I’ll spearhead devt of Cape Coast—Amponsa-Dadzie

Page 14: June 16, 2008.
Story: Albert K. Salia
THE New Patriotic Party (NPP) Parliamentary Aspirant for Cape Coast, Mr Kwamina Ollennu Amponsa-Dadzie, says the pace of development in the Cape Coast metropolis needs to be quickened.
“My own desire is for the assembly members in the area to be given a share of the District Assemblies’ Common Fund when it was released to the assembly for them to address the peculiar needs of their electoral areas,” he said.
Speaking to the Daily Graphic after his election to represent the party in the December parliamentary polls, Mr Amponsa-Dadzie said each assembly member would be required to agree with stakeholders in the electoral area about their peculiar needs for which such funds were to be used.
According to him, the assembly had not been effective in its development programmes, and it was only through such measures that development could reach the entire metropolis.
He explained that some electoral areas might need wells, drainage, washroom facilities or electrical poles, and it was only the assembly member, who in consultation with stakeholders in his or her area, would determine what to use such moneys for.
Mr Amponsa-Dadzie said he had also promised to set up a bi-partisan committee within 100 days of his election as Member of Parliament (MP) to nominate persons who had contributed to the development of the area for awards.
He stated that Cape Coast had not lived up to its motto of rewarding hardworking people and it was time to revisit the issue.
Mr Amponsa-Dadzie said streets could be named after such people, irrespective of their political affiliation, because “Cape Coast must quicken its pace of development and it does not matter who is contributing to achieve that purpose”.
The parliamentary aspirant, who polled 69 votes to beat his closest challenger, Mrs Nancy Thompson, who had 53 votes and Dr Philip Bondzi-Simpson, who had two votes, pledged to bring on board all party members to ensure a resounding victory for the party in the December polls.
He said he would also work hard to ensure that the foot soldiers of the party were duly rewarded under the Presidency of Nana Akufo-Addo.
He, therefore, urged all foot soldiers of the party in the region to work hard to ensure 100 per cent win for the NPP in the polls.
Mr Amponsa-Dadzie, whose father, the late Kofi Amponsa-Dadzie, was the first to be elected into the Legislative Assembly in the 1950s, gave the assurance that he would open channels of communication to enable constituents to express their concerns to him.
He pledged to emulate the work of his late father, who he said, enabled him to win the primaries.
“I did not turn out a single poster, flyer or T-shirt and yet I won. I know the work my father did it for me and I will do more for the constituents,” he pledged.
Mr Amponsa-Dadzie called on the losing contestants to join him to work hard to retain the seat and also strengthen the party to facilitate development of the area.