NPP, NDC adopt strategies for run-off presidential elections

Tamale, Dec.11, GNA - Both the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in the Northern Region have started strategising to win the hearts of the electorate towards the December 28 presidential run-off.

Mr Clifford Braimah, the Regional Secretary of the NPP in a telephone interview with the GNA, said the party would hold a national executive meeting to draw up effective campaign strategies to convince the electorate to vote massively for Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, the party's flag bearer.

He said the strategies would be replicated at the regional level with modifications to suit the peculiarities of the various regions. Mr Clifford disagreed with the claim by the NDC that the party had already got the majority in Parliament.

He explained that the NDC had 112 elected parliamentary candidates as at now, the NPP had 110, the PNC and the CPP had two and one respectively, while there were four elected independent candidates. He said the NPP already had a working relationship with the independent candidates and was optimistic that with their cooperation and that of the PNC and CPP candidates, his party would have a majority in the House.

Alhaji Imoro I. A. Umar, the Regional Secretary of the NDC who also spoke in a telephone interview with the GNA, said the party would put emphasis on the failed policies of the NPP administration to win more votes for Professor John Evans Atta Mills in the run-off. He claimed that the decentralisation system, which was implemented by the NDC had become ineffective because the NPP administration was making deductions at source from the District Assemblies' Common Fund (DACF) to buy electric poles and for fumigation exercises. He said the School Feeding Programme had also failed because it was "packed with NPP party cronies", a situation he described as "jobs for the boys".

Mr Tanko Rashid the NDC Regional Treasurer and Director of Operations said the party would continue to highlight on its campaign messages of investment in the people and job creation. He said so far, the NDC had won 21 parliamentary seats out of the 26 seats in the region, adding that, in the presidential election the party's candidate also had an overwhelming majority of the votes. He said there was a clear indication that the people wanted a change and that was why they voted massively for the NDC in both the parliamentary and presidential elections.

Meanwhile some market women at the Tamale Central Market have expressed their unwillingness to turn out again on December 28 to cast their votes. They explained in an interview with the GNA that they were disappointed that a winner could not emerge in the December 7 presidential polls. 11 Dec. 08