Potential delegates to the December 22, Special National Delegates Congress of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) from the Eastern Region have declared their unflinching support for Mr Hackman Kwame Owusu-Agyemang for the flag bearer slot. The delegates from the 28 constituencies in the Region publicly proclaimed, "It's the turn of the Region to produce a Presidential Candidate and for that matter a President for Ghana and Mr Owusu-Agyemang who is the Member of Parliament for New Juabeng North stands out among the lot". They included 10 Constituency Executives from every constituency, Polling Station Officers and outstanding opinion leaders made the declaration at separate working interaction with the Flag bearer aspirant at Asamankese, Koforidua and Mpraeso. The constituencies were, Ayensuano, Suhum, Akwatia, Akim Oda, Kade, Lower West Akim, Akim Swedru, Aburi/Nsawam, Upper West Akim and Ofoase-Ayirebi who formed the Asamankese zone. The others were, Akropong, Okere, Asuogyaman, Atiwa, Abirem, Abuakwa North and South, Fanteakwa, Lower and Upper Manya, New Juaben North and South, and Yilo Krobo, under the Koforidua zone. The rest were, Afram Plains North, Afram Plains South, Abetifi, Mpraeso and Nkawkaw under the Mpraeso zone. Spokespersons for the constituencies who were elated by the presentation by Mr Owusu-Agyemang which bordered on his contribution towards the growth of the party, vision for the party and nation, track record, international contacts and capabilities and capacity to attract floating voters openly declared their position to thunderous applause from the rest. Addressing the delegates at Mpraeso, Mr Owusu-Agyemang former Minister of Water Resources, Works and Housing said his administration would adopt a Shared Vision Approach to development. He said the shared vision approach would foster commitment to the objectives of national development goals by everyone and eventually lead to sustained economic growth. "The collaborative approach of inclusion would ensure continuity of economic development policies and on-going development projects regardless of changes in the country's political leadership," he stated. Mr Owusu-Agyemang noted: "The era of winner takes all and acute selfish, and unrestrained partisan politics, when it comes to development planning and execution of economic policies for Ghana's development, must be a thing of the past". On central government and decentralization policies, the NPP Flag bearer aspirant said the fundamental principle involved re-examining the role of the central government in society and the pursuit of rigorous decentralization to ensure availability and fair distribution of resources. "I believe that the regions must be micro-managed from the regional capitals. Decentralization would empower citizens by delegating authority. Local governments would be adequately resourced and mandated to govern without bureaucracy from the state or central government. "Hackman's government would discard the idea where citizenry see themselves as detached form government," he added. He urged them to vote for him to reinvent government to promote competition among service providers, stressing Ghana needs a developmental and entrepreneurial government, which could positively show, at the end of its term in office, how much it added to the economy. Mr Owusu-Agyemang said "An entrepreneurial government is one that would offer competition and focus on results. An entrepreneurial government promotes competition between service providers. It empowers citizens by pushing control out of the bureaucracy, into the community. "It measures the performance of its agencies, focusing not on inputs, but on outcomes. It is driven by its goals and missions. Hackman's government would vigorously monitor and evaluate the performance of service providers to ensure accountability and quality of service," he stated. He noted that the party and the nation had achieved tremendous growth under President John Agyekum Kufuor's administration, however the country's economic development needed to be harmonised. The aspirant said the country needed to develop systems to monitor and match the country's natural growth by concurrently increasing infrastructure to keep pace with its population growth. Mr Owusu-Agyemang said Ghana needed to fish for intellectual entrepreneurs who were incubators of practical and innovative ideas to lead her policy formulation and implementation. He said they would promote developmentally appropriate education that was relevant to the economy by encouraging Higher Education-Private sector linkages. Make sure government and private sector manpower projected needs were achieved through purposeful development of human resources. Mr Owusu-Agyemang said his administration would tap resources by using technical, human, and intellectual capital. "We need to stem brain drain by encouraging entrepreneurship and developing a can do attitude among Ghanaians. Ghana needs to keep the human and intellectual capital it develops for Ghana's development. "This would lead to the establishment of more businesses within the country to absorb the unemployed youth. Most notably, teachers would be decently and adequately remunerated," Mr Owusu-Agyemang declared. He therefore, appealed to the delegates to vote massively for him. Source: GNA