NPP in business of winning elections, not power sharing- Appiah-Pinkrah

Accra, Oct. 24, GNA- Mr Kwabena Appiah-Pinkrah, MP for Akrofuom Constituency in the Ashanti Region, has stated that the incumbent and majority New Patriotic Party (NPP) would win the December elections hands down and would not engage in power-sharing with any party. The MP said there were no provisions in the First Law for power sharing, and anything like that would require constitutional amendments. Mr. Appiah-Pinkrah, in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) on developments in the Akrofuom Constituency queried, "Where in the Constitution do we have that concept of power sharing? His rejoinder was in an apparent reaction to the notion that there could be the call for power sharing after the December polls. "Our opponents are deluding themselves that Ghanaians are fed up with the NPP. The erstwhile Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC), and its successor the National Democratic Congress (NDC), were in power for 19, and we all stayed with them despite the gunshots and the bullets.

"Under the NPP's rule of nearly eight years, there have been no gunshots; and no bullet fired. Let the people decide and we would hand over power to any party that wins. We are not afraid of being in opposition.

"Ghanaians should decide on our programmes and the periods we should be in power. Let the Ghanaian decide, and we believe Ghanaians would make a very fair decision," Mr. Appiah-Pinkrah said, adding, "we are true democrats." Mr. Appiah-Pinkrah, who is also the Deputy Chairman of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Local Government, said the NPP had lived by the promises it gave the electorate before it came to power and that it had completed or about to complete most of the things it set out to do.

He said the Government was acceding to the call for the election rather than the appointment of the District Chief Executive (DCE), and had so far recommended an amendment to the Local Government Act, Act 462 to give way to the election of District Chief Executives. "We need to amend Act 462, to enable us do that job; but the amendment has taken time because other documents come into play. Mr Appiah-Pinkrah advised politicians to protect the integrity and personality of political opponents, explaining that they were all working for Ghana with different methods.

He said campaigns should be directed at issues rather than attacking personalities "We are all working for Ghana, but we can never be the same. We should learn how to build democracy."

The Akrofuom MP, a Development Consultant, catalogued number of development projects so far implemented such as improvement in mobile telephony services, construction of school classroom blocks from basic to secondary level, teachers bungalows, improvement of the road that linked the Constituency to the corridor and provision of a youth resource centre for training in basic employable skills. 24 Oct. 08