Cape Coast, Nov. 27, GNA - The entire Cape Coast township became the scene of a carnival, as hundreds of members and supporters of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), converged at the Victoria (Jubilee) park for a mammoth rally, on Wednesday afternoon.

Some of the numerous party faithful, comprising people of various ages, but mostly made up of the youth, sported 't' shirts embossed with the picture of the NPP presidential candidate Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and those of the various NPP parliamentary candidates in the central region.

Although the rally had been scheduled to begin at 3pm, the crowd had converged at the venue from as early as 0900 hours, dancing to songs popular to the party, and were thrown into a frenzy, when the President, Mr John Agyekum Kufour and Nana Akufo-Addo arrived at about 4:45pm, amidst, the singing of the party's adopted song "go go high". The Vice-President, Alhaji Aliu Mahama, who arrived earlier, at about 4:20pm, was also given a rousing welcome.

In his address, President Kufuor, reiterated that the forthcoming election would determine the future of the country, and stressed that it was the NPP which had the best interest of the people at heart. He therefore repeated calls on Ghanaians to refrain from voting for politicians who are bent on beating war drums and inciting the people to chaos, and pointed out that if such people did not want to adhere to the rule of law in the country, and want to move backward, the rest of the country would want to move forward.

The President, was optimistic that the NPP would win the majority votes in the Greater Accra, Central, Western, Ashanti, Brong-Ahafo and Northern regions and perform well in the Volta region, and was particularly impressed at the massive turn out of the youth at the rally, saying this was a "realization that the youth of Ghana are saying that Nana Akufo-Addo is their candidate".

He assured the people that within the next three to five years on the NPP's retention of power the country's socio-economic development would be accelerated, adding that his administration had already laid a solid foundation.

According to the President, the NPP's good work has been recognized all over the world, and that the international community, is commending Ghana for its achievements and are referring to Ghana as "a shinning black star".

He recounted the state of affairs in the country when he assumed office, when the economy was in a poor state and there was lack of rule of law, and pointed out that despite the situation, his government did not set out to pursue wrongdoers, but instead sought to put the economy back on track and reconcile the nation. The Vice-President Alhaji Aliu Mahama, enumerated several programmes undertaken by the government to improve the well being of the people, such as the school feeding programme and the capitation grant, and reminded the people of the NPP presidential candidate's plans for free secondary school education. According to him, "under Nana, greater things are going to happen to this country in the next four years". He later introduced Nana Addo to the crowd.

For his part, Nana Akufo Addo told the crowd that the question all Ghanaians should ask is whether they want the nation to go forward or backwards, and echoed calls on the people to vote the NPP back into power, since it is the only party that can take the nation forward. He also touched on the state of affairs in the country when the NPP assumed office, and said despite the situation at the time President Kufuor's administration has been able to mobilize resources to develop the country and to lay a solid foundation for him to build upon. He repeated his promises to ensure that the country became industrialized by adding value to her raw materials and of his intentions to enhance agro-processing in the central region which abounds in citrus fruits.

The NPP presidential candidate also spoke of the benefits to be derived from the nation's discovery of oil. On his bid for the presidency, Nana Akufo Addo, told the people that contrary to what his detractors were saying, he was running for the presidency to accelerate the social, economic and political development of the country, and not to amass wealth for himself, adding that he wanted to build a country where there was respect for the rule of law and human rights and where democracy thrived. All the party's parliamentary candidates had earlier been introduced to the crowd.