Mills Must Live By His Words, Not Just Speak Of Holding Peaceful Elections � Akufo-Addo

The Flagbearer of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has reminded President John Mills to not only promise to hold peaceful and transparent elections in 2012, he must also live by his words. Nana says he personally believes in deed rather than mere words, pointing out that three by-elections held under the watch of President Mills have been marked by violence. He made the call while addressing supporters of the United Kingdom Midlands branch of the party in Birmingham, UK on Saturday. Nana Akufo-Addo said on the face of it, all the ingredients needed for a free and fair elections whose results should hopefully be acceptable by all are present, however, �There is only one aspect of this matter which is of concern, and that is the three occasions that we�ve had elections under the watch of President Mills, each one of those elections has been fraught with violence and disorder � Akwatia, Chereponi and Atiwa. And much as the response and the assurance he gave the nation during the state of the Nation Address that he intends to president over peaceful, free and fair election, I am a firm believer in deed rather than words��, he told the gathering. According to correspondent, Nana Sifa Twum, a delegation from the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in the area was among the crowd of over 1,000 Ghanaians and non-Ghanaians who had arrived from around UK such as Dundee, Hull, Northampton, Manchester, Portsmouth Lester, Leeds, Milton Keynes, Coventry and Cardiff among others. Nana Addo counseled that Ghana�s new oil and gas find must not be treated as the three major natural commodities of the country where they are exported in a very raw form without processing. The NPP Leader said Ghana has reached a stage in her development where there is the urgent need to strategically shift her economy from just the production of raw materials to a vigorous, value-added industrial activity to promote an economy that could ensure better living conditions for the masses. This is because the country cannot rely on the present economic structure to make any meaning progress to provide a rise in income levels of the people and also generate general prosperity within the country. The NPP Flagbearer observed that Ghana has not been able to expand its foreign receipts, saying for the past 90 years the nation has continued to allow gold, timber and cocoa to dominate her foreign receipts by only exporting in the very raw form. He lamented that the situation is far from getting better as the nation�s resource find � crude oil � has been added to the raw material export wagon. To this end the Presidential hopeful indicated that the next government of Ghana that he will form, would provide a lasting solution to the problem by changing the trend. �This will be done by adding value to our raw materials before we export them, � he noted. Nana Akufo-Addo prescribed what he said should be the fundamental medium to lift the nation out of its economic woes, saying between 85 and 90 percent of national foreign receipt is dominated by the three traditional raw materials, namely cocoa, timber and gold and now added with crude oil. �There is no way that we are going to generate prosperity in our country, if we continue down that line,� he emphasised He said the fundamental objective of the next NPP government will be to ensure that by the end of the party�s period in office these statistics would have undergone an essential change. He said just about 20 to 30 percent of raw materials will be exported, with the balance coming up as value-added commodities through technological and industrial activities. The NPP leader also catalogued other issues he said he will tackle, including reducing high cost of living, cost and access to education and unemployment when he becomes the next President of Ghana. The Flagbearer was accompanied by the Minority Leader in Parliament, Mr. Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu and the Member of Parliament for Kwadaso, Mr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto.