Kufuor Speaks On Aliens Compliance Order

The flagbearer of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Mr. J.A. Kufuor and his campaign team on Sunday turned the scales here when they stormed Kasoa at the start of a five-day tour of the Central Region.

Mr. Kufuor and his entourage were mobbed by ecstatic youth who were thrown into a frenzy at the arrival of the group in the town at 7.30pm bringing traffic movement and commercial activities to a temporal halt. The NPP flagbearer and his group had a hectic time making their way through the crowd of party supporters when moving towards the Kasoa chief's palace. Addressing the chief and his elders, Mr. Kufuour said that the Aliens Compliance Order of the 1970s is a thing of the past and under no circumstance will a government of the NPP re-introduce it. He said Ghana is a signatory to an Economic Community of West Africa States (ECOWAS) protocol that allows citizens of member countries to move about and settle wherever they want to pursue their livelihood.

The NPP, he said, sees all Zongo residents as playing a very important part in shaping the nation's economy and therefore assured them that an NPP government will co-operate with them. Mr. Kufuor said that it is to emphasise on this point that the party selected a running mate who hails from the North who happens to be a Zongo boy. He asked, "how can a Zongo boy be a party to a decision to deport other Zongo boys", describing such rumours as "a vile propaganda of lies to discredit the NPP and whip up negative sentiments" against it by the ruling NDC.

Mr. Kufuor stated that the 20 year rule of the PNDC/NDC has seen Ghanaians going through very difficult times evidenced in extreme poverty, high crime wave and its attendant problems and called for a sober reflection on the nation's situation.

He noted that the decline of the cedi is out of gear and that Ghanaians can no longer afford school fees, hospital bills, and that there is no hope for school leavers. Ghanaians, Mr. Kufuor said, are calling for a change but emphasised that the change should not be to pass on the buck to the NDC's Professor Mills, saying " the change should be in the form of changing the entire political leadership by voting for the NPP." The Odikro of Kasoa, Chief Seifu Yusif assured Mr. Kufuor of the support of the electorate at the Kasoa Zongo. He said that Kasoa needs pipe borne water, places of convenience and a proper refuse dump and urged the NPP flagbearer to see to those needs when he becomes the next president of Ghana.

The NPP team then left for Nyanyano late at about 9.05 p.m. and set the town alight on their arrival. Despite the late hour, a large crowd gathered to see the arrival of the team.

Mr. Kufuor told the crowd that the economy is out of gear and it is the government of the NPP that can bring it back on course to put back smiles on the faces of dejected Ghanaians.

He called on them to reject monetary inducements from any political party intended to influence them to make a wrong choice. Fisherman, farmers, traders and the entire workforce of Ghana according to Mr. Kufuor have been neglected and assured that NPP government "will place them where they truly belong." He called on Ghanaians to be courageous enough to change the NDC government.

Earlier Mr. Kufuor and his entourage were met at Winneba junction by a crowd led by Professor S.Y. Boafo, the Central Regional Campaign Manager of the party and national council member who led them to attend the annual harvest and fund raising of the Winneba Ebenezer Methodist Church. Mr. Kufuor and his entourage later addressed a large crowd of students and party supporters at the University College of Education at the South Campus and also paid courtesy calls on chiefs and elders of Gyangonadze, Essuekyir, Senya-Bereku and Awutu-Bereku where he also addressed mini rallies.