President John Evans Atta Mills arrived in Sunyani on Tuesday aboard the presidential jet that landed at 0840 hours to address the national May Day celebration.

The day, set aside by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) to be observed as a holiday in solidarity with workers worldwide, is being celebrated outside Accra for the first time in the country.

Among the President’s entourage were Mr. Martey Newman, Chief of Staff, Mr. Kobby Acheampong, Deputy Minister of Interior, Mr. Koku Anyidoho, Head of Communications at the Presidency and other Presidential Staffers and Ministers of State.

At the airport to welcome Prof. Mills were Mr. Kwadwo Nyamekye-Marfo, Brong-Ahafo Regional Minister and his deputy, Mr. Eric Opoku, Alhaji Collins Dauda, Minister of Transport, Mr. Johnson Asiedu-Nketia, General Secretary of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Mr. Kofi Asamoah, Secretary General of the Trades Union Congress (TUC), some traditional rulers and other NDC party functionaries.

The scene at the airport was a spectacle to behold as the Tanokrom cultural troupe of the Centre for National Culture (CNC) in Sunyani treated the gathering to artistic and skillful traditional drumming and dance to the admiration of all before the President’s arrival.

Feverish preparations were carried out at the Coronation Park, the venue for the occasion in Sunyani by the local May Day Planning Committee, under the auspices of the Brong-Ahafo Regional Coordinating Council chaired by the Regional Minister in collaboration with the National Committee for the celebration.

Meanwhile, a large group of workers clad in their various May Day polo T-shirts, joyously paraded the principal streets of Sunyani amidst brass band music and finally converged at the Park at 0900 hours to wait for the President’s arrival.

In view of the occasion, the central business district of the Brong Ahafo regional capital became busy with intense vehicular and human traffic.**