Ho, Oct. 29, GNA - Mr Hackman Kwame Owusu-Agyemang, an aspiring flag bearer of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) at the weekend whipped up enthusiasm among Volta Regional potential delegates of the party with a chronological perspective of his contribution to the growth of the party.

"Among all the 19 aspirants my contribution to the Danquah-Busia tradition is unparalleled, I have also chalked enough experience both as a party man and with a global perspective to deal with the challenges of the country at the moment, I therefore deserve the nod," he stated. Addressing potential delegates from the 22 Constituencies in the region at separate forums at Akasti and Ho, Mr Owusu-Agyemang said: "I believe that my credentials assume gargantuan proportion in this regard".

He asserted that he had demonstrated for the past years his

commitment to the party as no other party member had done. "I have stoically stood by the party in thick or thin whether in

the acquisition of our original Kokomlemle headquarters or the

resolution of the infamous Concordia ventures saga or the

acquisition of vehicles or the setting up of the party Club House or

provision of resources for the party," he emphasised. On his vision as a President, Mr Owusu-Agyemang pledged to

reinforce the relative social and economic stability that had been

established by the government of President John Agyekum Kufuor. "We would pursue proactive economic development policies that

would lead to concrete, accelerated, incremental and sustained

economic growth," he added. According to him, his government would urgently establish a

national development think tank drawn from government, private

sector, academia, youth, trade unions and all sides of the political

divide. The think tank, he continued would be involved in ideas

generation and would basically focus on doable ideas leading to

policy formation and implementation. Mr Owusu-Agyemang, who is also a Member of Parliament for

New Juaben, and a former Minister of Water Resources, Works and

Housing as well as Foreign Affairs, maintained that his government

would in addition, sought for intellectual entrepreneurs who were

incubators of practical and innovative ideas. "Hackman would create a centre for creative ideas for the

people to professionally assess the feasibility of ideas for vigorous

follow up irrespective of political affiliations," he noted. The former Foreign Minister said "we would strengthen the

financial system for it to be able to finance our nation's accelerated

growth agenda with abundant and cheap credit. "We would continue rebuilding the nation's economic and social

infrastructure to support accelerated growth that put cash into the

pockets of the average worker". On education, he pledged that his government would reinforce

the education reforms in order that the youth in the country would

be challenged to develop their God-given talents and equipped

with nation building skills in the wealth creation process. Mr Owusu-Agyemang stressed that the 21st Century called for

greater collaboration amongst government, private sector and high

education for complex adaptive research and development projects

in the fields of technology, agriculture, health, science and

engineering. Under his government, he promised to review the possibility of

National Service personnel undertaking at least greater part of

their service with the military in residence to inculcate the spirit of

patriotism and discipline in them. "As President I would pursue programmes and policies that

would empower citizens by pushing control out of the bureaucracy

to the community to vigorously monitor and evaluate the

performance of service providers to ensure accountability and

equality of service". He said under his administration, the state would learn from the

mistakes of other African oil producing countries in order not to be

guilty of mismanagement of oil revenue from the drilling of oil from

the Tano Fields in the Western Region. The Flag bearer aspirant contested for the New Juabeng

Parliamentary seats on the ticket of the NPP in the 1996 and 2000

elections and won to represent the constituency in Parliament. During the Second Term of the Fourth Republic, he was the

Shadow Minister of Foreign Affairs and Ranking Member for

Foreign Affairs. Mr Owusu-Agyemang, therefore appealed to the delegates to

assess him based on his contributions to the growth of the party,

international contacts, which he described as vital for economic

development and general experience gained in government and

private practices and vote for him to lead the party to victory.