Regional News of Tuesday, 2 September 2003

Source: Chronicle

NPP to shake Anlo

CHRONICLE INVESTIGATIONS in the Anlo Constituency have revealed that the youth have unanimously resolved to vote for the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP), come next year general elections.

Stratified random sampling engaged in by The Chronicle indicated that the decision was as a result of an alleged disillusionment created among the residents in the area by Mr. Victor Gbeho, the Member of Parliament for the area.

“We all supported the NDC for the past years, but we have come to realize that the NDC MPs incidentally happened to be an old diplomats and retired personalities. These personalities failed to interact with us and brief us about the proceedings in the Parliament.

“These retired MPs’ interaction with us and also plans to avert the problems facing us in the constituency leave much to be desired. To this end, we have resolved to change the baton not because of anything but because of disillusionment, lack of employment, mass exodus of intellectuals and among others in the area,” a cross-section of the youth interviewed told The Chronicle.

According to them, they would ensure that the NPP not only shake the NDC but also send shock waves through the spines of the NDC and its MP, irrespective of the NDC’s indomitability.

When The Chronicle contacted the aspiring MP, Mr. Edward Eddah, who is contesting on the ticket of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP), he said the disillusionment, lack of development and high unemployment among others would be relegated to the background when he is given the nod in the primaries.

He expressed his dismay about the inability of his predecessors to avert the unbearable situations in the area which had made most of the intellectuals to desert their home towns for the cities to seek for white-collar jobs.

“I feel embarrassed when I see how our Volta Region, especially the constituency, desert the area due to poor infrastructure, lack of development and others, I am compelled to go into parliament to eradicate and bring smiles on the faces of the residents,” the MP said.

Mr. Eddah, the 1992 senior prefect of Zion Secondary School, stated that his reason for wanting to be the MP in the constituency is to provide the youth leadership training for them to take the advantage of the government’s initiatives so that a better future is created for them.

“I would lobby for the government to establish Agro-based business, industrialization which is the key factors in developing the country, to establish tomato factory and also harness the Presidential Special Initiatives to promote Golden Age of Business,” he added.

Mr. Eddah, who would soon teach Government and Social Studies at the Zion Secondary School and doubles as a government appointee in the sub committee in the Akatsi District Assembly, said he would set aside part of his MP’s common fund to assist communities that embark on self help developmental projects, clinics, built and rehabilitate dilapidated class rooms.

According to him, the people in the constituency have experienced bitter lives during the NDC administration. He said the NPP is now poised to render good services to the people in the area.

“My philosophy is that service to mankind is service to God and a service rendered in the best interest of the people.”

Mr. Eddah, a University of Ghana, Legon graduate, who is also a second vice chairman of NPP in the Avenor constituency, described the NDC’s campaign message in 2000 elections that the NPP would be given to Togo as unfortunate and a pronouncement which could not hold water.