BAWUMIA TOURS 'OVERSEAS' AREAS ...Journalists escape unhurt at Doninga (Daily Graphic Tuesday, November 4, 2008 PAGE 17)

Journalists covering New Patriotic Party vice-presidential candidate Mahamudu Bawumia’s campaign tour of the Upper East Region escaped injury by the skin of their teeth last Sunday when some unruly persons, under the cover of darkness hurled stones at the bus conveying them.
The incident occurred at Doninga in the Builsa District at about 8:45 p.m. The glass of the side door of the bus with registration number ER 7058 X was smashed but fortunately no one was hurt.
The attack came moments after the vice-presidential hopeful had finished addressing a mini rally in the community.
Dr Bawumia was in the community to address a rally as part of the party's campaign towards the December 7, 2008 elction.
The incident came just as the bus was about to set off together with other vehicles in the convoy to the next destination. The perpetrators took opportunity of the prevailing darkness to carry out the act.
Frantic search of the immediate surroundings by the police and the journalists for the perpetrators did not yield any results as no arrest was made.
The incident brought to the fore the issue of whether it was safe for political parties to hold rallies beyond 6 pm.
Speaking to a large gathering of supporters of the NPP in various communities in the West Mamprusi District of the Northern Region and
the Builsa District in the Upper East Region on Sunday, Dr Bawumia recounted the history of the party, and said that the Danquah-Busia tradition took its roots from the Northern People’s Party.
He traced the party's roots to eminent northerners like Chief S. D. Dombo, Abeyifa Karbo, Mumuni Bawumia and Jato Kaleo. Dr Bawumia, therefore, called on northerners in other parties to come on board the NPP to enable the party's dream of bridging the gap between the north and south to be realised.
He used the occasion to reiterate that a one billion cedi Northern Development Fund was in the offing and stressed that a Northern Development Authority would be set up to manage it.
He called on the people in the region to vote Nana Akufo-Addo and the NPP MPs into power to help speed up the development projects in their respective areas.
Communities visited included Kubori, Yagaba, Loagri Number 1 and Yizesi in the Northern Region which are popularly referred to as overseas. The rest were Gbedema, Fumbisi, Kadema, Doninga and Chuchuliga in the Builsa District.
He also interacted with some students of the Navrongo Campus of the University for Development Studies, where he advised the youth to rally behind the party.
In all the communities visited, Dr Mahamadu Bawumia said the vision of Nana Akufo-Addo was to help develop the Upper West, Upper East and Northern regions, adding that this would help bridge the development gap between the northern and southern parts of Ghana.
Dr Mahamudu Bawumia said he was optimistic that the electorate would retain the NPP due to the good work of the Kufuor administration in the past seven-and-half years.
Dr Bawumia said when voted into office, the major priorities of Nana Akufo-Addo would be education, agriculture and youth development and urged the electorate to vote for the NPP to enable it continue with its good programmes and policies.
He said when elected to power, the NPP government led by Nana Akufo-Addo would modernise agriculture.
The NPP administration would also focus on the sheanut industry just as had been done to the cocoa industry through the establishment of the Sheanut Marketing Board, to assist farmers in the Northern Region.
He also promised that small and micro loans would be provided to assist people, especially women, to engage in small and medium-scale businesses.
At Yagaba-Kubori, Dr Bawunia assured the people of a new district when NPP is voted into power. He also promised to provide a new senior high school for the people of Chuchuliga.
He was accompanied by the Upper East Regional Minister, Mr Alhassan Samari; Mr Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey, and some regional and national executives of the party.