Apam, Oct. 1, GNA - Mr. Joe Kingsley Hackman, a lecturer at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), has declared his intention to contest the Gomoa West parliamentary seat on the ticket of the New Patriotic Party in the 2004 general elections.

He has paid the registration fee of five million cedis to enable him to contest the primaries against three other candidates including the District Chief Executive Miss Joyce Aidoo.

Mr. Hackman, a 48-year-old Lecturers in Building Technology, holds a Master of Science degree in Construction Management from the South Bank University in London.

He also attended Willesden College of Technology also in London where he read professional studies in Building Technology, Management and Construction Computing.

Mr. Hackman had a wide range of working experience in Ghana, Nigeria and Holland.

Speaking to the GNA at Apam, Mr. Hackman said he had decided to contest the seat to offer him the opportunity to articulate the problem facing the Gomoa District, which he described as a deprived area, in Parliament.

He said there were lots of resources in the area, which needed to be tapped and developed to improve the living conditions of the people, adding, "I feel I can do that better when I am in Parliament." Mr Hackman said he would initiate programmes to improve farming and fishing, which were the two major occupations of the people of the area, adding that over reliance on rain-fed farming was not helping the people much and said the time had come for us to think about other methods of getting water for our farmers.

Mr. Hackman said the establishment of cottage industries to create jobs for the youth to stem the rural-urban migration would be given serious attention.