The 2016 presidential candidate of the New Patriotic Party, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has assured residents of Afram plains in the Eastern Region of an improvement in their living standards as well as the provision of much needed infrastructural development if he wins this year’s elections.

At Tease, a small town in the Afram Plains South Constituency, on Wednesday, November 16, Nana Akufo-Addo noted that: “Afram Plains should have been a very wealthy part of Ghana, as a result of the resources and the vast tracts of arable land here. However, this is not the case.”

He, nonetheless, has assured that “under an Akufo-Addo government, there will be wealth and prosperity for all in Afram Plains”, and has, therefore, appealed for the support of residents of Afram Plains North and Afram Plains South constituencies in this year’s elections. According to Nana Akufo-Addo, the NPP has fashioned out policies and programmes aimed at ensuring the rapid development of Afram Plains, through the creation of jobs, increasing agricultural productivity through the setting up of irrigation systems, as well as the establishment of the Infrastructure for Poverty Eradication Programme (IPEP). Under IPEP, the NPP flagbearer assured the Chiefs and people of Afram Plains that his government, God-willing, will allocate US$1 million per year, per constituency, to tackle issues relating to infrastructural needs of constituencies, such as sanitation, roads and water supply.

With high levels of unemployment amongst the youth being a major problem facing residents of Afram Plains, Nana Akufo-Addo reiterated his pledge of helping to establish a factory in the Afram Plains district, under his 1-District-1-Factory policy, to address these issues. To this end, he stated that his government, in collaboration with the private sector, will help set up a cassava processing facility in Afram Plains, which will help create jobs for the youth, as well as increase agricultural productivity of farmers, whilst, at the same time, guaranteeing a ready market for farmers.

“What I have said to you this afternoon are not election year gimmicks. I am not coming into office to say things I cannot do. Everything I have said to you has been well-thought through, and will be implemented to the letter.

All you have heard me say today are solutions I will implement,” he added. He, thus, appealed to residents of Afram Plains, where the NPP has never won in either the presidential or parliamentary vote since 1992, “to ride, in this year’s elections, on the back of the Elephant, and help push the Elephant into Jubilee House, so we can perform a task for the people of Ghana, which will bring jobs, wealth and prosperity to all, without discrimination.”

“I am not coming into office to lord power over the people. Neither, am I coming into office to use disrespectful language on the people. I will not, for instance, promise a 1-time health insurance premium and forget about it when in office. I will not say to Ghanaians that they have short memories. I am also not coming into office to steal the people’s money to fill my pockets. That’s not why I am seeking your mandate.”

Whilst in Afram Plain South, Nana Akufo-Addo also visited Ekye Amanfrom and Maame Drobo; and Donkorkrom in Afram Plains North.