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Wednesday, 23rd June: - The beautiful towns of Navrongo and Bolgatanga were shaken to their very foundation when Nana Akufo-Addo and his Victory 2012 Campaign Team took their national campaign tour to these towns.

At Navrongo, the scene of vehicles and motorbikes crisscrossing each other in an excited mood, the women spreading their cloths on the ground and the singing and dancing, for the single reason of Nana Akufo-Addo’s arrival validates the commentary that he is today the most popular politician in Ghana.

With the whole town painted in red, blue and white, residents and delegates of the NPP in the upcoming August 7 congress could just not hide their affection and unflinching support for the man expected to win the nomination of the party as flag bearer for the 2012 general elections. It was such a colorful scene.

The team, as has been the case in almost all parts of the country visited, had a hectic time driving through the large crowd of people before finally getting to the particular location where the meeting with the delegates was to be held. Crisscross

When the team finally got to the St. John Bosco Training College, the atmosphere was charged awaiting the arrival of Nana Akufo-Addo and his team and when they finally entered the St. Patrick Assembly Hall, the cheers and chants were deafening with the hall filled to capacity.

Addressing the delegates, Hon. Kofi Adda, MP for Navrongo Central, asked all delegates who will vote for Nana Akufo-Addo to be upstanding and when every single delegate in the hall got up, he turned to Nana Akufo-Addo and said “Nana, as you have seen, you have 100% support in Navrongo.”

Nana Akufo-Addo, obviously excited about the numbers and the reception, thanked the people for the love and support shown him and the NPP in such a beautiful and spirited manner.

“I brought my campaign tour to the Upper East region with great joy and hope. This is because our party is growing stronger and stronger in this region and from what I have seen so far, I am confident that our party will win majority seats and votes in the next general election” he told the crowd.

He spoke extensively about his belief in the “capacity of the party’s grassroots to help the party win the votes of the great majority of the Ghanaian people in 2012.”

He made a promise to polling station executives that as presidential candidate, he will bring to them directly whatever resources they require to do their work to ensure that victory comes the party’s way in 2012.

“If you are strong, our party is strong and if you give me the nod of leading the party again, I promise you that whatever resources you require to do your work, money, logistics, paraphernalia, I am going to bring them directly to you to strengthen your capacity and ensure that victory comes our way in 2012”, he remarked.

He continued that “the NDC as you all know is not a party that has been able to ever walk in a straight path. Their ways are always crooked and even when they speak about themselves; they say “eye zu, eye za, eye azar”. For this reason, I believe that it is crucial for us as a party to empower our grassroots and make sure that they constantly keep the NDC in check” and this time, he sent the crowd cheering him forever until the constituency executives begged for some calm to return to the hall.

He spoke also about how the NDC have failed to keep faith with the Ghanaian people since winning power.

“Every promise that candidate Mills made during the campaign, President Mills has failed to fulfill them. During the campaign, I said that one of the biggest problems facing our country is the development gap between the North and the South and I promised that as president, I will set up a Northern Development Authority, and a Northern Development Fund with a billion USD seed money to help bridge the development gap between the North and South and thus help our brothers and sisters here in the North live a dignified life without having to travel all the way to the South looking for jobs. The NDC quickly copied the idea and also promised to set up a Savannah Accelerated Development Authority (SADA).”

“But since they won power, 18 months ago, have you heard anything about this SADA? They are just sitting in Accra, holding meetings and just talking and talking.”

“I want to send a message to President Mills and the NDC that the time for talking and talking in Ghana is over. It is time for action in our country, and if you give me the nod, and we win power back in 2012, I am going to set up the Northern Development Fund, to help bridge this development gap”, he remarked.

He reminded delegates of the numerous promises he made to the people of Ghana during the campaign and reiterated his commitment to all those promises.

He concluded by calling for the party to remain united as this is an internal competition between members of the same family.

“Unity is crucial for our victory in 2012 and we must all be minded by this fact”, he noted.

In Bolgatanga, residents and delegates met Nana Akufo-Addo with lit lanterns in broad day light, an indication of how expensive and scarce kerosene has become since the NDC won power in 2008.

They lamented how life has become extremely difficult and unbearable since the NDC came back to power and pleaded with Nana Akufo-Addo to come and take the power from the NDC and help improve their standard of living.

The atmosphere was however not very different from the scene in Navrongo.