The immediate-past Minister of Food and Agriculture and a flagbearer hopeful of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Dr Owusu Afriyie Akoto, on Wednesday, defied torrential rains to campaign for Charles Opoku, the parliamentary candidate for the Assin-North bye-election.
Notable among the areas he visited to solicit votes for Mr Opoku included Assin Bereku (District Capital), Assin Praso, Assin Asempaneye, Akenkanse, Akonfudi, Dansami, Assen Mempasem, Assin Kushia, Assin Senkyem, Assin Brofoyedu, Assin Juaso, Assin Breman, and Bediadua.
In all these areas, Dr Akoto interacted with the people and urged them to vote massively for Mr Opoku to enable him to lobby for more developmental projects for the communities.
He was accompanied by Mr Opoku, NPP National Chairman; Stephen Ayensu Ntim, General Secretary, Justin Frimpong Kodua, National Organizer, Henry Nana Boakye (Nana B), deputy Majority Leader, Alexander Afenyo-Markin, and the Minister of State at the Ministry of Local Government, Decentralisation and Rural Development, Osei Bonsu Amoah.
The rest were the Campaign Chairman for the Afriyie Campaign Team and former Greater Accra Regional Chairman of the party, Alfred Boye, National Coordinator for the campaign, Peter Oteng Darko, Central Regional First Vice-Chairman of the party, Assin North NPP Constituency Chairman, District Chief Executive, Assin North, Cape-Coast Municipal Chief Executive, Assin-North constituency executives and several women organisers from the various Polling Stations at Assin North.
Local rice farmers ambush Dr Akoto
When the news hit the Assin North District that Dr AAkoto was in town and has started campaigning for Charles Opoku, some rice farmers in the district numbering about 400 gathered to meet him at Assin Bereku where they lauded him for positively impacting their lives when he was the Minister of Food and Agriculture.
At this point, Dr Akoto had no choice but to address the rice farmers at a nearby Catholic Church before continuing his campaign tour.
He expressed his appreciation to the rice farmers for honouring him and assured them of President Akufo-Addo’s commitment to supporting their activities.
The relationship between the rice farmers and Dr Owusu Afriyie Akoto dates back to when he was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Kwadaso and a Ranking Member of the Food, Agriculture Cocoa Affairs Committee.
It was during one of their meetings that the then government led by John Dramani Mahama sent a proposal from the Korean Ambassador to Ghana to Parliament about a program they have designed to study the economic potentials of the Central Region.
The said sponsorship program by the Korean Government did not materialize due to little or no interest from then the government.
However, when the NPP under the leadership of Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo took over the political administration duties of the country on January 7, 2017, Dr Akoto immediately reactivated the Korean Government’s sponsorship deal.
Addressing the rice farmers, he said that when the Korean experts presented their report, they were of the view that the Central Region has the potential to produce enough rice to feed Ghana and West Africa in general.
“The NDC couldn’t implement the program despite the persistent reminders. So, when the NPP took over in 2017, I reactivated this deal by the Korean government, and that is why today, we have a lot of you going into rice production here in Assin North District,” he said.