Honour JB with victory in by-election - Akufo-Addo

The 2016 presidential candidate of the New Patriotic Party, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has appealed to residents of Abuakwa North to turn out in their numbers and vote massively for the party’s candidate, Gifty Twum-Ampofo, in the by-election of Tuesday, March 29.

A vote for Gifty Twum-Ampofo, Nana Akufo-Addo explained, will be a vote in honour of the late J.B Danquah Adu, former MP for the constituency, and will send a strong signal to all Ghanaians that change, from the severe economic hardships and suffering they are facing under President Mahama’s government, is coming to Ghana.

The NPP flagbearer made this known on Wednesday, March 23, while campaigning in Old Tafo, Sokode Juase and Kukurantumi, all in the Abuakwa North constituency, ahead of Tuesday’s by-election.

Accompanied by the NPP National Women’s Organiser, Otiko Afisa Djaba; NPP Eastern Regional Chairman, Kinston Akomeng Kissi; and other national party stalwarts, the NPP flagbearer explained that the process of bringing change to every part of the country will begin with victory for Gifty Twum-Ampofo, aka ‘Hajia Kande’, culminating, God-willing, in an NPP victory in November.

At Kukurantumi, the NPP flagbearer, who was once the former MP for Abuakwa, from 1996 to 2004, until the constituency was split into Abuakwa North and Abuakwa South, addressed a mini-rally attended by several hundreds of party faithful and sympathisers, which took place at the main transport terminal.

“I am here today because of the death of JB which has led to Tuesday’s by-election. We have a replacement in the person of ‘Hajia Kande’, and I am appealing to you, as a son of this land and as your former MP, to vote for her and give her a landslide victory. The hardship that we are facing in Ghana is as a result of bad leadership and bad governance. I can assure you that, God-willing in 2017, an NPP government will change Ghana. We will usher in an administration which will bring wealth and prosperity to every home in this nation,” he said, to massive cheers of approval from the gathering.

He continued, “On Tuesday you are voting in honour of JB and for Hajia Kande. Tuesday is also my birthday, so please vote in your numbers and give me a pleasant birthday present.”

At Sokode Juase, NPP polling station executives, who interacted with the NPP flagbearer, assured that they were delivering victory for the party, with a margin of victory of not less than 60%, a 15 percentage point increase from the 45% the party recorded in the sole polling station in the town in 2012.

Nana Akufo-Addo, in his remarks to the town-folk, appealed for support for the NPP’s candidate in the upcoming by-election, and, subsequently, for himself in this year’s general election, with a pledge of reversing the decline in agriculture, which is the mainstay of the people of Sokode Juase.

“We are the party that understands business. We are coming to give a new lease of life to the private sector and to agriculture, both of which will create the thousands of jobs needed by the teeming masses of unemployed youth across the country. My government will make agriculture one of its topmost priorities because the majority of people can only feel a change in their lives when we develop agriculture, and I assure you that the people of Sokode Juase will benefit immensely from this,” he stressed.

Ghana, the NPP flagbearer explained, currently finds herself in a dire predicament occasioned by bad leadership, and, thus, the need for a change in government is imperative if the country is to be saved from imminent collapse.

“God did not put us on this rich land for us to be poor. It is bad leadership that is making us poor. We need a new government which will transform our economy and set us on the road to progress and prosperity. That is what Ghana needs, and the NPP is the party to undertake this transformation. We have done it before and we will do so again,” he reassured.

Nana Akufo-Addo was confident that Gifty Twum-Ampofo “is coming to do a good job for Abuakwa North, very much like what JB did for you. Tuesday is a dress rehearsal for November. Ghana is suffering too much, and we need your help this year to bring the much-needed change to our country.”

Prior to his visit to Kukurantumi and Sokode Juase, Nana Akufo-Addo was in Old Tafo where he visited the family house of the late MP to express his deepest condolences and to sympathise with them.

He reiterated his call for a speedy resolution of the case, which is currently before the Court, stating that “the truth surrounding the death of JB must be unearthed.” He further assured the family that “whatever we can do to ensure that truth and justice prevail in this matter, we in the NPP will do. We will not relent until justice is delivered for JB.”

Nana Akufo-Addo was also accompanied by former Minister for Foreign Affairs under President Kufuor, former MP for New Juaben North and a member of the NPP’s Council of Elders, Hon. Hackman Owusu Agyeman; former Director of the Ghana School Feeding Programme, Dr. Amoako Tuffuor; former Minister for Interior, Information, Works and Housing and Private Sector Development, and former MP for Ablekuma North, Hon. Kwamena Bartels; former Western Regional Minister under President Kufuor’s government and former MP for Amenfi East, Hon. J.B. Aidoo; former Minister for Education, former Minister for Ports, Harbours and Railways and former NPP MP for Techiman North, Prof. Christopher Ameyaw Akumfi; NPP Eastern Regional Youth Organiser, Jerry Osei-Poku; NPP Abuakwa North constituency Chairman, Douglas Martin Asare; amongst others.