By Maxwell Awumah
Kadjebi (O/R), Nov 29, GNA – Mr. Mustapha Tassah, Akan New Patriotic Party (NPP) Parliamentary Candidate (PC) and Madam Mary Yawa Aforla, Akan Liberal Party of Ghana (LGP) PC, have outlined their vision for the Akan Constituency in the Oti Region, if elected as Member of Parliament.
The forum was the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) Parliamentary Candidates’ Dialogue.
Mr. Yao Gomado, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) PC and the incumbent Member of Parliament for Akan was not present.
The engagement seeks to create platforms for the PCs to share their visions, interact with the constituents, increase commitment from them to issues-based campaigning and raise awareness about tolerance and peace before, during and after the elections.
The questions for the dialogue were premised on Education, Employment, Health, Roads, and Economy based on a Research on “Matters of Concern to the Ghanaian Voter” carried out by the NCCE.
In welcome address, Mr. Daniel Agbesi Latsu, Kadjebi District Director, NCCE, said, every election year, the NCCE conducted research dubbed “Matters of Concern to the Ghanaian Voter” to enhance issues-based political campaigns and voter education and that the findings were used as the basis for the Commissions’ Parliamentary Candidates’ Dialogue in all the constituencies in the country.
He said the dialogue served as a platform for the PCs to outline their visions and not meant to get a winner or loser.
Mr. Latsu appealed to the electorates to help sustain the peace in the country by abstaining from violent acts before, during and after the December 7 polls.
“Peace is not merely a distant goal that we seek, but a means by which we arrive at that goal. Amid all provocations; let us stop, think, and then act in a transformative manner,” he added.
Mr. Setriakor Gagakuma, Deputy Oti Regional Director of NCCE, said politics was a contest of ideas and that the superior idea carried the day.
He said voting for a candidate should be based on competency, but not on ethnicity, race, religion, or gender.
Mr. Gagakuma said Ghana had been touted as the beacon of democracy in the Sub-Saharan Region and that every effort should be made to help sustain this enviable reputation.
Mr. Tassah, Akan NPP PC, pledged to be a Servant, but not a Boss as he was a product of challenges because he started his secondary education in the remotest school, Dodi-Papase Senior High Technical School (DOPASS), but excelled.
He promised to provide scholarships to students that completed SHS and wanted to progress to the tertiary, set-up welfare scheme for teachers from part of his monthly salary.
The Private Legal Practitioner, said, there would be an Agriculture Depot for Akan where farm inputs would be sale at a factory price.
Mr. Tassah promised to be an accountable leader and that he would set up two offices; one in Accra and the other at Kadjebi where information would be accessed and feedback given.
He asked the electorate to vote him massively as MP and Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia as President on December 7, adding “I will serve you loyally with dedication and commitment”.
Madam Aforla, Akan LPG PC, pledged to provide scholarship to the needy-but -brilliant students as education was the bedrock of everything.
She said she would lobby non-governmental organisations for the construction of modernised classroom blocks for schools that did not have classrooms and that the classrooms would be stocked with the right teaching and learning materials.
Madam Aforla said women would be assisted to secure soft loans for their businesses when elected as MP and thus, encouraged the electorate to vote her as the first female MP and Mr. Kofi Akpaloo as Presidents come December 7.
The invitees and the PCs commended the NCCE for organising the dialogue.
GNA