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The presidential candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, had a very busy weekend after returning from energy sapping campaign tour of the Volta Region where he received massive endorsement from opinion leaders.

After returning from the Volta region on Friday evening, Nana Addo hit the road on Saturday, with a campaign tour of some constituencies at Ablekuma and Okaikoi ending it on Sunday at Tema with massive regional rally.

The crowd at Tema according to pundits was comparable to the huge crowd recorded at the Trade Fair site during the manifesto launch earlier in the month.

Nana Akufo-Addo reiterated his appeal to Ghanaians to vote out President John Mahama in this year’s elections, stressing that his continued stay in office was a major threat to the future of Ghana.

According to Nana Akufo-Addo, Ghanaians have become too miserable under the leadership of President Mahama, as his tenure has been characterized by politics of deception and propaganda, massive levels of unemployment, despondency, rising cost of living and severe hardships amongst the citizenry.

The NPP flag bearer stated that it was inexplicable that Ghana, a nation blessed with abundance of human and natural resources, is drenched in poverty, leading many to lose hope in the ability of the country to offer them a decent standard of living.

“The unavailability of jobs and the rising levels of hardship can only be alleviated by the use of our thumbs. We have to vote and bring change to Ghana. I am appealing to you to repose your confidence in me and the elephant. Give me the opportunity to serve you so we can implement policies which will create jobs and bring wealth to all Ghanaians,” he said.

Nana Akufo-Addo made this comment on Saturday, when he took his campaign to the Okaikoi South and Ablekuma Central constituencies Accra, after ending his five-day tour of the Volta Region.

When he stopped at Kokompe, Kaneshie Market and Bubuashie – (in the Okaikoi South constituency) – and the Town Council Line in Ablekuma Central, Nana Akufo-Addo was mobbed by thousands of Ghanaians yearning for a change in their circumstances.

Standstill

As the NPP leader toured these constituencies, commercial activities came to a complete standstill amidst chants of “Nana oo Nana,” “Yɛresesamu” and “Afe yi yɛ w’afe” (“We are effecting a change,” “This is your year to come to power).

Addressing residents in these constituencies, Nana Akufo-Addo revealed that the NPP has fashioned out a lot of policies and programmes, and have competent men and women who will help to rapidly develop the country.

The only way to bring these policies into fruition, and return Ghana onto the path of progress and prosperity, according to Nana Addo, is by voting out the incompetent and corrupt government of President Mahama.

The NPP flag bearer urged the crowd to have hope and consider the fact that a government is on its way, “God-willing,” from 2017, which will bring development, progress and prosperity to every corner of the country without discrimination.

“As is stipulated by law, the time has come, this year, for us to vote and decide who leads us. Let us use the power of our thumbs to change Ghana by bringing in a government that can change our circumstances, and bring relief, progress and prosperity to all,” he added.

At Kokompe, where President Mahama had been hooted at a week ago, Nana Akufo-Addo assured the spare parts dealers, as well as Ghanaian entrepreneurs and small business owners that his government would provide a conducive and enabling environment for their businesses to flourish.

With the major concerns of business owners at Kokompe being the unstable nature of Ghana’s currency, high interest rate by banks as well as high import duties, they told the NPP leader that those problems posed serious challenges to the survival of their businesses.

Nana assured them, “We, in the NPP are coming to change Ghana and ensure that our monetary system is solid, so that we can have a stable currency. When this happens, you, as business people, your businesses will grow. I need your support. Have confidence in me, and I assure you that I will never disappoint you.”

At Town Council Line, Nana Akufo-Addo reiterated, “President John Dramani Mahama’s continued stay in office poses a threat to the future of the country.”

He assured the constituents that he was not coming into office to steal the monies of Ghanaians, or lord the mandate given to him over them.

The programme of rapid industrialization, the one district, one factory the one village, one dam policies, the diversification of the country’s agriculture, the effective implementation of the Free SHS policy and the setting up of an Infrastructure for Poverty Eradication Programme (IPEP) – where every constituency will receive the cedi equivalent of $1 million a year to tackle developmental issues – he assured, would be fulfilled.

Targets 58%

At the Tema regional rally, the NPP vowed to win the Greater Accra Region with about 25 out of the 35 seats to ensure victory for Nana Akufo-Addo.

According to the party, Nana would win with a minimum of 58 percent in the region to bring the main opposition political party to power.

The party is of the view that Ghanaians are fed up with the bad leadership of John Dramani Mahama and are ready to give Nana a chance to turn the fortune of the country around.

The campaign launch was dubbed, “Operation Win Greater Accra.”

Addressing party faithful, Nana Akufo-Addo charged parliamentary candidates from the region to win majority of the popular votes and majority of seats, as that would guarantee an NPP victory in December.

He explained that even before Ghana attained independence, the political party that always emerged victorious in the Greater Accra Region won the national elections.

“Right from Kwame Nkrumah’s time in the 1951 elections, they say if you win Accra, you win Ghana. We have to win Greater Accra to win Ghana in 2016. We in the NPP have done it before. In 2000, we did it. We can repeat it in 2016,” Nana Akufo-Addo charged.

To this end, he urged parliamentary candidates and constituency executives to co-operate with one another and work hard for victory this year.

The NPP flag bearer appealed to party activists to employ the use of positive language that appeals to everybody, so that it becomes clear that the NPP is coming into power to work for all Ghanaians, without discrimination.

He stated that he’s not worried about the bad tag the NDC is giving him because he knows they are lies and propaganda to destroy him, but it will not wash since Ghanaians are now aware of the kind of peaceful person he is, urging the citizenry to give him the mandate to rule the country.

The NPP leader gave the assurance that his government is coming into office in 2017 to “revive the NHIS, effectively implement the free SHS policy, undertake the industrial development of Ghana – which will include the one district, one factory policy and revive our agriculture, amongst others.”

To bring all these into fruition, he appealed to Ghanaians to save the country from the despondency, hardship, rising cost of living, widespread cases of corruption and record levels of unemployment currently prevailing in the country by voting out President John Mahama in this year’s elections.