NDC Presidential Candidate, Professor John Evans Atta Mills, has for the first time since he started working towards the electoral victory of his party in the 2008 elections, made it emphatically clear that he knows for a fact that Ghanaians would give him the nod to be the next president.
Prof Mills made the point last Thursday when he interacted with teachers and non-academic staff of the Great Lamptey Mills School around the Gaskia Cinema at Zongo Junction, as part of his community-to-community approach to reaching out to the electorate.
The former Vice President, who is known to exude humility in his approach to politicking, told his captive audience that it is very obvious that Ghanaians are currently up to their brow with the gross inefficient rule of Kufuor and his NPP government and that come December 2008, there is no way he and the NDC would not be given the mandate to restore hope to the people of Ghana.
“I have been going round for sometime now and I can assure you that Mills will win in 2008” a confident Prof Mills said.
“And it is precisely because I know I will win that is why I have decided to intensify my new style of campaigning to not only acquaint myself more with the issues, but to also look the people in the eye and promise them an honest and humble leadership that would seek first the interest of the have-nots before seeking the interest of those who have” the professor added.
On the specific issue of how the NPP is not making any effort to address the problem of teachers, and how pro NPP SSS dropouts are being recruited as teachers by the NPP under the so-called Youth Employment Programme, the NDC Presidential Candidate, himself a teacher of repute, assured the teachers that a Mills government would stretch every sinew to make sure that teachers, and problems associated with the teaching profession, are given the attention they deserve.
“I am a teacher just like you and I know the sacrifices that you are making to give the future generation a solid educational foundation and I can assure you that a Mills government would not keep teachers out of the classrooms for months un-end because of an obstinate approach to dealing with your concerns” the former university don said.
“When in 2000, I said that university graduates should consider going into teaching, the NPP run a series of advertisements on TV and radio with some young men and women saying that when they want proper work to do Mills is asking them to go and teach so they would show Mills. Well, they showed me but we are all aware of what is now happening to the teaching sector” the professor said further.
“I tell you, it is the NPP’s mentality that teaching is not a proper job that is making them treat teachers in such an unacceptable way and you can rest assured that a Mills government would give every attention to the teachers” the law professor added.
Excited, and full of admiration for Prof Mills, the teachers on their part thanked Prof Mills for making it a point to interact with all categories of persons including teachers so that he can hear and see things for himself.
Indeed, one of the teachers, who is a known staunch supporter of the NPP, after the interaction with Prof Mills, pledged his total support for the professor and promised to swing whatever support he can swing from the NPP to the NDC.
The teachers also wished Prof Mills well, and hoped that the professor’s strong conviction that he would be the next president would come to pass so that the teacher that he is, he would pay the needed attention to the teaching profession.
At the Central University, where Prof Mills interacted with Staff and Students, the NDC Presidential Candidate further reiterated his conviction that Ghanaians were in the mood to give him the nod next year and that as somebody who was closely associated with education for close to thirty years, his presidency would continue from where the NDC left off as regards the establishment of the GETFUND which was meant to cater for educational infrastructure at the tertiary level in both the private and public universities.
