'NPP is for northerners'

New Patriotic Party vice presidential candidate Mahamudu Bawumia has denied allegations that the NPP is an Akan-based or Ashanti party.

Speaking to a large gathering of supporters at Jirapa in the Upper West Region, Dr. Bawumia recounted the history of the party saying the Danquah-Busia tradition takes its roots from the Northern Peoples Party.

He traced the party's roots to eminent northerners like Chief S D Dombo, Abeyifa Karbo,  Mumuni Bawumia, Jato Kaleo, among others.

The NPP"s number two man therefore called on all northerners in other parties to come on board the NPP in order that the party's dream for bridging the gap between the south and the north would be realised.

"It is the sweat of our grandfathers and fathers which began the Danquah-Busia tradition which is now the NPP, so we northerners should all work hard to retain the NPP in power so that the dream that our forefathers had for northern Ghana can be achieved', he stressed.

He urged other northern politicians to come and join the NPP so that they could pool their resources together to help develop the north. Dr. Bawumia made the call at the end of a three-day tour of the Upper West Region.

The former Deputy Governor of the Bank of Ghana intimated that one of the dreams of Nana Akufo-Addo, the party's presidential aspirant, and the NPP is to see that in the next four years, the northern sectors of the country will be as developed as the south.

Dr. Bawumia used the occasion to reiterate that a one-billion cedi Northern Development Fund was in the offing, stressing that a Northern Development Authority would be set up to manage the fund.

He called on residents in the region to vote the NPP MPs into power for   according to him, that would help them speed up development projects in their respective areas.

 'Once an MP is in opposition to the party in power, his bargaining power on key developmental projects is weak. So vote for MPs whose party is in power so that you can demand projects from them', he charged.