NDC HOLDS RALLY AT AKWATIA (PAGE 14)

THE NATIONAL Organiser of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Mr Samuel Ofosu Ampofo, has asked voters in the six polling stations in the Akwatia Constituency who would be going to the polls on August 18, this year, to elect the party’s candidate, Mr Mohammed Ahmed Baba Jamal.
He said Baba Jamal, who is a Deputy General Secretary of the party and Deputy Eastern Regional Minister, was the best man to team up with the government to develop the area.
Mr Ofosu Ampofo made the call last Thursday when he addressed a large gathering of NDC members and supporters after an early morning walk in some of the areas of Akwatia where the ballots were to be cast on August 18, this year.
Also in attendance were Baba Jamal and the party’s executive for the Akwatia Constituency.
According to Mr Ofosu Ampofo, Baba Jamal’s current position as a deputy minister in the government would make it easy for him to team up with other government officials to develop the area, adding that any other person would be a disaster for the people in the constituency.
“Baba Jamal is already in government and can lobby Parliament for projects, poverty alleviation measures and any other issue to be effectively implemented because he is one of us in government who can take decisions and at the same time implement them,” Mr Ofosu Ampofo stated.
On allegation that Baba Jamal did not come from the area, he said the parents of the NDC parliamentary candidate had stayed there for years, adding that Baba Jamal, who was also born at Akwatia, had nowhere to go because Akwatia was his permanent home.
“If the forefathers and parents of Baba Jamal had stayed at Akwatia from time immemorial and had given birth to him here, then he is not an outsider,” Mr Ofosu Ampofo asked, after which the crowd responded with a deafening no.
Baba Jamal, for his part, stated that he was conversant with the problems of Akwatia, especially those of the Ghana Consolidated Diamonds, (GCD) the main source of employment in the area which had virtually collapsed, and gave the assurance that the company would be given to a strategic investor for revamping.
He also promised the people of his commitment to help provide social amenities to further improve their living conditions.
The Kwaebibirem District Chief Executive, Mr George Agyemang Duah, appealed to the voters to rally behind Baba Jamal to occupy the Akwatia Constituency seat, since the Kade Constituency, which is also in the district, was being held by the New Patriotic Party (NPP).