As He Tours Constituencies In The Central Region

The NDC flagbearer for the 2008 elections, Prof. John Evans Atta-Mills, is making serious in-roads into the hearts and minds of the people of the Central region as he tours his homeland – the Central Region.

The tour, which started last Thursday, has thus far seen Prof. Mills visiting traditional authorities and opinion leaders in Gomoa, Ajumako, Assin, Mankesim, Winneba, Adjumako-Enyan-Essiam, KEEA, and several other constituencies in the Central region. Prof. Mills, who was mobbed at virtually every stop, told the people that they [the people] do not need him to tell them about the failure of the NPP to make life more bearable for the people of this country because everyone, apart from those who are close to President Kufuor and his associates, is feeling the pinch of the unfeeling and usually short-sighted policies of the NPP government.

Each time Prof. Mills made this point, the usually large crowds underscore the truism in the statement by shouting their approval and indicating that the lot of the Ghanaian has worsened under the NPP regime.

At Mankesim Market, where all activity came to a halt upon the arrival of Prof at the place, the learned Professor assured the people that the Central Region is not hated because of the way their votes went in the last election and urged them to learn from their past mistakes and support him to victory.

On the on-going energy crisis, Prof. Mills has been telling the people that it is most regrettable that the NPP rejected out of hand the NDC’s offer of assistance to solve the problem.

"We are all suffering under the energy crisis. We in the NDC see it as a national crisis that is why we offered the significant expertise that we have in the party to help bring the crisis to an early end, but, typical of the NPP, this offer was rejected out of hand," Prof. Mills said to a teeming crowd of ecstatic listeners at Ajumako.

He pointed out that, "even though the NPP has rejected our offer of help, I have instructed my Energy Advisors to continue to reach out to them through other means and offer any useful advise that would help them to resolve the crisis early."

"This crisis has led to, and continues to lead to, loss of several jobs, therefore adding to the woes of our people who are already impoverished. Some people can afford the cost of running generators or other battery-powered appliances, but it is for the larger population that cannot afford the necessary additional costs that these entail, that we are eager to help to resolve this crisis," Prof. Mills further pointed out.

On his visit to the Akosombo Dam, the law Professor cum Tax Expert said that but for his visit, the country would not have been told the true story of how the crippling energy crisis would stay with us for a while.

"It was my visit to Akosombo that gave all of us the true state of our energy affairs and so we now know that when President Kufuor and his insulting Energy Ministers tell us their tales, they are not being truthful to us" the NDC Presidential Candidate added.

Prof. Mills has also been speaking about his vision for the country, and promised that under his presidency the ethnic divisions that have become accentuated by the NPP’s divisive approach to governance would be a thing of the past.

"We are all, first of all, Ghanaians. By all means, let us take pride in our heritage, let us take pride in our roots, but these must never overcrowd our identity as Ghanaians, and when we have a national leadership that is conscious of forging national unity, its policies and how it distributes the national cake goes a long way to subdue ethnocentrisms while forging national unity," Prof Mills noted.

"I want to offer the kind of visionary and all-inclusive leadership that Kwame Nkurmah gave us, where our national anthem and national flag means more to us than our tribes and clans, that is why I am humbly asking you to give me your mandate to lead us back onto the path of oneness."

Prof Mills indicated that his manifesto outlining his full vision for the country under his presidency would soon be outdoored in the line with the Social Democratic tenets of the NDC.

Prof. Mills has also been meeting with Constituency and Branch Executives on how to oil the party’s machinery towards campaigning for the 2008 elections.

An aide to Prof. Mills, Nii Lantey Vanderpuije, told this reporter that Prof. Mills attaches great importance to his meetings with the party structures because "politics is about involving locals. And the people who best understand local politics are those who are with the people. That is why Prof. attaches great importance to meeting constituency and branch executives."

"After Prof. has left, the mantle would now fall on the constituency and branch executives to, as it were, nurture and groom the seeds that the Prof has come to sow in their constituencies and branches, so you can see why it was important that he meets with the executives," Mr. Vanderpuije posited.

Prof Mills is being accompanied by the likes of Vallis Akyianu, Central Regional Chairman of the NDC, Ama Benyiwa Doe, National Women’s Organiser, Allotey Jacobs, Central Regional Propaganda Secretary, Peter Light Coomson, Central Regional Secretary, Patrick Aniagyei, Central Regional Organiser, Antwi Boasiako Sekyere, Aide to Prof Mills, and Nii Lantey Vanderpuije who is in charge of Operations at the Office of Prof Mills

Prof. Mills is expected back in Accra on Saturday to attend the funeral of the late wife of Nana Ato Dadzie, Chief of Staff in the NDC government, after which he would be moving to the Eastern Region to continue with his grassroot approach to mobilizing support.