Asamoah Boateng to set up Housing Fund …in Mfantseman West Municipality
From David Allan Paintsil, Anomabu
The former Information Minister and opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) parliamentary candidate for Mfantseman West Constituency, Mr. Stephen Asamoah Boateng, has intensified his campaign to recapture the seat he lost in the 2008 elections to Mr. Thomas Aquinas Tawiah Quansah, and called on the electorate to vote massively for him and Nana Akufo Addo to move the constituency to a higher level.
Speaking to enthusiastic NPP supporters at Anomabu at the weekend, Asamoah Boateng appealed to the electorate to return him to parliament in the December 7 elections, promising to set up a housing fund that would assist families, churches, and chiefs to build houses.
According to him, the housing fund would help in mobilising large amounts of money to purchase cement in bulk, as well as other building materials, which individuals, families, churches and chiefs could access by paying small amounts of money.
He observed that the housing fund would go a long way in solving the accommodation problems facing the Mfantseman West Municipality.
He also told the crowd that he would set up an insurance fund for fishermen, so that they could enjoy the fruits of insurance whenever there is a disaster, so as to make fishing more lucrative, adding that the NPP would construct a large cold store to save the fish farmers from the perennial decomposition of catch owing to the absence of a cold store at Anomabu.
On education, the former Information Minister pledged to set up special scholarship scheme to assist students at the polytechnic and university levels, since Nana Addo’s free senior high school policy would be in operation by then, and urged the electorate to vote for him to complement that effort.
According to him, the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) had nothing to show in Anomabu for the past four years, and challenged them to pin-point any project they had undertaken since 2009.
He claimed that it was the NPP that tarred the town roads, distributed outboard motors to the fishermen, and ensured a constant supply of premix fuel, saying more developmental projects would be undertaken when the party comes to power.
He further lambasted the Anomabu Landing Beach Premix Committee for allegedly discriminating against fishermen perceived as NPP sympathisers in the sale of premix fuel, claiming the situation was making life unbearable for some fishermen in the area.
“We will uproot Aquinas like cassava. We are telling him to stand well, because we are coming with full force,” he charged.
The Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee, Albert Kan Dapaah, who predicted victory for the NPP, described Asamoah Boateng as someone whose immense contributions to the discovery of oil in Ghana could not be overlooked.
He explained that when the NPP assumed power in 2001, it realised the Ghana National Petroleum Company (GNPC) had done a lot of jobs, but could not find oil, and had lost hope.
According to Kan Dapaah, upon his assumption at the Energy Ministry, Asamoah Boateng developed an oil document which was used for an Oil Road Show abroad, which attracted some oil companies to come and prospect for oil, eventually leading to discovery of oil in commercial quantities in 2007.
He, therefore, appealed the electorate to vote for NPP and Asamoah Boateng back to power to continue with their good works. He reiterated the NPP’s commitment to bringing back the Fisheries Ministry.
“Do not give President Mahama four years, because he has only four weeks to go, so that NPP will come back to implement the free SHS education policy being touted by Nana Addo,” he said.
The NPP National First Vice Chairman, Fred Oware, also predicted victory for the NPP, and urged the party supporters not to go home after casting their ballot, but only after the results was declared.
The Central Regional NPP Secretary, Kwamena Duncan, said the NDC had left the fishing industry in disarray, and urged the electorate to vote NPP back to power, to enable it bring back the Fisheries Ministry.
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