Regional News of Sunday, 30 May 2004

Source: GNA

CPP elects Parliamentary candidates for two constituencies in Tamale

Tamale, May 30, GNA - The Convention People's Party (CPP) on Saturday elected unopposed two Parliamentary candidates for the Tamale Central and Tamale South constituencies to contest the December general election.

They are: Dr Abubakr Al-Hassan, former National Chairman of the CPP, for Tamale South and Dr Adam Gamel Nasser, a Lecturer at the University of Ghana, Legon, for Tamale Central.

The delegates also elected unopposed constituency executive members for the Tamale North, Tamale South and Tamale Central.

Speaking before the elections, Dr Nii Noi Dowuona, General Secretary of the CPP, said the party was organizing itself in the 30 newly created districts and the old constituencies that had been divided to form new constituencies to enable the party to win the December election.

He said the CPP was for the ordinary people because its programmes and policies were geared towards providing them with their basic needs. The General Secretary advised supporters of the CPP to desist from insulting personalities when they mount the platform to avoid any needless confrontation with other political parties. Dr Dowuona said political parties in the country had formed an inter-party advisory committee (IPAC), which would soon come out with a document on the code of conduct to be used for electioneering campaign by all the parties.

He said copies of the document would be made available to all constituency executives for study and compliance to promote violent free elections.

Dr Nasser said when voted to power, the CPP would implement human-centred development programmes and policies to eradicate poverty and transform the social lives of the people.

He said a CPP government would also ensure stability and peace in the country by ensuring justice for all Ghanaians, irrespective of their political leanings or social status.

Dr Nasser noted that the inability of the nation to produce to feed itself had been the problem facing African governments. Besides, African governments had over-depended on Western Countries to finance their programmes and national budgets, he held.

Dr Nasser said Western Countries had contributed to the economic and political woes of Africa and could therefore not offer any meaningful solutions to the problems that African governments were faced with.

He said if voted into power, a CPP government would revamp agriculture and industry by restoring subsidies to farmers and harnessing local technology for industrialization through locally generated resources.

On his part, Dr Al-Hassan urged the electorate to vote for people who would bring peace and development to their communities and not on party basis.