Mr. Mark Woyongo, Upper East Regional Minister who is contesting for the Navrongo Central Constituency seat on the ticket of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), said on Monday that the Navrongo seat is ripe for an NDC win in both the Parliamentary and Presidential slots.

Mr. Woyongo was launching his campaign bid to contest the Navrongo Central parliamentary seat at Nabvrongo in the Upper East Region.

The minister who lost in a similar bid in the 2008 election to the incumbent Member of Parliament (MP) for the area, Mr. Kofi Adda, by less than 1000 votes margin said not only would the party capture the Parliamentary seat but would also excel in the Presidential slot like it did in 2008.

It would be recalled that the NDC won the Presidential slot in the Navrongo Central Constituency in 2008, and lost the Parliamentary seat to the NPP.

The regional minister said it was the first time he was contesting the seat and that the People's National Convention (PNC) fielded a candidate to contest in the constituency which led to a split of the votes, adding that this time around the PNC had not fielded a candidate and had promised to rally behind the NDC to win the election.

“Besides, there have been massive defections from the NPP to join the NDC party including some of the NPP Constituency Executives and this coupled with the unprecedented development projects that the party has brought to the Constituency, will influence people to vote for it to win both the Presidential and Parliamentary elections.”

He mentioned road infrastructure, school infrastructure, provision of 150 boreholes and the School Feeding Programme which had increased from 4 schools to 31 schools, as some of the development projects.

Mr Mahama Ayariga , Deputy Minister of Education and also an aspiring MP for Bawku Central urged the electorate to give Mr Woyongo and President John Dramani Mahama the nod to continue to deliver the goods and said just within four years the party had brought about massive development under the leadership of the President and the Regional Minister. “Mr Mark Woyongo was the only Regional Minister in the three Northern Regions who was not removed during the four years of the NDC by the President due to his good leadership skills. This is the type of leader you should endorse to help bring more development to your constituency. Never be deceived by any party, particularly those parading false promises such as free Senior High School”.

Mr Ayariga explained that the Constitution grants free Senior High School education which was being implemented by the NDC in a progressive manner and said rushing to implement it over night would jeopardize the whole process.

“What is needed most now is the strengthening of education at the basic level which is the foundation and this is what the NDC Party is implementing with our good policies and programmes such as the expansion of the School Feeding Programme, the Capitation Grant , Free School Uniforms and exercise books among others”.

The launching ceremony which was well attended by party supporters, attracted prominent NDC party members including Mr Cletus Avoka the Majority Leader in Parliament and also MP for Zebilla Constituency, Mr. Donald Adabare, Ambassador to Niger, Mr. Moses Asaga, MP for Nabdam Constituency and the Upper East Deputy Regional Minister, Mrs Lucy Awuni.