"NDC Must Commit Resources To BVR Exercise"

The National Democratic Congress parliamentary candidate in the Karaga constituency of the Northern Region, Mr Alhassan Sualiyu Dandawa, has urged his party to commit more resources towards getting more eligible voters to register under the biometric voters registration exercise.

He said this was crucial if the party was to win the 2012 election.

“We must realise that the registration process is of equal importance to the voting itself, so if we fail to get our people from the nook and cranny of this country to register, we would only be plotting the party’s defeat,” he intimated.

Speaking in an interview with the Daily Graphic in Karaga, Mr Dandawa said although Ghanaians had acknowledged the achievements of the Mills administration, they would be unable to cast their votes for the party if they failed to acquire the biometric voters registration card.

“One must first have a biometric voters card before he or she can vote, so of what use would it be if we don’t get our people to register.

We must first commit resources towards this exercise because it is the first step towards victory in 2012,” he stated.

Mr Dandawa revealed that even before the commencement of the exercise, he had made it his number one priority to visit various parts of the Karaga constituency to sensitise his constituents to the biometric registration exercise.

“Since the exercise began, I have continued to move from community to community to ensure that people come out to register,” he said.

He also mentioned that the party had set up a monitoring team which was going round the communities to monitor the registration exercise and that he had donated two motorbikes to the party that were being used to support the monitoring exercise.

Mr Dandawa won the January 21, 2012 NDC primary in the constituency by beating the incumbent MP, Mr Iddrisu Dawuda.

The task ahead of him therefore is to retain the seat for the NDC and this challenge, he believes, is not beyond his ability.

“I am well known in the party and in the communities and I have already been helping to bring development to my people, so I am well placed to win the seat,” Mr Dandawa said.

He said the important thing for him now was how to get more votes for Prof. John E. A. Mills, especially in areas where he gained lower number of votes during the 2008 election.

He said the Karaga constituency had seen a lot of development projects since the NDC took office and cited the state-of- the-art polyclinic as one of such projects.

“In the area of education, Prof. Mills has replaced many schools under trees with modern classrooms and other facilities, such as toilets, urinals and staff offices,” he mentioned, adding that the rural electrification project would soon take off in the area.