Over 400 NDC members defect to NPP over economic hardship

The "JM toaso' campaign being espoused by operatives of the ruling National Democratic Congress government has suffered setbacks in some constituencies due to the current unprecedented hardship.

In the Afigya Kwabre North constituency of the Ashanti region, activists of the NDC are seen on daily basis flooding the constituency office of the opposition New Patriotic Party, ostensibly to get registered as new members of the party. So far, over 400 have defected to the NPP, according to available information.

Again, in areas where the NPP had never won elections, there are clear indications of the party making serious inroads in the constituency, and poised to emerge victorious at the December 7 polls.

Areas like Dua Ponkor, Oyira, Amponsakrom, Abidjan, and Tetrem Zongo, which had been loyal to the cause of the NDC are now clamouring and campaigning for a shift in voting direction that will favour the presidential bid of Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.

According to leaders of the defectors, the economic hardship, lack of respect from their former party leaders, neglec, as well as their quest to seek better future for their children, informed their decision to join the NPP.

Seidu Ayariga, Awudu Zackaria, Owusu Donkor and Agya Abraham told the Daily Statesman that all their children are home after completing SHS and Polytechnics due to lack of jobs in the system.

"We see no reason why we should continue to stay in a party which does not recognize the efforts made by its core people. Times are too hard and if we live blindly under the NDC all in the name of love, then we are creating a bad future for our children," one of the defectors said.

For Seidu Ayariga in particular, all his children are currently staying at home because he has no means to pay the high school fees.

According to him, anytime he looks at the pain that his children go through, he curses the day he joined the NDC, stressing, "I'm really frustrated but I know with Nana Addo and the NPP, things shall be better from 2017. Nana Addo has been very consistent and focussed in his campaign, a very clean campaign and there is No turning back."

Meanwhile, the Afigya Kwabre North constituency of the NPP has launched its 2016 campaign, with a 32-man campaign team billed to secure a historic landslide electoral victory in December.

Co-chaired by the constituency Chairman and the Member of Parliament for the area, Daniel Dweteh-Agyare and Nana Amaniampong respectively, the team is made up of both current and old executives in the constituency.

They were charged to focus on the youth and the settlers in the constituency, whilst explaining to them policies and vision of the NPP, what the party stands for and what the people stand to gain under the presidency of Nana Akufo-Addo.

The constituency chairman, Daniel Dweteh-Agyare, explained to the Daily Statesman that they would focus on these two key areas because the "1-district-1-factory" that the party has been championing is all about giving jobs to the teeming jobless youth in the country.

"That is why Nana Addo's vision of creating a factory in each district resonates with the youth, and it is our duty to get all the youth involved in this campaign, to give a resounding victory to the NPP and Nana Addo," he stated.

According to him, the constituency campaign will for the first time focus on areas which had been detrimental to the electoral fortunes of the party in the constituency.