PHOTO: Nana Akufo-Addo Eating In A London Joint

The Presidential Candidate for the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has addressed, perhaps, the most impressive Ghanaian gathering in the political history of Ghana in London. Thousands of Ghanaians from all political divides and religious affiliations trooped to the Dominion Centre in North London to listen to the man who is highly tipped to be the next President of Ghana. The hall, which has a capacity of about 2,000, was packed. The atmosphere leading to the arrival of Nana Addo and his entourage, which included former ministers of the Kufuor regime, NPP members of Parliament as well as parliamentary candidates, was electrifying. They chanted party slogans and choruses while parliamentary candidate for Ablekuma South Ursula Owusu taught the large crowd some new slogans. �NPP- Bumper to Bumper�, �NPP Fire to Fire� and �NPP We Shall Return� appeared to have caught on very well with the gathering, most of them, party members. There was a lot of dancing around the big auditorium provided for the occasion by the Dominion Worship Centre. The announcement of the arrival of Nana Addo gingered huge excitement amongst almost everyone but he could only be seen via a close circuit television system which was projected onto two giant screens. Aseibu Amanfi�s latest release- �All Die Be Die�- provided all the excitement to spark off dancing. The standing ovation, the spur-of-the-moment dancing to the song as well as the waving of scarves and handkerchiefs in party colours represented an epic welcome to the president in waiting. Nana Addo joined in the dancing and tried to shake hands with as many people as possible, starting with the traditional rulers and other opinion leaders present. Speaker after speaker outlined the issues of disappointment by the NDC government, adding that the ruling party was completely running down the resources of the country. A very beautiful cultural display heralded Nana Addo�s thought-provoking speech which was interspersed with prolonged applause and party slogans by the gathering. Nana Addo thanked all Ghanaians in the Diaspora for their enormous contributions to the development of the economy and the support to their families and friends back home. He also saluted non-party members in the crowd and noted that their attendance had shown Ghana�s maturity in democracy. The presidential candidate catalogued key issues which, according to him, would confront his government when the mandate is given to him. He mentioned education, which he said was in shambles. After providing statistics to prove his point, he suggested means of arresting the problem which include committing a huge part of the nation�s GDP towards the provision of sound education in Ghana. He gave the assurance that even though the NDC had virtually collapsed the nation�s educational sector, the NPP had the ability to turn things around. The programme, which was carried live on a number of radio stations in London, was also used to welcome new members into the party.