A former Torontonian, Dr. S. B Akoto, now the member of Parliament for Birim North recently visited Toronto on what he termed “a private visit” but took the opportunity to meet a small section of the community for a political chat at Al Curuba Hall. Dr. Akoto said he deemed his visit an opportunity to set up a platform to deliberate on the achievements of the N.P.P. Government in the past year and answer questions from the public pertaining to the administration of the new government and take some of the public's constructive suggestions.

Some people in the audience left disappointed as the MP did not seem to have much clues to certain questions posed to him. He apologized once at the beginning if he is not able to answer everybody’s question to his or her satisfaction since he was only an M.P. In fact he had to be rescued a couple of times by the Honorary Consul General, Dr. Martin La Kumi.

Dr. Akoto was however full of praise for the year-old NPP government. He spoke about the entrenchment of fundamental democratic principles, which has led to the freedom of expression. The NPP government, he said, has worked tirelessly to ensure that all laws that curtail individual rights are removed so that the rights of Ghanaians are never trampled upon again.

The forum was boring at times since the MP kept harping on issues and events that many in the audience already knew. It was like preaching to the converted. For example he dwelt a lot about the reduction in the inflation rate, the stabilization of the local currency, as well as events leading to the government’s adoption of the HIPC initiative.

He was full of praise for Finance Minister Hon. Yaw Osafo-Marfo whom the World Economic Forum recently selected as the 2nd best finance minister of the world. He lamented the decline in the quality of education in Ghana and said that the government was helping to bring some educational reforms into the system. The release of the BECE results of last year was very disappointing and horrifying. In many instances in the rural areas including the MPs constituency, some schools recorded 0% of the BECE examinations and this story is implicated over the whole country.

An appeal for financial help to his constituency yielded a meager $223.3