Accra, Oct 21, GNA - The Concerned Youth Association of Upper Regions (CYAUR), is to hold a demonstration in Bolgatanga, against what it called "the Economic Discrimination" against the three regions in the northern part of the country.

In a statement issued in Accra at the weekend, it said all efforts must be done to bridge the "yawning" socio-economic gap between the north and south.

The CYAUR described the socio-economic inequality gap between the north and south as "alarming and unimaginable" and noted the unfair disbursement of the HIPC Funds, the exclusion of the two Upper Regions from the Millennium Challenge Account Funds and the absence of any Presidential Special Initiative in the three regions as some of the factors for the demonstration.

The statement signed by Mr. Ayorogo Adongo Bismark, President and Mr. Konnuba Joseph Kam-saamba, Secretary both of CYAUR explained that the demonstration, which should have been held on the 27th of October this year had to be postponed to 13th November following appeals of people from the area in the Diaspora to enable them to take part. It stated that even though traceable to the colonial government's policies that deliberately denied people of the area development for the purpose of reserving them as a source of cheap labour for cocoa farms and the mines in the south, governments after independence in 1957 should have reversed the "colonial legacy" with "a high sense of patriotism and nationalism".

The Association called on all sons and daughters of northern Ghana to do away with their political colours and unite to champion the course of the area, saying, "political parties will come and go, but northern Ghana will continue to exist".

It said that to prevent politicians from making capital out of the exercise, efforts were being made to prevail on the three Regional Ministers and MPs from the northern part of the country to lead the demonstration

The CYAUR appealed to Ghanaians not to see the intended protest as a struggle between the south and the north and said all that it was seeking for was "Equity", adding that, "all northerners, both home and abroad, civil society organizations, human rights advocates, the clergy and all well meaning Ghanaians who support even development of the country should join them in their quest for socio-economic justice.

"The status quo that northerners are hewers of wood and drawers of water and the feeling that northern Ghana is an economic desert, destitute of mineral wealth and other precious resources is a big fallacy and must be challenged and changed by all northerners," the statement said. 21 Oct 06