Jirapa U/W, April 6, GNA - Vice President John Dramani Mahama has said the NDC was sure to win the Jirapa bye election but cautioned that the people should not be taken for granted.

He appealed to the people to give the NDC a vote of confidence to build and strengthen the relationship and trust they had always shown to the NDC in all elections.

Mr. Mahama was addressing supporters of the NDC at a rally on Saturday to canvass for votes for the NDC in Jirapa bye election which comes off on April 7 following the death of Mr. Edward Kojo Salia. He said Ghanaians had high expectations of the government but called for patience with the government to enable it to put people of trust and responsibility in place to work to deliver on its promises. He assured Ghanaians that government would move as fast as possible and would not indulge in witch hunting but warned that if there were witches in the system they must behave appropriately not to be hunted. Vice President Mahama said probity and accountability on the part of people put in positions of trust would be pursued and those found to have faulted would be made to face the laws of the land without any discrimination.

"Fairness and justice would prevail for all in our quest to fight corruption and malfeasance in the system and those found guilty should not blame it on the government but on themselves", he said. On the development of the north, the Vice President said government had started work on the Savanna Accelerated Development Authority and assured the people that in the last quarter of this year its implementation would have been in place.

He said the Brazilian government would establish two shea butter extraction factories in the north to process and export the product to Europe.

Mr. Mahama said Sheanut farmers and pickers would form cooperatives and would be provided with gloves and Wellington boots to protect them from snake bites. Government would also provide a guarantee price for the crop to make it attractive to the people to encourage them to invest in shea plantation and picking of the crop.