Haruna Iddrisu tours constituency … as Gushiegu NDC MP aspirant also donates to constituents

The Member of Parliament (MP) for Tamale South, Haruna Iddrisu has said that the growing youth unemployment in Tamale was a major setback to the development of the Northern Region.

According to the MP, there was virtually no economic activity available for the idle youth and that the desire for farming which was so common to the people up north and majority of Ghanaians, had also collapsed because the government had not prioritized the development of Agriculture.

Hon. Haruna, who was speaking to The Chronicle in Tamale after a tour of his Tamale South Constituency, pledged that an NDC government, in addressing the problem would review the National Youth Employment Programme (NYEP) and establish a National Youth Service (NYS) with a legal framework.

The absence of a legal backing to govern this current NYEP he said, had given the opportunity to the managers of the programme to abuse the system and had succeeded in politicizing the whole programme.

According to Mr. Haruna, Prof John Evans Atta Mills and the NDC government when voted to power would create several jobs.

The Tamale South MP commissioned a 10-seater public toilet for the people of Sawaba, one of the communities in his Constituency. The used the HIPC and his share of the MPs Common Fund to fund the project, which cost GF¢10,000.

He also toured some areas in his constituency and interacted with the people.

Mr. Haruna also inspected some ongoing projects in the area, including a 14,000 Ghana cedi three-unit classroom block for the Nyohini Presby School funded by the GETfund with support from his Common Fund.

The NDC Parliamentary Candidate for Gushiegu Constituency, Mr. Kwesi Thomas Nasah, has meanwhile appealed to his constituents to eschew all forms of violence and embrace peace before, during and after the December 2008 general elections.

He said peace was the only antidote to disease, poverty and illiteracy, which had engulfed the north.

Mr. Nasah said this when he presented 29 maxi bags of maize and 400 tubers of yam to the victims of the recent political violence in Gushiegu which saw 41 houses, 11 stores and 7 vehicles completely burnt into ashes in addition to three deaths that were recorded.

The NDC Parliamentary Candidate appealed to religious bodies, NGOs, philanthropists and other sympathizers to come to the aid of the victims to relieve them of the pains and traumas they had gone through during the attack.

He cautioned supporters of both the NDC and the NPP to always use dialogue to address their differences instead of resorting to destructive violence or taking the laws into their hands. Mr. Nasah attributed the frequent violence to lack of employment and low level of education. He therefore urged parents to prioritize their children's education so as to give them better future and as well urged the government to provide more job opportunities for the idle youth in the area.

On the other hand, he called for massive victory for the NDC in the December polls to bring total peace and development to the people. Mr. Nasah also called on the security agencies to arrest and prosecute the perpetrators of the Gushegu violence and any other criminal acts in order to serve as a deterrent to would-be arsonists before, during and after the December polls.

The NDC candidate appealed to his supporters and sympathizers to be calm and steadfast and assured them of a massive victory over the incumbent NPP MP, Doris Seidu.