Kaleo (U/W), Sept 9, GNA - Mr Alban Bagbin, Minority Leader in Parliament has said that he is in politics to help secure development for poor people and not to acquire properties like some others were doing.

"I do not treasure wealth. For the 16 years that I have been in Parliament, I use the little resources at my disposal to support poor people and not to build houses for myself".

Mr Bagbin said this when he inaugurated a 20,000-Ghana Cedi street lighting project which he financed with his share of HIPC funds for Kaleo community in the Nadwli District of the Upper West Region. The project was initiated by the Kaleo Optimists Club, a development oriented group of Kaleo citizens resident in Wa, the Regional capital.

Mr Bagbin, who is the Member of Parliament for Nadowli West Constituency, in apparent response to his opponents, said he had risen to a high level in politics that he could not come down.

"I am the most experienced opposition leader in the Commonwealth today. I have risen to a point that I cannot come down. Only the NPP has come down for their elephants to turn to Kangaroos".

He said those who thought they could win the constituency seat through malice should revise their strategies.

To buttress his integrity further, he said he did not know the contractor who executed the street lighting project that he commissioned neither did he see the cheque.

"I don't need to know the contractor who worked on the project or see the cheque. My duty was to ensure that the work was done," he stated.

The Minority Leader expressed his gratefulness to his constituents for the various honours they had bestowed on him and for their continuing support.