exercise

Apedwa (E/R), Feb. 21, GNA- The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Nana Akufo-Addo, has called on the polling stations executives of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) to be extra vigilant during the forthcoming voters registration exercise to ensure that the nation obtained a credible voters register.

Addressing a meeting with the Polling Station Executives of the Apedwa Zone of the Abuakwa constituency at Apedwa on Saturday, he reminded them that since the Electoral Commission (EC) had itself admitted that the current voters register was bloated with fictitious names, it was incumbent on them to be vigilant to ensure that only qualified persons registered to avoid the recurrence of the same situation.

Nana Akufo-Addo who is also the MP for the constituency, reminded them that as the mainstay of the party and "indeed the nation", their ability to work for the party's victory in this year's election was crucial to enable the Kufuor administration continue with its positive change of the country.

He, therefore, asked them to ensure that they campaign and monitor the December elections effectively for the NPP to win the constituency again "whether it is divided in to two or not".

Nana Akufo-Addo said the remarkable achievements chalked by the government with three years including the five times increases in cocoa producer price and infrastructure development should let them boast to the electorate that the NPP would never misplace their faith.

"This should also let you accept defectors from other parties who are now seeing the light", he said, adding "We have a credible message to tell the electorate about our adherence to the rule of law, free speech arising from the repeal of the criminal libel law".

Nana Akufo-Addo said the Kufuor administration had nothing to be ashamed of since it was delivering on its electoral promises.

He commended the East Akim District Chief Executive, Mr Victor Asihene, for his good leadership that had put him among the best in the country and asked the people to continue to support him. Mr Asihene, on his part, enumerated a number of projects being undertaken by the district assembly including rehabilitation of feeder roads, markets, school blocks, drilling of boreholes and announced that the Apedwa town roads would be rehabilitated by the contractors working on the Apedwa-Bunso junction trunk road after the completion of the work.

The DCE who recently led the Ghana Standard Board to expose the manipulations of cocoa weighing scales by some cocoa purchasing clerks in the efforts to cheat cocoa farmers in the area, asked them to join in the crusade in their localities to ensure that farmers enjoyed the government's increases in the producer price of cocoa.

Mr Asihene who debunked the assertion in some quarters that the country's high cocoa production over the past two years was due to smuggling of the produce into the country, rather attributed it to the spraying exercises, saying the Eastern Region raised its cocoa output from 30,000 tonnes in 2002 to over 51,000 tonnes in 2003.

The Abuakwa Constituency chairman of the NPP, Mr Douglas Asare, asked the executives to maintain unity among membership of the party in the area and work hard to ensure the victory of the party come the December elections.