Demo To Hit NDC In Tamale Over 'Failed' Promise

The Northern Youth for Peace and Development (NYUPED) says nothing stops it from organizing a mammoth demonstration in Tamale on September 10, 2011 against the Mills-Mahama led NDC administration�s �Lackadaisical financial commitment� towards the smooth implementation of the Savannah Accelerated Development Authority. Prince Hardi Adams, Executive Director of the Northern Youth for Peace and Development insinuated that Parliament�s authorization of the controversial 3 billion Chinese loan facility without a substantial amount of it allocated for SADA justified government�s insensitivity to the people of Northern Ghana. He took a swipe at the Majority leader of Parliament, Hon. Cletus Avoka, Minister for Communication, Hon. Harunah Iddrisu and other Parliamentarians of Northern extraction who were instrumental during the 3 billion loan facility�s authorization, without admonishing government to factor SADA into the deal. Prince Hardi Adams who arrived in Tamale over the weekend to make the necessary arrangements ahead of the planned demonstration slated for September 10 described as �a mere political rhetoric� government�s Gh25 million cedis captured on the 2011 supplementary for SADA. This, according to the Northern Youth for Peace and Development�s Executive Director fell short of the NDC�S 2008 campaign promise. �President Mills promised to release an initial Gh200 million cedis as seed capital for the implementation of the SADA and the subsequent release of Gh100 million every year into it: we are yet to realize the fulfillment of that promise� he recalled. Questioned on the suspension of an earlier demonstration announced on Tuesday May 31, 2011, Prince Hardi Adams pointed to government�s reassurance that a substantial amount had been allocated for SADA in the 2011 supplementary budget. The Northern Youth for Peace and Development�s Executive Director said the people of Northern Ghana could no longer tolerate government�s back and forth on the slow pace of the implementation of SADA touted as a pro-poor government policy expected to bridge the wide developmental disparities between northern and southern Ghana. �The intended demonstration is to mobilize the youth of the three northern regions to come out and demonstrate to the entire world that we are now awake and will no longer kowtow to the NDC government�s deceit and lies on SADA� Prince Hardi insisted. It will be recalled that the Northern Youth for Peace and Development that holds government on check concerning the smooth implementation of the Savannah Accelerated Development Authority at its recent news conference in Tamale demanded an unqualified apology from President John Mills for deceiving Ghanaians to believe that an amount of Gh25 million cedis had been deposited in the SADA kitty. NYUPED claimed that President Mills quickly directed his Minister for Finance to smartly capture on the 2011 supplementary budget that an amount of Gh25 million cedis had been allocated for SADA. This directive the organization believed was borne out of its earlier threat to embark on series of demonstrations in northern Ghana over delays in allocating funds for the SADA projects to take off seriously. The Northern Youth for Peace and Development maintained that Vice president John Dramani Mahama and all Ministers of Northern extraction have been disingenuous to their kinsmen; hence NYUPED�s call for their resignation was still relevant.