PPP Endorses Physically Challenged To Contest Okaikoi South Seat

A 49-year-old physically challenged person has been unanimously endorsed to contest for the Okaikoi South Constituency in the Greater Accra Region on the ticket of the Progressive People�s Party (PPP). Mr John Kwarteng, a businessman, got the endorsement last Saturday when the leadership of the party in the constituency picked him unopposed as the candidate to contest for the seat. In an interview, Mr Kwarteng said he had decided to put himself forward for the position to enable him to give a voice to the underprivileged in society. �With a person with disability (PWD) in Parliament, I will be able to represent the voices of all PWDs and ensure that we get what is due us,� he said. He said there were lots of opportunities and avenues that PWDs in the country could be helped to access, �but because there is no one championing our cause, we still find PWDs begging on the streets.� Mr Kwarteng said there were many problems affecting the Okaikoi South Constituency, and that it should take someone who associated himself with the people to be able to address those problems. He said, for instance that there were a number of industries within the constituency and yet the youth were unemployed. He gave the assurance that when voted into power, he would negotiate with those industries to support in the development of the constituency. �I will set up a fund into which those industries operating in the constituency could contribute towards the development of the communities in which they operate,� he told the Daily Graphic. Mr Kwarteng who worked extensively in the United States before returning home explained that it was possible to dialogue with the industries to set aside a percentage of their profit for the development of the constituency. He said with the experience he gained while in the USA,he was in a better position to champion the cause of disabled persons in the country by bringing to the floor of Parliament pertinent issues affecting PWDs and what could be done to find solutions to them. Mr Kwarteng asked his constituents to vote for people with good ideas that would help develop the constituency and improve on their lives. He said there was too much politics of insults, especially between the NDC and NPP, and asked his constituents to vote for peace, which was the hallmark of the PPP. Mr Kwarteng said he would focus his campaign on issues and not insults and personal attacks, which had become the mainstay of the campaign of many politicians in the country. He urged his constituents not to see him as a disabled person capable of doing nothing, but to see him as a man with vision and ideas for the development and improvement of the lives of the people in the constituency. He advised the electorate to resist any attempt by politicians who use money to influence them to vote, adding, �if they bring you the money, take it but do not vote for them.� He said any politician who used money to influence the electorate was an incompetent politician who knew he would not be able to compete on issues. Mr Kwarteng, who holds a degree in Business Management, until his return to Ghana from the United States, had worked extensively as mortgage broker. He had also worked as a banker. Currently he is a business consultant.