Cape Coast, Nov 28, GNA - The Presidential candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, on Thursday expressed the party's gratitude for the massive support given it by the people of the Central Region, and was confident that the region would continue to be the "NPP territory". He said the people of the region, have within the past decade, made the party the dominant political force, and was grateful for the support given him in particular, during the presidential primaries and on his election as the presidential candidate.

The NPP presidential candidate expressed these sentiments when he interacted with members of the press in Cape Coast, to expatiate on the import of the party's campaign messages, as part of his visit to the region.

He was happy that he has since his election as the party's candidate received "extremely warm sentiments from the region", and reiterated his party's commitment to enhance the well being of all Ghanaians if it retained power in the December poll. According to him, he was optimistic that the party would win one or two more seats in the election, because the people are appreciative that the government has been able to address their fundamental problems. Expatiating on his party's campaign messages, he recounted affairs in the country before his party assumed office and the efforts it has made to reverse the situation, and said the vision of the country's future would be based on the assessment of the capabilities of the people.

He stressed that the NPP was of the belief that the nation can achieve a lot, with the foundation laid by President Kufuor's administration, which he said has given a tremendous base to develop, and that conditions are now right to address central issues like how to transform the economy.

The NPP presidential candidate pointed out that this was essential, since the nation's economy has remained the same over the years and was not capable of delivering the prosperity needed, hence the need to industrialize the economy and make it capable of generating jobs and improving living standards. Nana Akufo-Addo said the NPP has the "best material" capable of giving the country high quality government, and which attached importance to human rights and the rule of law, and was also not just the only party with the most credible message, but the party that has been tipped to win the election.

He observed that the "NPP is firmly in the lead and headed for an unprecedented third term in office. On the NPP's plans to improve education, he said facilities at the senior high schools would be expanded to improve the quality of education and of teachers, and that it plans to spend 10 percent of the nation's GDP on education, from the current nine percent. The NPP presidential candidate, stressed that the NPP was united in its quest to ensure the peaceful conduct of the elections, to help ensure the maintenance of the current flow of investment into the country, which he said has reached a record US$5billion, due to the prevailing peace and stability. He in this regard, echoed calls on the need to ensure the peaceful conduct of the elections, and said in view of the events in places like Kenya and Nigeria, Ghana owed it a duty to provide an inspiration as the beacon, and called on the media to help expose elements who were out to create chaos.

Throwing more light on the government's plans to ensure quality teachers and teaching, Mr Yaw Osafo-Maafo, a member of the NPP campaign team and one time minister of education, said the government had cancelled the automatic study leave for teachers because of its negative effect. He explained that in 2005, a total of 15,600 teachers applied for study leave, despite the fact that the teacher training colleges turn out a total of 8,400 newly trained teachers annually, and said this would have left 7,400 classrooms without teachers, if the trend had been allowed to continue.

He said the government therefore decided to provide free distance education for teachers to supplement study leave, to ensure that there was a balance between the turn out of teachers and those on study leave. Among the NPP presidential candidate's entourage were Mr Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey, chairman of the national campaign committee and Mr Stephen Asamoah-Boateng, MP for Mfantseman-west.