CHANGE VOTING PATTERN, URGES AKUO-ADDO (D/G Thursday July 17,2008 PAGE 17)

THE flag bearer of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has reiterated his appeal to voters in the Upper East Region to change their voting pattern and vote massively for the NPP.
That, he said, would ensure that the good works already started by the NPP administration would be sustained.
He explained that since 1992 the people of the region had never given their mandate to the NPP and stressed that the time had come for them to change their voting pattern.
Nana Akufo-Addo arrived in Bolgatanga on Tuesday to a tumultuous welcome by party faithful at the start of a four-day campaign tour of the region.
He told the party faithful to dismiss the notion that the NPP was an Akan party, stressing that the roots of the party cut across the entire country.
"Majority of Ghanaians have made up their minds that they are returning the NPP to power for the third time and I think it is important that this time round the people of this region do all within their power to share in the victory of the NPP by increasing the current two parliamentary seats it occupies," the NPP flag bearer told a crowd at a rally at the Bolgatanga Jubilee Park.
The tour will take him to eight out of the 13 constituencies in the region where he is expected to interact with party faithful, chiefs and other opinion leaders.
Constituencies excluded from his tour are Garu-Tempane, Bawku Central, Zebilla, Pusiga and Binduri.
Hundreds of party faithful defied an early afternoon downpour to welcome Nana Akufo-Addo to the region at the outskirts of Bolgatanga. Both lanes on the highway from Winkongo Junction to Bolgatanga were jammed with vehicles, while several motorcyclists, some without safety helmets, threw caution to the wind by riding dangerously.
Little wonder, two motorcyclists were rushed to the Bolgatanga Central Hospital at the back of a party van after their motorbikes had collided and they had sustained severe injuries at the ADB Junction in the heart of Bolgatanga.
Dwelling on some of the development projects embarked on by the Kufuor Administration, Nana Akufo-Addo urged Ghanaians to return the party to power to continue with its good development works.
He said his major vision for the three northern regions would be to close the development gap between the north and the south, stressing that he wanted to be the one to lead the process of bridging the gap through the establishment of the Northern Development Fund.
The NPP flag bearer also said his government would inject modernity into agriculture, especially in the northern part of the country to transform the area into the bread basket of the country.
He said his administration would embark on an extensive irrigation programme, while more dams, boreholes, as well as rain harvesting techniques, would be introduced to turn the area around.


Nana Akufo-Addo also mentioned that his government intended to establish more vocational and technical schools, as well as agricultural colleges, for the training of the youth "so that we can get the skills needed to drive the transformation of the north".
The NPP flag bearer and his entourage had earlier called on the Paramount Chief of the Bolgatanga Traditional Area, Naba Martin Abilba, and the Tindana (traditional landowner) of Soe, Nyaba Ayelgeya, to introduce himself to them.
The entourage later called on the Regional Chief Imam, Yussif Adam, at his mosque to seek his spiritual blessing.
Nana Akufo-Addo was accompanied by Messrs Yaw Osafo-Maafo; Alan Kyerematen and Dan Botwe, all former flag bearer aspirants, Hajia Alima Mahama, who is eyeing the vice-presidential slot, Madam Rita Asobayire, the NPP National Women's Organiser, the Upper East Regional Minister, as well as regional party executives.
Mr Kyerematen, overwhelmed by the large crowd that came to welcome Nana Akufo-Addo, called on the Electoral Commission to organise the elections immediately to see if the NPP would not win, while Mr Botwe urged all who had turned 18 to have their names registered when the EC opened the voters register later in the year.
The Upper East Regional Minister called for a united front if the NPP was to make inroads in the region.
Nana Akufo-Addo later met with regional, constituency and polling station chairmen to discuss the way forward for the party.