Tamale (N/R), Sept. 27, GNA - Dr Edward Mahama, People's National Convention (PNC) Flag Bearer, has called on Dagombas not to allow politicians to make Dagbon their battlefield to the detriment of development.

He said: "What Dagombas should know is that they are all descendants of Na Gbewaa and should try to be united rather than allowing politics to divide them".

Dr Mahama was speaking in an interview with GNA in Tamale on Sunday after he visited Nalerigu in the East Mamprusi District to interact with supporters of PNC to strategise on how to win Election 2004. The PNC Leader reminded Dagombas that, "what has befallen them is like hitting ones toe against a stone and injuring it. One can do nothing to the stone and, even though in pain, one still has to walk". On education, Dr Mahama said the agitation by some people to extend the Senior Secondary School from three years to four years would be a step backwards.

He noted that what was important was not the extension of the time but that the curriculum of the system had to be put in the proper perspective to suit the country's development agenda.

He said school fees were already very high, which made things very difficult for many parents to send their children to school adding that increasing the years would further aggravate the situation.

The PNC Leader reminded Ghanaians that the time had come for them to start to learn to do things on their own rather than always relying on foreign expertise to do things for them. He said if he won power in the December polls he would get the Bui Dam constructed to generate electricity for the country's development.