Kotokuraba market not for votes

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The Metropolitan Chief Executive (MCE) of Cape Coast, Mr. Anthony Egyir Aikins, has stated emphatically that the on-going reconstruction of the Kotokuraba market in Cape Coast is not tied to this year?s general elections on December 7 as peddled by the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP).

According to the MCE, the market project started as far back as 1997 when the decision to redesign the market cropped up under the presidency of Ex-president Jerry John Rawlings and subsequently in 2010 when President John Evans Atta Mills went to China in respect of the project.

The MCE noted that things have now materialised to enable the National Democratic Congress (NDC) government start the project stressing that the NDC did not start the project this year to gain votes.

Mr. Egyir Aikins said this on Tuesday at a press conference to set the record straight on a press conference held by the Cape Coast Constituency branch of the NPP on July 11, 2012 on the Kotokuraba market.

He stated that the NPP in Cape Coast is so much dazed with the unprecedented level of development taking place in Cape Coast and the whole of the Central Region that they have started suffering ?hallucinations.?

He described as ?garbage? the NPP press conference which accused the NDC of not having the market women of Cape Coast at heart and trying to relocate them to a muddy place during the rainy season to enable them (NDC) start the market project even though they do not have the funds to complete it.

He also called the NPP a bunch of pathological liars for claiming that they left behind US $ 4 million for the market before they left office in 2008 and challenged them to come out within a week and state where exactly they left the money.

?If the NPP claims they were able to secure that money for the market, why didn?t they start or better still complete the market during their eight years tenure of office,? he asked.

?This is a gargantuan lie and I wish to state emphatically without any shred of doubt that whether there are inconsistencies in our answers or not, and whether they left behind money or not, the new market project will happen live to bring hope to the people of Cape Coast,?he added.

The MCE pointed out that the way and manner in which the NPP spoke about the Kotokuraba market project smacks of perfidy, hypocrisy and disrespect for the people of Cape Coast especially the market traders since they could not do anything for Cape Coast when they had the opportunity during their eight years rule.

Mr. Egyir Aikins observed that instead of the NPP to laud the efforts and sacrifices of the NDC, they are rather inciting the market women to oppose such a massive infrastructural transformation in Cape Coast.

?This arrogance should not be tolerated in our long quest to build a better Cape Coast. The NPP parliamentary aspirant, Mr. George Alfred Kojo Thompson, should therefore apologise to the people of Cape Coast for peddling falsehood and inaccuracies,? he said.

He further debunked the allegation that he went to China to sign a contract for the market project saying he only went there to sign a project implementation agreement which is different from a contract.

When asked the value of the market project and when it is expected to be completed, the MCE who refused to give an answer stated that the people of Cape Coast are solidly behind the NDC as President Mills will never forsake them.

He also described as false allegations by the NPP that the market women were forced to relocate saying they played a key role in choosing where they wanted to be relocated, adding that their understanding was marvellous and they were actively involved in the selection of the new relocation sites.

He added that President Mills and the NDC wants to ensure that the people of Cape Coast enjoy a development process that is guided by a sustainable planning and a management vision to meet the needs of the current generation and do not want any group of liars and non-achievers to disturb their path to development.

STORY: FROM MAGDALENE SEY, CAPE COAST,C/R

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