Don’t waste your vote on CPP – NPP advises voters

– The ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) on Wednesday classified a vote for the Convention People's Party (CPP) "as waste of the ballot paper".
     "CPP cannot win the December polls. Cast your lot for the best man, NPP presidential candidate, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo," Mr. Peter MacManu, NPP National Chairman, stated at a press conference in Accra.
     "The reality on the ground is that Election 2008 is a straight fight between the NPP and the main opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC); a vote for any other party would be waste of one's thumb," he said.
     The press conference was organized to inform the public about "Operation Retain Power Strategy," the party's position on the numerous opinion polls conducted by both local and international research groups and outline the last phase of "Election 2008 Campaign Strategy".
     Responding to questions from the media about the possible effect of rejuvenated CPP campaign and the impact of CPP presidential candidate, Dr Paa Kwesi Nduom, who had served under the NPP regime, Mr MacManu said: "CPP would only take votes from NDC and definitely not NPP.…However, people should not waste their vote on CPP."
     He said in spite of the reality that the NPP was winning the presidential election by about 10 or more percentage points and capture between 135 and 140 out of the 230 Parliamentary seats, "we are not going to be complacent. We are determined to silence the NDC with a resounding victory once and for all," the NPP National Chairman stated.
     Mr MacManu said the ruling party would win about 80 per cent of total votes expected to be cast in its stronghold of the Ashanti Region, "which would make up for NDC's possible gains from its strongholds of Volta, and the three northern regions."
     "We are firmly in charge of other regions and working hard at some difficult constituencies where the fierce contest over aspiring parliamentary candidates during the primaries created challenges particularly in the Greater Accra Region," Mr MacManu stated.
     Dr Kofi Konadu Apraku, NPP Election 2008 Campaign Director, said the party's campaign strategy towards winning the December polls "One Go", was on course, and "no amount of misinformation and vile propaganda" by our political opponents will ever detract us from our agenda.
     He said the NDC posed "a threat" to our stable democracy, good governance and the rule of law and urged Ghanaians to vote massively for the party for a third consecutive term in power.
     "The NDC wants to put at risk all that we have achieved together over the seven-and-a-half years and the future we have outlined; Ghana cannot take a chance on NDC, because future generations shall never forgive us if we should take that risk," Dr Apraku stated.
     The NPP Campaign Director said the choices before the electorate had become clear – it's about the respective records of NDC government and those of the NPP, their different visions for the future and the leadership abilities of Nana Akufo-Addo and those of Professor John Evans Atta Mills, the NDC presidential candidate.
     Comparing the track record of the two leading political parties in Election 2008, Dr Apraku said the NPP had laid a solid foundation for the economy, built infrastructure that had enabled it to fight poverty, provided free education and health care and expanded the frontiers of freedoms.
     He said NDC government left the economy in shambles, adding that while the NPP wanted to move Ghana forward, the NDC wanted to take Ghana backward. Hed said the NPP offered hope for the future while the NDC invoked fear, intimidation and polarization.
     Dr Apraku justified the comparison of the eight-year records of the NDC and NPP as being the only reasonable basis for making the important choices that faced the electorate.
     He explained that the days when decisions at the polls were determined by ethnicity, misinformation and intimidation were giving way to the new politics of ideas, issues and records.
     On the future plans of the party, Dr Apraku said Nana Akufo-Addo would be the president who would expand the benefits of the NHIS, improve its functioning and put more resources into sanitation.
     He said an Akufo-Addo-led government would improve the security of all citizens by doubling the sizes of the police force, training and equipping them better and holding them accountable for all their activities.
GNA