NPP MUST RECOGNISE HEROES (PAGE 14, JUNE 26, 2010)

LEADING members of the New Patriotic Party, (NPP), in the Bawku Central Constituency have reminded those leading the party to recognise its heroes and learn to give them their due in order to immortalise their achievements.
Alhaji Abdulai Billa Amandi and Alhaji Yakubu Salifu, elders of the NPP in Bawku and relatives of the late Mr Adam Amandi and late Imoro Salifu, both leading members of the Danquah-Busia tradition in the Bawku area were saddened that over the years, some of the most gallant heroes of the party have been relegated to the background.
The two men made the appeal when Mr John Alan Kyeremanten, an NPP presidential hopeful paid a courtesy call them at Natinga, a suburb of Bawku.
With the hope that Mr Kyeremanten will emerge winner at the August 7 polls of the party, Alhaji Billa Amandi advised Mr Kyeremanten to ensure that those who sacrificed for the party, namely, Paa Grant, Dankwah, Busia, Imoro Salifu, Adams Amandi and several others were duly remembered and honoured.
The late Adam Amandi was a member of the Legislative Assembly in the pre-independence era. He was also a founding member of the Northern People's Party (NPP), and later became a Minister of State in the erstwhile Progress Party (PP) government between 1969 and 1972.
For his part, Alhaji Yakubu Salifu, brother of late Imoro Salifu, one time Upper Regional Chief Executive of the then Progress Party (PP), said the late Busia created economic opportunities for the youth and made them to prosper.
He therefore advised Mr Kyeremanten that when he takes over the reigns of the party and the country, he should emulate the late Busia and take steps to create economic opportunities for the youth of the country.
Earlier in the day, Mr Kyeremanten called on the Paramount Chief of Bawku, Naba Asigri Abugrago Azoka II and his elders who prayed for Allah’s guidance for the restoration of permanent peace in the Bawku Municipality.
He also solicited the prayers of the chiefs and people of the area to make it possible for him to become the next presidential candidate for the NPP and later the president of the country.
The tour of the former trade and industry minister took him to Bawku Central, Pusiga, Garu-Tempane and Zebra constituencies where he interacted with polling station executives.
Addressing them, Mr Kyeremanten among other things promised that if he was selected as the Presidential Candidate for the NPP, he would run a broad based campaign team, which would include polling station executives, where resources meant for campaign would be given directly to them at the grass root and not to be passed through a forceful centralised campaign team, as happened in the past, where the resources did not reach those who were at the grass root doing the ‘yeoman’s job’.
“If we are serious about coming back to power, we must put the polling station executives in charge of the campaign and give them the money, logistics and other resources and we will all see the type of campaign we will run for victory in 2012,” he said.
Mr Kyeremanten during his rounds also made separate calls on the chiefs of Pusiga, Garu, Tempane, and Zebilla. He was accompanied by Mr Yaw Buabeng Asamoa, his spokesperson, Mr Kwabena Adjei Agyepong, a former presidential spokesperson and Press secretary in the Kufour administration, Mr K. Dzamesi, a former Volta Regional Minister under the NPP regime, Mr Alhassan Samari, a former Upper East Regional Minister, and Mr Abdulai Abanga, a former Municipal Chief Executive for Bawku.