Mirigu (UE), July 13, GNA- Mrs. Rebecca Akufo-Addo, wife of the flag bearer for the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, at the weekend pledged that she would articulate and champion the cause of women, children and the vulnerable if the party wins the 2008 Election.

The wife of the NPP flag bearer said though the NPP Government had improved the socio-economic wellbeing of women and children, there was still much to be done, and stressed that she would work hard to improve the standards of living of women, children and the vulnerable if the NPP was retained in power.

Mrs Akufo-Addo said these in a speech read on her behalf by Mr. Isaac Atasige, a party activist, at Mirigu in the newly created Kassena Nankana West District in the Upper East Region. It was after a gala football match, organized for both female and male students in the district as part of measures to encourage more females in the rural areas to take part in female soccer. Mrs. Akufo-Addo said she would lobby for the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs to be adequately resourced to enable it to promote gender equity and equality to facilitate the empowerment of women. She said she would assist women to access micro credit and acquire vocational skills to enable them to contribute to economic development of the country.

Mrs. Akufo-Addo said she would initiate sensitization programme to raise public awareness on early childhood development. She said "I would intensify and strengthen advocacy and sensitization on policies and laws relating to children, including the Children Act, Early Childhood care and development, human trafficking to facilitate child survival ,protection and development". Mrs. Akufo-Addo expressed worry about the spate of child labour in the country and said this would be a thing of the past if the party was retained in power. She also urged Ghanaians to retain NPP in power to enable the party to continue with its good policies to improve the living standards of Ghanaians.

Mr. Edward Nchor, District Chief Executive for the area, Mr Nchor appealed to Ghanaians to retain the NPP in power to improve the living conditions of the people. He commended all the teams for participating in the gala and urged students to take sports seriously since it was now becoming a lucrative profession. Mr Nchor said the assembly would support sporting activities in the area.

In the women's division, Nabango Queens beat Catholic Queens 3-1 to emerge winners while in the boys' division, Sirigu Super Stars beat Kandiga boys' team 4-1 to become winner. Both winning teams received jerseys and football.