Ahead of next year’s parliamentary (and Presidential) elections, the NPP has lost one of its strongholds to the NDC. The Abuakwa-North constituency, the Daily Post can state authoritatively, is in the firm grips of Ambassador Victor Smith, the NDC’s parliamentary candidate for the constituency

Ambassador Smith’s capture of the constituency follows the whole-hearted acceptance of his development agenda for the constituency by the constituents which have seen thousands of NPP supporters moving over to support his bid to become their MP come January 2013. With the campaign slogan Mpuntuo papa bi, Mpuntuo soronko (very good development, special development), the Ambassador has won the hearts of even die-hard NPP members and supporters in the constituency after he spelled out to them his road map towards developing the constituency.

Thanks to the road map, Ambassador Smith has already begun tackling the deplorable infrastructure in the constituency which NPP MPs have failed to tackle over the years.

“We are aware that he has acquired a 10-acre land on which a vocational institution is about to take off to ensure that our young people can study a vocation that will enable them acquire careers for the future,” says Caroline Owusuaa Darko, a staunch NPP supporter in the constituency.

The Kukurantumi-Apedwa road that leads out of the constituency but has been in a very bad shape for years, compelling travellers to use the longer Koforidua-Accra road when travelling to the nation’s capital is also said to be receiving urgent and immediate attention from the ambassador. “Ambassador Smith has already initiated moves to have the road rehabilitated. Just this Wednesday, October 5, 2011, work will begin on this road. Gbewaa Construction will be working on it. The man is not only talking the talk but also walking the walk,” reveals Atta Boateng, a former NPP polling station chairman who is a stalwart of the party told the Daily Post.

“That is not all. The Old Tafo market is in a very deplorable state but Ambassador Smith has put in place the necessary arrangements for work to begin immediately on some portions of it so that our mothers, sisters and wives will be more comfortable doing their business there,” Atta Boateng added. The immediate past Constituency Secretary of the NPP, Mr. Yamba, corroborating Victor Smith’s development agenda also revealed that the Ambassador has already secured jobs for some youths in the area. “The NPP candidate, J.B Danquah, is not new to us.

He was the MP from 2004 to 2008. There is not even a single thing he initiated in the constituency. We cannot vote for such a person anymore. Abuakwa North is lagging behind seriously in terms of development so we need a person who is development oriented and has the drive to be our next MP. Victor Smith meets these qualities so we are going to make sure that he wins the seat. The 5,070 votes the NPP beat the NDC by in the parliamentary elections in the 2008 elections is already gone because most NPP supporters in the constituency are supporting Victor Smith,” Mr. Yamba said. Daily Post’s three-day random survey of voters in the constituency reveals so much enthusiasm among NPP supporters to join their NDC colleagues to vote Victor Smith.

“We need jobs for our youths. We need a renovation of the Old Tafo market which is the biggest in the constituency. Our roads are bad. Can JB Danquah help? No. These problems were there when he was MP but he did not do anything about it. He did not help our women or children even when he was the Deputy Minister for Women and Children’s Affairs. With Victor Smith, we have so much hope. We have already started seeing the initiatives he is taking to improve on infrastructure. We are all voting for him. I wish voting day was just tomorrow” an excited Akosua Danquah told this paper.

The Ambassador’s Campaign Manager, Mr. Nuamah Donkor, a former Health Minister and also a one-time Ashanti Regional Minister is the strategist behind Ambassador Victor Smith’s daring to tread where even angels fear to trod and making mince meat of the NPP’s candidate, J B Danquah, ahead of the elections next year.