AKUFO-ADDO CONFIDENT OF VICTORY (PAGE 15)

THE New Patriotic Party (NPP) Presidential aspirant, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has predicted that come January 7, 2009, President John Agyekum Kufuor will hand over the baton of government to him after a decisive victory in the December 7, 2008 elections.
He declared that “if in January 7, 2001, the former President Flt. Lt. J.J. Rawlings could not hand over the governance of the country to Prof. Evans Atta Mills to be his successor, after serving eight years, we in the NPP are going to make history, as the President of the Republic of Ghana will transfer power to Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo as the next President of Ghana on January 7, 2009”.
Nana Akufo-Addo, therefore, appealed to the teeming supporters and sympathisers of the party to vote massively for the NPP to enable the party to realise its objective to continue with its prudent economic policies.
Addressing well-attended separate rallies in Sunyani, Bechem, Derma, Duayaw Nkwanta and Techimantia, as part of his seven-day campaign tour of the Brong Ahafo Region, he explained that President Kufuor had already laid a solid foundation on which he was ready to build the super structure which every Ghanaian would be proud of.
The NPP flag bearer pointed out that his party was the only credible political group that had pragmatic programmes and policies to administer the country, and that no other party was comparable to the NPP in terms of good governance.
According to Nana Akufo-Addo, a government of the NPP, under his leadership, would “banish illiteracy” in the country by ensuring that all children of school age were enrolled in school and would continue to enjoy free education at the basic level through the Capitation Grant and School Feeding Programme, already underway.
He reiterated his promise that as President Kufuor had been able to honour his promise of providing fee-free education at the basic level, he was also going to ensure that education at the senior high school would be free, and teachers at all levels would be well catered for so that they would offer their best to the children.
The flag bearer explained that education should not be the preserve of only the rich, who wanted to take good care of their children, saying that was why he was committed to ensuring that education became free for children of both the poor and the rich.
Nana Akufo-Addo noted that countries such as Korea, Malaysia, Singapore and others had developed effectively because of the sound education policies of their respective governments, adding that, Ghana, having attained independence at the same time as those countries, could also be turned around.
He pointed out that with the oil find, there was no way the country could not undergo structural transformation and an accelerated pace of development in the areas of roads, ports, harbours, airports and general industrialisation, adding that under his government, a factory would be sited in every district to open up employment opportunities for the youth.
According to the flag bearer, monies that would accrue from the oil would be managed prudently and accounted for with the approval of Parliament, saying, “I am not in politics to amass wealth, but I want to help my country develop with my wealth of knowledge and experiences.”
Nana Akufo-Addo, who introduced the various parliamentary candidates in the constituencies he visited, had early on visited the Sunyani Regional Hospital to acquaint himself with the operations there.