NDC will not boycott 2004 Elections - Bagbin

Accra, Aug. 11, GNA - Mr Alban Bagbin, the Minority Leader in Parliament, on Monday said the National Democratic Congress (NDC) would participate in the 2004 General election.

Mr Bagbin was speaking in an interview with Journalists in reaction to a statement attributed to Mr Haruna Iddrisu, NDC National Youth Organiser, to the effect that the party would boycott the 2004 elections if they were postponed in the Dagbon Traditional Area.

The Minority Leader said the NDC would make sure that nothing would prevent residents of the troubled Dagbon Traditional Area from taking part in the 2004 general election.

Mr Bagbin said Mr Iddrisu was expressing his personal views as a Ghanaian on the Government's "lackadaisical attitude" towards the handling of the Dagbon crisis.

He said government should make sure it finds a lasting solution to the Dagbon crisis to avoid any postponement of the election in the Dagbon Traditional Area.

Mr Bagbin said the nation learned a lesson from the boycott by the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) and other parties of the 1992 elections so the NDC would not stay out of the 2004 elections nor encourage its teeming supporters or other parties to do so.

He said the boycott of the elections would not be in the interest of the democratic development of the nation.

Mr Bagbin said the Government lacked a clear road map to the handling of the Dagbon crisis and urged it to find a lasting solution to enable the residents there to exercise their franchise at the same time as other Ghanaians in 2004.