NPP on course to win elections — Apraku

Page 16, August 1, 2008
Story: Emmanuel Adu-Gyamerah

THE New Patriotic Party (NPP) has said its campaign towards winning the December polls is on course, and no amount of misinformation and vile propaganda by its opponents will ever detract its attention.
He has, therefore, urged Ghanaians to return it to power, stressing that “Ghanaians must not change NPP for the National Democratic Congress (NDC) because the NDC poses a threat to our stable democracy, good governance and the rule of law”.
The Campaign Director of the party, Dr Kofi Konadu Apraku, at a press conference in Accra, further urged Ghanaians never to change the NPP for the NDC because the “NDC will reintroduce higher inflation, higher international debts, higher interest rates and an unstable cedi”.
Dr Konadu, who was briefing the media on the first phase of the party’s campaign, said it became clear throughout their rounds that Ghanaians who had lived under the NDC and the NPP governance knew the difference between the two parties.
The first phase of the campaign, according to Dr Apraku, received overwhelming support from people in constituencies, which were the party’s orphaned constituencies.
Dr Apraku noted that while the NPP wanted to move Ghana forward, the NDC wanted to take Ghana backward, calling on Ghanaians to choose hope with NPP over the NDC campaign of fear, intimidation and polarisation of the country.
“The NDC want to put at risk all that we have achieved together over the seven-and-a-half years and the future we have outlined; Ghana cannot take a chance on NDC, because future generations shall never forgive us if we should take that risk,” Dr Apraku stated.
He said the choices before the electorate had become clear since the December election was about the respective records of NDC government and those of the NPP, their different visions for the future and the leadership abilities of their respective presidential candidates.
He noted that although some people were opposed to comparison, the party welcomed it, since it was the only reasonable basis for making the important choices that faced the electorate.
Dr Apraku added that the days on which decisions at the ballot were determined by ethnicity, misinformation and intimidation were yielding to the new politics of ideas, issues and records.
He said the NPP had laid a solid foundation for the economy, built infrastructure that had enabled it to fight poverty, provided free education and health care and expanded the frontiers of freedoms.
While conceding that the NPP had not been perfect, Dr Apraku said the party had been far better than the NDC government, which left the economy in a shambles.
He explained that although the NPP inherited a road network of 38,000 kilometres, it had been able to increase it to 62,000 kilometres, whilst the ‘Cash and Carry’ health care system they left behind had been replaced with the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS).
He said that the NPP government had also introduced the Metro Mass Transport and repaired the Accra-Nsawam rail lines - something the NDC could not do.
Dr Apraku said the NPP welcomed the campaign slogan “Hwe wasetena mu na to aba”, literally meaning Ghanaians should examine the conditions of their lives and vote accordingly, which some people had capitalised on, claiming that there had not been any progress since the party took over governance.
On the future plans of the party, Dr Apraku said Nana Addo-Dankwa Akufo-Addo would be the President who would expand the benefits of the NHIS, improve its functioning and put more resources in sanitation.
He said an Akufo-Addo-led government would improve the security of all citizens by doubling the sizes of the police force, training and equipping them better and holding them accountable for all their activities.
The National Chairman of the party, Mr Peter Mac Manu, said the NPP was sure to increase its vote and number of Members of Parliament (MPs) in areas that were considered traditional strongholds of the NDC in the December elections.
He stated that the party made great strides in the Volta Region and the three northern regions during the 2004 elections, and expressed confidence that it would be able to double its votes during the upcoming December polls.
Other members of the party who took turns to address a number of issues included Mr Yaw Osafo Maafo, MP for Akim Oda; Mr Alan Kyerematen, former Minister of Trade, Industry, PSI & PSD; Dr Arthur Kennedy; Ms Gloria Akufo; Professor Mike Oquaye, MP for Dome-Kwabenya, and the General Secretary of the party, Nana Ohene Ntow.