ROUSING WELCOME FOR MILLS (SPREAD)

Thousands of enthusiastic supporters have welcomed the presidential candidate of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Professor John Evans Atta Mills, to the Eastern Region as he begins a five-day campaign tour of one of the strongholds of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP).
The Eastern Region has been one of the most difficult regions for the NDC in recent elections, and Prof. Mills expects to use the final phase of the electioneering to explain his programmes and vision to the people and the need for them to give him their mandate this time.
In the 2004 presidential election, Prof. Mills obtained 38.3 per cent of the 920,672 votes cast in the Eastern Region, as against President Kufuor’s 60.2 per cent
The party also won only six out of the 28 parliamentary seats in the region.
It is, therefore, the expectation of the party that the region will this time fall to the NDC’s message of change for “a better man for a better Ghana” to ensure its eventual success at the upcoming polls.
At Nsawam, the supporters met Prof Mills amid singing, drumming and winding of their hands and fingers to symbolise the party’s message of change.
Addressing the ecstatic crowd which had converged on the Nsawam Lorry Park, Prof. Mills stated that Ghanaians were now yearning for a change and that the people in the Eastern Region could not be left out in what he termed “the blowing wind of change”.
He assured Ghanaians that he would be a president not only for NDC but also for all Ghanaians.
He took the opportunity to introduce the party’s parliamentary candidate for Aburi-Nsawam , Madam Aku Ankrah, to the people and urged them to vote for her.
“If NPP supporters are here, let me assure them that it is because of them that I am here. I will not discriminate when I am given the nod to lead the country. I will also be their president,” he said.
At Adeiso and Nyanoa in the Upper West Akim Constituency where mini rallies were held, people lined up the streets to catch a glimpse of Prof Mills and his entourage. He also introduced the party’s parliamentary candidate, Mr Joseph Amankwanor, to the people.
At Asamankese in the Lower West Akim Constituency, commercial activities virtually came to a halt as traders, drivers and a cross-section of the people abandoned their activities to converge on a park to listen to the message of the NDC presidential candidate.
Not satisfied with the 20 minutes spent at the rally, the supporters ran after Prof Mills’s convoy well beyond the outskirts of the town to listen to the flag bearer at other rallies.
Prof. Mills also addressed a mammoth rally at Boadua in the Akwatia Constituency where he introduced the party’s parliamentary candidate, Mr Baba Jamal, to the people and urged them to vote for him as well.
He assured the youth that the galamsey business would be streamlined if the NDC won the upcoming elections.
At Kade, thousands of supporters defied a heavy downpour and insisted that Prof. Mills address them in the rain.