NR NDC MENDS FENCES FOR ELECTION 2008 (Page 17)

Story: Zakaria Alhassan, Tamale

WITH barely 10 months to the general election in the country, the Northern Regional branch of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) is mending its fences to ensure a united front for a resounding victory in the December elections.
This follows misunderstanding and the resultant cracks between the current Regional Chairman of the party, Alhaji Sumani Zakari, and the former Minister of State in the erstwhile NDC government, Alhaji Ibrahim Adam, and their respective sympathisers, that manifested themselves during the party’s regional congress in Tamale in 2005, when the former was elected.
It was, therefore, a big leap forward for the party when Alhaji Adam, in the company of some party stalwarts, decided to pay goodwill visit to the chairman at his project site in Tamale, to settle between them and bury the hatchet for “the good of the party,” Mr Adam said.
The news about the meeting between the two top party executives in January last month at the Gaana Hotel attracted some regional executives and core members of the party, including the Member of Parliament for Tamale Central, Mr Inusah Fuseini, and a former Northern Regional Minister, Alhaji Gilbert Seidu Iddi, to the hotel to witness the reconciliatory meeting.  
At the end of the day, the two protagonists pardoned each other, commended their individual efforts and shook hands to the admiration of the party members.
Mr Adam described the reunion as successful and as an important step in the forward match of the party in the region, saying “in unity we can surely make progress”.
“It is a significant development for the victory of the party; I only hope we would build upon it by organising a bigger forum to deliberate further on the way forward for the party,” he added.
Mr Adam, however, expressed hope that other regions and constituencies that had similar divisions within their ranks would emulate the good example the party had set in the Northern Region so as to initiate reconciliatory moves for the betterment of the party.
Alhaji Zakari, for his part, said he had always stood for the unity of the party and, therefore, would not engage in any divisive tendencies that had the potential to disintegrate the NDC.
“I would, therefore, urge all to be guided by the principles contained in the party’s motto — unity, peace and stability,’’ he advised.
The Tamale Central MP expressed appreciation to the two leaders for their show of wisdom and observed that their actions or inaction tended to guide the youth in their activities.
Alhaji Iddi also commended both the chairman and Alhaji Adam for exhibiting such high level of maturity by reconciling their differences and noted that “in every social institution, there are times to disagree in order to agree”.