Kumasi, Oct 29, GNA - Dr Edward Mahama, presidential candidate of the People's National Convention (PNC), on Tuesday rounded off his campaign tour of the Ashanti Region with a rally at the Jubilee Park in Kumasi.

Addressing the gathering, Dr Mahama said the PNC, since its formation in the 1990s, had struggled for power and that the time has come for Ghanaians to experiment with the Party "as they have done with their contemporaries such as the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the New Patriotic Party (NPP)". He said the Party believed in promoting the welfare of Ghanaians, noting that, among the programmes the PNC had lined up if given the mandate bothered on education, technology, agriculture, sports, health, among others.

On technology for instance, he said a PNC government would institute a fund, which would aim at researching into the country's development potentials, by tapping the talents of people such as the artisans at the Suame Magazine in Kumasi. The fund, he said, would also cater for small and medium enterprises (SMEs), by organizing regular workshops for them on how they could add value to their products to benefit the nation. Regarding education, Dr Mahama pointed out that the Party would forge closer collaboration between education and employment, explaining that vocational and technical education was high on the agenda of the PNC as a means of equipping the high rate of unemployed youth in the country with the requisite skills.

The presidential candidate promised to develop sports at all levels, and that, since sports was closely linked to discipline, a chunk of the nation's budget would be allocated to the growth of the various sporting disciplines to inculcate patriotism and respect for the nation's youth.

He hoped the various sports programmes the Party had lined up would go a long way in curbing indiscipline among the youth, as sports in it self calls for greater discipline among those who participate in them. Madam Rita Afrakomah, Ashanti Regional Women's Organiser of the PNC, appealed to women to vote massively for the Party to better their living standards, observing that, it was the PNC which had comprehensive programmes to address the socio-economic needs of women and children.