NDC to boycott Elections 2004 if ...

Accra, Aug. 9, GNA- The National Democratic Congress (NDC) on Saturday said it would boycott 2004 Presidential and parliamentary elections, if the elections were postponed in Dagbon Traditional Area.
"The people of Dagbon were excluded from participating in the District Assembly elections as a result of the State of Emergency, but as a party we would not accept any excuses again to exclude them from the general elections," Mr Haruna Iddrisu NDC National Youth Organiser said in Accra.
Any elections that would be conducted in Ghana without the people of Dagbon cannot be said to be a national elections and we as a party would not be partakers, he said.
Mr Iddrisu was launching NDC new membership card at Ablekuma Central Constituency. He urged the government to adopt a "new broad-based and transparent measures for the resolution of the conflict".
He said NDC as a democratic political party is ready to continue to offer constructive and experience advise to government, but "if they failed to listen to sound reasoning for the resolution of the Dagbon conflict before 2004, and as a result the elections were postponed, we will boycott it and call for an Interim Government to resolve the crisis."
He repeated the party's call on the government through the security agencies to open fresh investigations into the assassination of Ya-Na Yakubu Andani II, Paramount Chief of Dagbon and 29 others in March last year.
Mr Iddrisu, who is a lawyer by profession, said "The acquittal and discharge of the two prime suspects in the Yendi affair has provoked fresh calls on the NPP Government to tell Ghanaians, who then are to be blamed for the Yendi tragic event."
An Accra High Court presided over by Mr Justice Yaw Appau last month, acquitted and discharged Iddrisu Gyanfo and Yidana Sugri, the alleged assassins of Ya-Na Yakubu Andani II.
The court ruled that the prosecution was not able to prove a case against the two.
The Youth Organiser said the NDC's position should not be misconstrued that the party is trying to sabotage the 2004 elections. We are irrevocable committed to upholding the constitutional order, sustaining multi-party democracy and preserving the country's peace and stability.
On recent alleged coup attempt, the NDC Youth Organiser said "the ruling NPP Government has been orchestrating stories of coup plots as a ruse to arrest and intimidate NDC members and other opposition stalwarts".
"In the present circumstances it is likely the allegations of a coup plot may be a convenient smokescreen to clamp down on the rising tide of public criticism and agitation against the incompetence of the NPP Government."
He said the plot was also to divert attention from the government's inability to deliver on its campaign promises of bringing down the cost of living, providing employment for the youth and make education less costly, especially at the tertiary level.
Mr Iddrisu said: "Every time the NPP Government is in deep crisis, their response is to raise the false alarm of a plot to destabilise the Government, which is counter productive."
He said the NDC would continue to play the role of a constructive opposition and is confident to defeat the NPP government through the ballot box in 2004 elections.
Dr Farouk Braimah, NDC National Propaganda Secretary who inaugurated four different Committees for the Constituency said the 2000 Electoral victory for the NPP has exposed the party of it's weakness in modern governance.
He said the first weakness of the party was exhibited through its "so called all inclusive government" policy.
Dr Braimah said the real reason behind the policy was to cover for party's inability to appoint competent Ministers to fill the vacuum that the NDC exit created.
He, therefore, called on NDC supporters and sympathizers to work hard for electoral victory in 2004.
"The good people of Ghana have tasted governance under the two political parties and would use their thumb next year to decide again, we need to unite, and forge ahead as one people with a common destiny." he said.
The Regional Secretary, Mr Nii Vanderpui, appealed to all to register during the forthcoming Voter Registration exercise "as that is the only guaranteed security for casting their votes in the 2004 elections." Mr Vanderpui urged all NDC members not sit on the fence but stand stall and defend the party throughout the country.
"We must articulate our vision, aspirations and the viable economic alternatives to defeat the argument and bad policies of the ruling NPP", he said.
He said the worsening economic conditions of the people had reached limits that they cannot cope with and want a change. "We NDC members would take the seat back, we cannot afford to lose it a second time to any party," he said.
The Constituency Chairman, Alhaji Yusif Mohammed Adisa said the NPP is incapable of improving the living conditions of Ghanaians and must be unseated by the NDC next year. 09 Aug. 2003