it was not true that presidential aspirants of the party were showing off with or wasting money.

He said money was "needed to expend ideas" to the people and that "the contest is not about money but about ideas".

He also dismissed assertions that the number of the party's aspiring presidential candidates was too large and this would not help delegates to the party congress the opportunity to determine the best of the aspirants.

Paapa Owusu-Ankomah said campaigns by the aspirants were rejuvenating the party at all levels.

Paapa Owusu-Ankomah, MP for Sekondi, said this when he presented the key to a double-cabin Mahindra Scorpio pick-up to the Central Regional secretariat of the NPP at a ceremony in Cape Coast.

"We are all out to strengthen and position the party for the job it has set out to do".

The aspiring presidential candidate, who has already donated 10 motorbikes to the secretariat, said he would be adding nine more to be distributed to each of the 19 constituencies in the region.

He said there was the need for the party to consolidate the gains it had made as well as strive to increase its support in all parts of the country.

He said during his tours of the country, it became evident that the regional and constituency branches of the NPP needed such support to enhance their activities.

Paapa Owusu-Ankomah appealed to his colleague aspirants to help improve the party's finances and logistics at the regional and constituency levels to increase its changes of winning the 2008 elections.

He said he presented the vehicle to the regional secretariat not just because he was an aspirant but because he had confidence that the region, "which has shown the way forward for the party's future," would maintain the party's 16 seats and win the remaining three in the coming elections.

He commended the Central Regional branches and the Western Region for increasing the party's parliamentary seats from three each in 1992 to 16 and 12 respectively in the 2004 elections and said the Central Region was in the lead as a potential stronghold for the party.

Paapa Owusu-Ankomah said the party needed to enhance its support and membership in other parts of the country.

"We need to consolidate our gains and reach out for more".

The regional chairman of the party, Mr Ekow Dankwa-Smith, expressed gratitude to the aspirant for the vehicle and gave the assurance that it would be used to step up activities towards the party's victory in the region and called for unity within the party.