The National Youth Organizer of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) has called for the immediate release of five of his party�s youth activists who have been held without charge for almost three years.
Yahuza Yakubu, Abibu Dagbana, Majeed Alhassan, Alhassan Sayibu and Imoro Gundaana all NPP youth activists in Tamale have been languishing in the Tamale Prisons after their arrest in February 2009 following a clash between supporters of the opposition and the governing National Democratic Congress in Tamale.
Anthony Abayifa Karbo made the call at a press briefing in Tamale as part of his three day working visit to the northern region meant to draw a strategy that will maximize the NPP�s votes in the three northern regions during the upcoming 2012 elections.
�It is a fact that the fundamental human rights of our brothers have been infringed upon and we are no longer going to sit unconcerned for them to be used as sacrificial lambs for mere political rhetoric� he charged, and challenged President John Evans Atta Mills to walk his talk of being a �father for all� by ensuring the release of those detainees who in his opinion have committed no crime.
Supporters of the two largest parties in the country clashed in front of the old butchers� house at the Tamale Central Market on February 17, 2009 after rising tensions boiled over. An alleged NDC member, Rashid Alhassan, died in the course of the clash, leading to the burning of 27 houses, vehicles, motorbikes and other valuables belonging to NPP members in Gumbihini, Choggu and other surrounding communities in the Tamale metropolis.
Reading a six page press statement headlined, �Exposing the hypocrisy of the Mills-Mahama led NDC government� Anthony Karbo listed a wide range of issues he described as evidence of government�s failed promises to the people of northern Ghana.
He condemned government for dragging its feet on the successful implementation of the Savannah Accelerated Development Authority, touted as a pro-poor government policy expected to alleviate the plight of the suffering masses in the three northern regions and beyond.
On the issue of the Yaa-Naa murder case, the NPP National Youth Organizer appealed to the people of Dagbon to reject the NDC government in 2012 for reneging on its promise to find the killers of the late overlord of Dagbon, Yaa-Naa Yakubu Andani II.
He expressed worry over continued attempts by some government functionaries to play on the emotions of the people of Dagbon, saying it had the ingredients to spark conflict.
Anthony Abayifa Karbo admitted that no single political party could resolve the Dagbon chieftaincy dispute, hence the need for government to de-politicize it by getting all the major stakeholders on board to find a lasting solution to it.
He alleged that farm machinery including tractors and combined harvesters that were imported into the country by the erstwhile Kufuor administration were distributed to NDC government officials and some party executives nationwide without recourse to the programme governing their importance, putting a crimp in the country�s agriculture plan.
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