NPP to prove sceptics wrong in Upper West

Kojokpere (UW), June 23, GNA - Alhaji Abdul-Rahman Abubakari, Upper West Regional Chairman of the New Patriotic Party on Friday said the political terrain in the Region was becoming less difficult for the party and gave the assurance that it would prove all sceptics wrong by winning all the ten parliamentary seats in the 2008 election. "The NDC's perennial dominance in the Region is crumbling as evidenced by the mass defections that we are witnessing in all constituencies, fuelled by the good works of the government which the people are seeing on the ground and we are sure this will be translated into massive votes for the party in 2008".

Alhaji Abubakari was addressing a rally organized by the Kojokpere community youth wing of the party in the Nadowli East Constituency during which 120 people who had defected from the NDC were welcomed into the party. Two weeks ago, about 500 members of the NDC in the Nandom area left the party and joined the NPP. He urged those who were still in the NDC to compare the 19 years rule of PNDC/NDC to the six and half years of NPP in power to see which of them had performed better in meeting their aspirations.

"Within the six years you have been provided with good access roads, a school block and boreholes in Kojokpere and surrounding communities and we need your support to bring more projects including the extension of electricity to your community". He urged the defectors to canvass more support for the party saying, "the NPP is not a political organization that discriminates against new members but rather we respect each other and treat both old and new as equals".

Mr Stephen Engmen, Special Assistant to the Upper West Regional Minister said the NDC was fantasizing victory and assured the defectors that the NPP would retain power in 2008 and urged them to be bold to embrace their new party wholeheartedly. He put the frequent armed robberies being experienced in the country at the doorsteps of the PNDC, which he blamed for the proliferation of arms during its eleven-year rule. Mr Haruna Bagolin, a spokesman for the defectors said they had been influenced in their decision to quit the NDC by the good work of the government including the relatively stable and cheap prices of commodities like wax prints on the market. He said there was no turning back and assured the NPP that over 90 per cent of voters in the Kojokpere area would vote for it in the next elections.