Nigeria Guardian: Kufuor gives scorecard

IN the next couple of hours, Ghanaians will have finished electing a president and 230 parliamentarians.
Four parties presented candidates for the presidential polls while eight others are taking part in the parliamentary election.
Come-back seeking President John Kufuor's New Patriotic Party (NPP) is leading the pack followed by former Vice President John Evans Atta Mill's National Democratic Congress (NDC). The other presidential candidates are Mr George Aggudey of the Convention Peoples Party (CPP), and Dr Edward Mahama of the Peoples National Convention (PNC).
For the parliamentary polls there are 952 candidates with 101 women contesting.
Kufuor claims he has done enough to deserve a second four-year term. One of his campaign slogans is: "4 more for Kufuor in 04." Mills and his NDC say there is a need for change and called on Ghanaians to reject the ruling NPP and "vote for Mills for a better Ghana." The CPP claims it is a formidable party that can steer the affairs of the nation to the right track. Aggudey, a businessman who is the party's flagbearer says if elected, he would follow the vision of the party's founder, the late Dr Kwame Nkrumah, to build a stable economy for the country.
Mahama, a medical doctor who is the candidate for the Grand Coalition, says a vote for him will guarantee basic needs of the people, including free education and work for the unemployed.
The Electoral Commission yesterday said that all arrangements had been completed for a successful poll. It dismissed fears that there could be shortage of electoral materials at some polling stations.
The Commission's director, Mr Albert Kofi Arhin, said that all materials needed for the elections had been dispatched to the various districts for onward distribution to the polling stations today.
Arhin said that with the experience gained from the 1992, 1996 and 2000 exercises, Ghanaians were in a better stead to have a smooth election.
"As a human institution, there is bound to be hiccups but that should not be allowed to degenerate into misunderstanding that would destroy the beauty of the elections," he stated.
Arhin expressed hopes that with the training of candidates' agents and electoral officers, people would not have any cause to resort to physical means of solving issues during the election." With admonitions from party leaders, the clergy, chiefs and other opinion leaders, all the candidates have promised to accept the outcome of the polls.
Leaders of the parties met with the EC for several hours yesterday to firm up arrangements for peaceful, free and fair polls.
Not taking chances, the Regional Security Councils (REGSECS) in the four regions of Northern Ghana, namely, Brong Ahafo, Northern, Upper East and Upper West, have assured that adequate security measures have been put in place to ensure a peaceful election.
Rising from a meeting at Bolgatanga, the capital of Upper East Region, the REGSECs said they would deal with anyone who attempted to disrupt the smooth conduct of the polls.
A statement from the meeting cautioned voters to leave the polling stations after casting their votes to avoid falling foul of any electoral law.