Accra, June 30, GNA- Mr. Ibrahim Adjei, a member of the Public Affairs Committee of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Campaign team, on Sunday urged supporters of the party to argue on issues and consider national interest as paramount in the campaign for the 2008 Election. He said "Members of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and other opposition parties are our brothers and not our enemies. We need to put Ghana first and campaign on issues and the good people of Ghana would be the ultimate judges in December".
Mr. Adjei was speaking at the inauguration of the Mass Support for Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and NPP campaign group in Accra. He said Ghanaians should not forget about the past and called for a comparison of records of previous governments and the ruling NPP government to find out which political party should be given the mandate in December.
Mr. Adjei said under the NPP, enrolment in schools in the three Northern regions had increased by 30 per cent due to the introduction of the School Feeding Programme, whilst a 25-million dollar Northern Development Fund had been established. He said the NPP considered the interest of the youth, workers and pensioners as a priority but that was not the case under the NDC rule. Mr Adjei said over 200,000 youth were employed under the National Youth Employment Programme and promised that the NPP government would inject 1 billion dollars into the economy to support small and medium scale enterprises.
He said government had increased pay to pensioners from 1 Ghana cedi under the previous administration to 22 Ghana cedis. "The registration of 11 million Ghanaians under the National Health Insurance Scheme, production of 650,000 metric tons of cocoa annually and the establishment of about 28 banks in Ghana makes the NPP a better option than the NDC", Mr. Adjei said.
Mr. Ben Amoah, secretary of the Mass Support for Nana Akufo Addo and NPP campaign group, said members would work hard to ensure that floating voters and people who had just attained 18 years voted for the party in December.
He appealed to NPP Members of Parliament to support the group to enable it to achieve its objectives. Mr. Kwabena Agyei Amoyaw, co-ordinator of the group, said an NPP government led by Nana Akufo-Addo would establish industries to add value to raw materials before export to create more jobs for the youth. The group was made up of party supporters from parts of Accra including Kantamanto, Abofu ,Mamobi, Nima, Taifa, Roman Ridge, East Legon, and 37 Licensing Office.