If the New Patriotic Party (NPP) works hard and remains very vigilant in the November 7 polls, the party will be able to improve on its performance in the ‘World Bank’ of the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC), the Volta Region, during elections, Kamal-Deen Abdulai, Nasara Coordinator of the NPP has said.

According to him, the assertion that the NPP had been performing poorly in the region could not be right because statistics and figures available show that votes obtained in the region by the NPP have been increasing in every election.

Ahead of the November elections, he said if the NPP remained vigilant and averted rigging by the opponents, the number of votes for the party will shoot up dramatically.

“The NPP has the view that, indeed, if vigilance and hard work are in place, the Volta Region is a place we can make a lot of inflows,” he said, adding: “In 1996, if you look at the votes the NPP got, the then candidate Kufuor got 34,000 and that represented about 4.7 per cent between himself and Jerry Rawlings. Coming down to 2000, we saw an improvement, the figure obtained by the party represented 7.4% for the [main election], and in the run-off we appreciated to 10%.”

According to Kamal Deen, these figures were an indication that the NPP had actually been making a lot of inflows in the region and that defeats the assertion that the party has performed poorly in the region.

“In 2012, we got almost 111,000 votes for the presidential and the NDC got close to about 700,000.That is, of course, 34,000 in ’96 to 111,000 [in 2012],” he said on a local television station TV on Thursday evening, noting: “That is quite phenomenal, given the fact that it is the stronghold of the ruling NDC.”

The flagbearer of the NPP, Nana Akufo-Addo, is currently in the Volta region as part of his nationwide tour ahead of the elections.

He paid a courtesy call on the Awomefia of Anloga, Togbui Sri III, in the presence of 40 of his sub-chiefs from the Anlo State, on Thursday.

“I am here to renew our personal relationship, and hopefully to use that as a basis for this new relationship between the New Patriotic Party and the Volta Region,” the three-time flagbearer of the Danquah-Busia-Dombo tradition told Anwomefia of Anloga.

He added: “You have nothing to fear in me, nothing whatsoever to fear in me. J.A. Kufuor in the eight years that he was in office indicated to the people of the region and to Ghanaians that it was possible to rule Ghana without discrimination, and without ill-will or favour towards any particular person, but in the overall interest of our country. Volta Region got many of the things it was entitled to in his era. I am coming to build on that legacy and add more to it.”

“I believe that the time has come for us to find a way to build a better relationship, and that is why I am here, through your good offices, to build a relationship of confidence and trust between our party and the Volta Region, its chiefs and people,” he said.

He acknowledged that: “Many things have been said about our party and myself in the region – very denigrating things. Things to suggest that there is some kind of hostility on the part of the party and of myself towards the region. I want to use this occasion, through you and the chiefs under you, to let you know that there is not an iota of truth in this propaganda.”

Nana Akufo-Addo maintained that: “It is a propaganda that has been done because it serves some people’s political interests. There is not a tribal agenda of the party or of myself. Our agenda is a national agenda. What we can do to bring progress and prosperity to our nation – that is the NPP agenda.”

He reassured that the NPP’s plan for development of the country is meant to encompass all parts of Ghana, without difference and without discrimination. Thus, it was imperative for the people of the region to have confidence and repose their trust in the NPP, so, Ghana can be returned onto the path of progress and prosperity.

“These are not good times for Ghana and I don’t believe there is any honest person who can state that these are good times in Ghana. They are not good times in Ghana. We can build a better time for ourselves in Ghana, and we can build a stronger and more prosperous nation. I believe from the very bottom of my soul that it is possible,” he said.

Mr Akufo-Addo said in the NPP, “we have the leadership, the men and women, if given the opportunity, who can make Ghana prosperous and fulfil the dreams of our ancestors who began the struggle for the freedom of our country. For that to happen, the NPP needs the full and active support of the people of this important region.”

The NPP flagbearer, thus, extended a “genuine, sincere and trustworthy” hand of friendship and co-operation to the people of the Volta Region, stating that “my presence in Ghanaian politics is not to enrich myself or my family. I came into politics because I understood it to be about service. It is not about self-enrichment and it is certainly not about corruption.”

He added that: “It would be one of the watershed moments in the history of our country if this year the Volta region was to say, ‘after all these efforts that you have made, Akufo-Addo we are going to try you this time. We are going to put our trust in you and try you’. I came here to say that if you arrive at that conclusion, I will not disappoint you.”

To the people of the region, he said the NPP has an agenda for the development of Ghana, its industry, agriculture and infrastructure.

He noted that mini-harbours were to be constructed along the entire coastal line of Ghana by the NPP government when Gladys Asmah was Minister for Fisheries, a project, which has been abandoned by the current Mahama government.

Thus, a harbour at Keta, Nana Akufo-Addo said, will be constructed when he wins the elections, stressing that “in her memory, we are going to realise that vision if we get the opportunity. We are going to expand the work that Kufuor did on the sea defense wall – these are the projects we are going to do to bring life, jobs and prosperity back to the region.”