Presidential Candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) on Wednesday, October 26 failed to turn up at an ongoing national forum on the transformation of northern Savannah of Ghana in the Upper East Region capital city of Bolgatanga.

Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo was expected to be the first of three 2016 presidential candidates to speak at the forum.

The forum is expected to engage candidates of the NPP, National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the Convention People’s Party (CPP) on their visions and developmental agenda in transforming the Northern Savannah Ecological Zone. The three-day programme is being held under the auspices of the Coalition of SADA Zone CSOs.

Though the first presidential candidate to address the forum, Nana Akufo-Addo failed to turn up without recourse to an earlier confirmation from the party, organisers claim. Prince Imoro Andani, a leading member of Dr Mahamudu Bawumia’s Campaign Team, and Boniface Gambila, Member of Parliament for Nabdam Constituency, however, represented the NPP.

After the Chief Executive Officer of the Savannah Accelerated Development Authority (SADA), Dr Charles Abugre, raised doubts about the feasibility of the ‘1-vilage, 1-dam’ policy of the NPP, the representatives of the opposition party re-emphasized that the initiative will augment the ailing irrigation issues in the north.

They explained that the policy will be viable in the Zone but will vary from village to village. Dr Abugre said though laudable, NPP’s policy of getting each village in the north one dam is not holistically feasible based on a two-year long research.

He suggested that the NPP should resort to bore holes which will be feasible in most villages instead of dams due to the nature of the SADA Zone. But Mr Gambila contested the SADA CEO, stressing that his party’s policy is feasible.

“As far as I am concerned and the word dam is concerned, the ‘1-village, 1-dam’ project is feasible, possible and can only be done by the NPP if you vote the NPP into power.”