Aspiring MP calls for issue based campaign

Accra, Sept 8, GNA - The New Patriotic Party (NPP) aspiring parliamentary candidate for South Dayi Constituency, Mr Ernest Kodzo Mallet on Wednesday challenged opposition parties to present viable alternative to government's policies.

He said: "lying and twisting of issues, the use of intimidation as a campaign weapon to influence the electorate tended to distort the democratic process...I therefore urged the electorate to reject wholly, all lying politicians wherever they may come from."

The Aspiring NPP parliamentary candidate appealed to politicians to run Election 2004 campaigns devoid of lies and other tactics that could negate the nation's democratic credentials

Mr Mallet, who was speaking during a working visit to Echoing Hills Village - a physically challenged rehabilitation camp at Ogobojo, a suburb of Accra also condemned the practice of using money to influence voters.

He said, "elective positions should be based on capabilities and not on the premises of the highest bidder syndrome."

He urged the electorate to ignore politicians who think that it is their right to run the affairs of mankind and thus "come to you with so much arrogance, trade in lies and half-truths, sow seeds of hatred and cause divisiveness in society so that they can benefit from weakened people."

The Aspiring NPP candidate commended President John Agyekum Kufuor for raising the status of the traditional area into a district Mr William Doe Agbeti, Administrator of the Echoing Hills Village expressed concern about the plight of physically challenged who were always neglected by the larger society.

"They are denied the right to education and parental care, they are more often than not being subjected to inhuman treatment by their older counterparts, particularly the male ones on the streets. Mr Agbeti said the physically challenged needed a little support to meet the challenges of life and condemned those able bodied people who exploit the weak in society.

The camping programme, organized by Echoing Hill Village in collaboration with the aspiring parliamentarian for physically challenged from the South Dayi Constituency was aimed at improving the living standards of disabled persons.

It was also to seek individual as well as organizational support for the activities of the disabled.