Akufo-Addo begins campaign tour of Ashanti Region

New Patriotic Party (NPP) flagbearer, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, is expected in the Ashanti Region Wednesday to begin a four-day campaign tour.

He is due to visit about ten constituencies in the region, including Manhyia North which the spot for some disputes between some NPP executives in the lead up to parliamentary primaries in July this year.

Nana Akufo-Addo will also be in two other constituencies where two party members have filed as independent parliamentary candidates.

Ashanti Regional Secretary, Samuel Pyne, admits the constituencies were selected because of their peculiar challenges and needs, including threats posed by independent parliamentary candidates to the party.

“He would be going to places where it is important to visit because of certain matters,” he said.

This will be the second time this year the NPP flag-bearer is touching base with party supporters and other voters in the NPP stronghold.

At least three independent candidates who defected from the NPP are seeking to do battle with party-sponsored contestants.

The affected constituencies are Adansi Asokwa, Atwima Kwanwoma, and Nsuta-Kwamang-Beposo.

Manhyia North, until recently, was considered one of the trouble-spots of the party. Constituency primaries delayed for about year following a protracted dispute.

NPP Regional Chairman, Bernard Antwi Boasiako, also known as Wontumi was arrested for assaulting the party’s MP for the area, Collins Owusu Amankwaa.

Meanwhile, Mr. Pyne has dismissed suggestions Nana Akufo-Addo’s visit is prompted by last Sunday’s campaign launch by the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC) in the Ashanti Region.

He described the ruling party’s 1.5 million vote target in the region as a day-dream.

“When they talk about 1.5 million votes in the Ashanti Region, it gives some quixotic adventure by the NDC. You cannot fathom it. This is the region where the President himself has described the people of the region as ungrateful and NDC goes out touting themselves ‘we’ve built that’, ‘we are constructing this’.

If the president says people are ungrateful, how are they going to show gratitude for such things? In the first place, per the President’s analysis, he is not going to get the votes,” he said.