The crowd at the campaign launch. INSET: Nana Akuof-Addo and Kwesi Bonzoh
Kwesi Bonzoh, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) parliamentary candidate for Ellembelle Constituency in the Western Region, has indicated that he will work hard to capture the seat from the National Democratic Congress (NDC) for the first time in the December 7 parliamentary election.
“I want to assure my party supporters and sympathizers that come December 7, I will wrestle the parliamentary seat from the NDC and the incumbent MP, Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah,” he stressed.
He debunked claims by the incumbent MP that he had constructed all the roads in the Ellembelle Constituency and made the area a no-go area for the NPP.
“Armah-Buah is bragging in Accra and other areas that he has constructed all the roads in Ellembelle but we can all testify that that assertion is not true because most of the roads, including the Nkroful roads, are very bad. I assure all residents that I will win Ellembelle for NPP and make the area one of the strongholds of the NPP,” he added.
He, however, admonished the teeming NPP supporters in the constituency not to be complacent but work hard to achieve their aim.
Kwesi Bonzoh, popular called ‘Bonzo K’ of ’34 Kaywa,’ disclosed this while addressing thousands of NPP supporters at the launch of his campaign in the Ellembelle Constituency last Sunday at Nkroful in the Western Region.
The event was attended by the flagbearer of the NPP, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, the party’s acting National Chairman, Freddie Blay, who is also a former MP for the area, as well as other bigwigs of the NPP at the national and regional levels.
Nkrumah Education Fund
He indicated that he would prioritize the revival of the defunct Kwame Nkrumah Education Fund to assist Nzema students.
According to him, the Education Fund, which was officially launched in 2003 by the then President John Agyekum Kufour, was to help brilliant but needy students in the three Nzema Constituencies – Ellembelle, Evalue-Gwira and Jomoro.
He said that most parents and guardians in the Nzema area are not able to help their children further their education because of financial constraints.
“Some friends and I mooted the idea of creating the Kwame Nkrumah Education Fund in the year 2000 when we were in the University of Ghana.
“Later, the then President, John Kufour officially inaugurated the fund and an amount of one billion old cedis was raised as seed money but surprisingly, as time went on, the initiative collapsed but we ought to revive it.”
He also told the people that when given the nod, he would impress upon the various oil and gas companies in the area to set aside an amount of $50 million as part of their corporate social responsibility to create an endowment fund that would be invested and used to fund the education of the youth.
“By so doing, all the people, particularly, the youth of Ellembelle, would benefit from the money accrued from the sale of the country’s oil from the Jubilee oilfield located in the Western Region,” he pointed out.
Nkroful Chief
The chief of Nkroful, Nana Kwesi Ketewa, indicated that he believed the first President of Ghana, who hailed from the area, was turning in his grave because of the lack of development in Nkroful.
“Even though Nkroful is the district capital, there is nothing to show. The road from Esiama to Nkroful is very bad. We need a district hospital to be named after Kwame Nkrumah,” he added.
He appealed to the NPP flagbearer to implement the 1-district-1-factory policy in the area to create jobs for the youth and also appoint Nzemas as ministers of state when voted to power.
He complained about the bad nature of roads in the area and poor state of Nkroful Agriculture Senior High School (SHS) which lacks a fence wall and classrooms.
Nana Addo
The presidential candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Nana Addo, assured the indigenes of the constituency that the NPP government would give a facelift to Nkroful, the hometown of Dr Kwame Nkrumah.
He promised that his government would involve some key figures in the three Nzema Districts in the region to fast track development in the area.
Nana Addo promised to assist the small-scale miners in the area to obtain the needed legal documents to operate.
Nana Addo, who was in the region for three-day campaign tour, also addressed rallies at Axim and Tikobo No.1 in the Evalue-Ajomoro-Gwira and Jomoro constituencies respectively.
From Emmanuel Opoku, Nkroful