I will guard public purse - Akufo-Addo

Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, the 2016 presidential candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), has assured Ghanaians that he will treat all citizens with utmost respect and also jealously guard the public purse if elected as president in the December 7 polls.

“I am not coming into office to lord power over the people. Neither am I coming into office to use disrespectful language on the people. I will not say to Ghanaians that they have short memories. I am also not coming into office to steal the people’s money to fill my pockets. That is not why I am seeking your mandate.”

The three-time presidential candidate made this known when he addressed residents at Ateiku, a village in the Wassa East constituency in the Western Region on the first day of his tour of the region.

Mr Akufo-Addo assured Ghanaians that: “I am coming into office to use the little wisdom, knowledge and strength the good Lord has given me to help move Ghana forward, so we can create wealth, jobs and prosperity for all Ghanaians.”

He noted that “every nation whose leader has love for the country, is experienced, and is backed by an able team of competent men and women, is a nation which will transform its circumstances and improve on the livelihoods of its citizenry within a relatively short period of time.”

That, the NPP flag bearer stressed, “is what I am offering the good people of Ghana”.

Mr Akufo-Addo said his industrialisation promises: ‘1-District-1-Factory’ policy; ‘1-Village-1-Dam’ policy; 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, will be implemented if he is given the mandate to serve Ghana in the December 7 election.

“These are not election policies. I am not one to make promises I know I cannot keep, all in the hope of getting votes. I have too much love and respect for Ghanaians to make promises which I cannot fulfill. We have thought through all these policies very well, and we know it can be done.”

He reiterated that: “We in the NPP will not make promises we cannot keep. When we said we were going to implement the NHIS, they (NDC) said it could not be done. However, President Kufuor did it. Likewise, I am telling Ghanaians that Free SHS policy, amongst others, will be truly implemented to the benefit of all.”

With one of the mainstays of residents of Ateiku being the cultivation of cocoa, Mr Akufo-Addo assured them that his government, if given the mandate, will institute measures including the payment of significantly higher producer prices for cocoa above the levels which the NDC administration has provided to farmers in the last 8 years; reintroduction of bonuses scrapped by the NDC government and reintroduction and non-politicisation of the mass spraying exercise and the hi-tech programmes.

While in the region on Friday, the NPP flag bearer visited Mpohor, Shama and Effia constituencies, climaxing his tour on the day with a mini-rally at the Takoradi polytechnic.