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12.05.2004 General News

NPP Aims At Landslide ... ans so does NDC

12.05.2004 LISTEN
By Graphic

The National Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Mr. Harona Esseku, has declared that a landslide victory in this year's general election is the avowed aim of the party and he has therefore urged members and well wishers to work towards its achievement.

Speaking at a capacity-building workshop for the Greater Accra regional constituency executives and members of the party in Ada on Monday May 10, he appealed to the executives and members to intensify their house-to-house electioneering and highlight the Kufuor government's accomplishment so far.

In a statement, the national chairman advised the party's foot soldiers to dialogue with the electorate, instead of forcing issues down their throats. “Hostility from any quarter should be met with friendliness and persuasion. We can win even our adversaries over if we are to be articulate our polices to their satisfaction, it said.

On complaints from certain quarters that some Ghanaians were facing hardships under the NPP administration, the statement quoted Mr. Esseku as saying that it was the responsibility of party activist to tell the critics about the economic strides made during the short period that the Kufuor administration had been in power. “Lending and inflation rates have gone down drastically, not to mention the palpable improvement which the economy has so far seen, he said.

According to the statement, Mr. Esseku told the participants that the economic difficulties Ghanaians are facing would have been harsher if the Kufuor administration had not taken some bitter but crucial measures to resuscitate the economy.

Referring to complaints that there was not enough money going round, it said one of the first measures taken by the government on assuming the reins of power was the removal of ghost names from the vouchers and said that had stopped the practice of people being paid for no job done. “The era of free money is past, the statement stressed.

The national chairman assured the executives that the headquarters had not intention of usurping their authority; the statement said and urged them to be vigilant, fair and forthright in their constituents in order to disabuse their minds of an assumed interference by the headquarters.

On his part, the statement said Mr. Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey, Greater Accra Regional Chairman told the delegates that the preoccupation of the party was to consolidate its strongholds as well as make inroads into constituencies perceived to be the strongholds of the opposition parties particularly the NDC.

It continued that the region had adequately put the required organisational structures in place for a massive victory in the 2004 elections and advices the participants to renew their commitment and loyalty to the cause of the party as they had done in the 2000 general elections. NDC Says It Will Recapture All Lost Seats A Minister of State in the former National Democratic Congress (NDC) government, Mr. J. H. Owusu Acheampong, has said that party is poised to recapture all the seats it lost to the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the 2000 parliamentary elections at the forthcoming polls. He said having addressed all the bottlenecks that undermined its ability to maintain its hold on the Brong Ahafo region, the party was set to wrest the seats the NPP won from it on in the last general elections.

Mr. Owusu-Acheampong who served as a minister of parliamentary affairs as well as food and agriculture, said in interview in Accra that judging from the quality of candidates that NDC had picked to contest on its ticket in the December parliamentary election and the massive support the party was enjoying among the electorate, it was becoming evidently clear that it would be returned to political power.

According to him, the candidates elected by the party in the region were people who are the electorates' popular choices and therefore would at all cost win the seats in their respective constituencies. “All across the country, the NDC will ensure that candidates who have the massive support of the people in their constituencies are given the opportunity to contest and win the primaries in order to brighten the chances of the party to win the parliamentary seats, he said.

He pointed out that the policies the Kufuor administration had unleashed on the electorate keep worsening their plight with the passage of time. That had sent an awakening call to them to return the NDC to power to save their conditions of life from further deterioration. Mr. Owusu-Acheampong, who is a former Member of Parliament (MP) for Berekum said having compared the conditions of life under both the former and the current governments, the electorate have realized that they enjoyed a better lifestyle under the NDC government.

Conditions of life for the ordinary persons is the region has deteriorated to such dangerous levels that, the only solace left for them is to vote the NDC back to political power to implement policies that would enable them to once against lead decent and meaningful lives, he said.

He appealed to activists of the party not to be distracted by diversionary tactics of the ruling party but concentrate on the programmes by its political opponents to ensure a resounding victory for the NDC in the December elections.

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