Wa, July 12, GNA - Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, Flagbearer of the NPP has pledged one billion dollars for the Northern Development Fund to cater for development in the three northern regions and bridge the gap between the south and the north under his administration. He said his administration would come out with a comprehensive development plan for the transformation of the Upper West, East and Northern Regions.

"I would put one billion dollars into the Northern Development Fund as seed capital to cater for the development of roads, construction of small scale dams and harvesting of rain water to modernize agriculture," he said.

Nana Akufo-Addo made the pledge when addressing a rally at Wa as part of his four day tour of Upper West Region to introduce himself to the people, interact with party activists and canvass for votes. He said the fund would in addition, cater for the expansion of education, especially vocational, technical and agriculture institutions and improve communication. Nana Akufo-Addo said a Northern Development Authority (NDA) would be established to mobilize human resources in the north for development to enhance their living standards. He explained that the NDA would have the responsibility to coordinate activities of the fund and report directly to the Office of the President and called on people from the three northern regions to vote for the NPP to enable his administration implement its vision. Nana Akufo-Addo advised the electorate to reject any political party that had the tendency to being division among the people. He said NPP was a national party that did not discriminate against any ethnic group and asked the electorate to judge the NPP Government from the manner development projects were distributed throughout the country.

"Development projects under the NPP were shared equitably, its programmes, policies and interventions have national character, these include National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), school feeding programme and capitation grant that had benefited all Ghanaians," he added.

Nana Akufo-Addo reiterated his call that Ghanaians needed peace before, during and after Election 2008 than ever before because the whole of Africa and the world was looking at Ghana's democracy therefore, it was necessary for all political parties to work towards uniting the people for a successful election.

"Those who preach divide and rule tactics and violence are not sincere to the people. Fighting is not part of election. It is the choice of the people that must be allowed to prevail," Nana Akufo-Addo said.