Tamale, June 13, GNA - A seminar for activists and functionaries of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in the Northern region ended in Tamale on Monday.

Attended by over 200 party members including ministers, Members of Parliament, regional and district constituency executives, district chief executives and members of the Progressive Alliance, it was aimed at mapping out strategies for the December elections.

Alhaji Huudu Yahaya, General Secretary of the NDC said the seminar, which part of a series being organised nation-wide is to launch and prepare the party's functionaries adequately for the 2000 elections.

He said that "in politics, one does not take things for granted, you have to continue to educate and conscientise the electorate and inform them of pertinent issues".

Alhaji Yahaya said the NDC believes in participatory democracy adding that the series would discuss issues including the value of the cedi, major funded projects, price situation and the purchasing power of the people and strategies to move the economy forward.

Other matters are export diversification, agriculture and food security, education, energy, the labour situation, media propaganda, campaign strategies and mechanisms and the party's manifesto for 2004. Alhaji Yahaya said that The NDC is committed to free and fair elections and called on opposition parties to ensure that they do not provoke anything that would threaten the peace of the country.

He stressed that the NDC would co-operate with all stakeholders in the electoral process and called on the security agencies and the media to be fair during and after the elections.

The General Secretary called for honesty in the political arena so that some people would not continue to deliberately dishonour others to "gain negative favours". He called on members of political parties to avoid being personal but to rather criticise issues on principles.

Alhaji Yahaya pointed out that the government has worked tirelessly over the years to achieve national unity and said that, "others should not take undue advantage of the compromise to make unguided and volatile statements".

He said the speech by the President during the June 4 celebrations must not be distorted since it was a "reminder to all to be guided by our past mistakes and not to allow such misdeed to creep again into the society".

Alhaji Yahaya congratulated the Convention Peoples Party (CPP) for holding a successful congress and urged its members to consider joining hands with the NDC to ensure the socio-economic development of the country.