Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has tasked regional and constituency executives, as well as parliamentary candidates of the New Patriotic Party from the Ashanti Region, to repeat, in the election of 2016, the 80% margin of victory chalked by the party in the 2nd round of the 2000 presidential election.
The 80% margin of victory, according to Nana Akufo-Addo, can be realised if the leadership and entire membership of the party in the Ashanti region decide to work hard together.
“In the 2000 election, then candidate Kufuor achieved some 72% in the 1st round. In the 2nd round, he achieved 79.5%, which rounds off to 80%. This meant victory for him and victory for the NPP.
Let us understand that 80% of the popular vote in Ashanti and I am the next President of Ghana,” he maintained.
Nana Akufo-Addo made these remarks on the 1st day of his “Rise and Build Tour” of the Ashanti Region on Thursday, October 8, 2015, at a meeting of regional and constituency executives, as well as parliamentary candidates and their competitors from 17 constituencies, namely Asante Akyem South, Asante Akyem North, Asante Akyem Central, Bosome Freho, Drobonso, Kumawu, Effiduasi Asokore, Juaben, Ejisu, Ejura Sekyedumasi, Mampong, Nsuta Kwamang Beposo, Afigya Sekyere East, Kwabre East, Afigya Kwabre North, Afigya Kwabre South and New Edubiase.
For the NPP to achieve the 80% margin of victory in Ashanti, the NPP flagbearer outlined 3 important steps to be undertaken by the leadership of the party in the region.
Co-operation amongst members of the party, Akufo-Addo said, is the first key to realising the 80% target.
He explained that a sense of unity of purpose and oneness would have to prevail in the NPP, tasking parliamentary candidates to take the lead in bringing everyone on board.
Specifically, he tasked the newly-elected parliamentary candidates from the Nsuta-Kwamang-Beposo, Afigya Sekyere East, Kwabre East, Bosome Freho, Mampong, Effiduase Asokore, Asante Akim North and Ejisu constituencies to reach out to their fellow aspirants and bring them on board their respective campaigns to ensure total victory in 2016.
“We need every single vote in Ashanti to be able to get the 80% target we have set,” he stressed.
Nana Akufo-Addo pointed to the presence of his competitors from the 2014 NPP presidential primary, including Dr. Kofi Konadu Apraku, Hon. Stephen Asamoah Boateng, Hon. Joe Ghartey, Hon. Francis Addai Nimo, and Alan Kyerematen, who were present at the meeting with him as a testament to the fact “we are all determined to work together to bring the NPP back into power in 2016.”
The second key, according to the NPP flagbearer, would be for the NPP to reach out and improve the party’s relations with the settler communities in the Ashanti Region.
“We don’t have a tribal agenda in the NPP, we have a Ghanaian agenda in the NPP. The Ghana the NPP wants to build will accommodate every single Ghanaian. Those who are dreaming of 1 million votes in Ashanti, the settler communities is where they are banking their hopes on. That is where we (in the NPP) would have to plug the holes and ensure that their 1 million vote agenda becomes nothing but a dream and a mirage,” Akufo-Addo added.
The third key would be the NPP’s message to the Ghanaian elector, which he stated would have to be a message of hope, prosperity and progress. This message, Akufo-Addo said, would have to be sent to every household.
“There should not be the case where any electorate would say he or she did not hear the NPP’s message. That is the task ahead of you,” he added.
He continued, “I am determined that we mount a strong grassroots campaign. Whatever help I can offer to the Ashanti Region, I will do.”
[email protected] 
(Selorm) | 
(Nana Kwesi)