Vote for a presidential candidate who would ensure development for all - Gandaa

The youth in the northern part of the country have been urged vote for a presidential candidate who sought to enhance equal development in education, health, agriculture and good roads in all parts of the country.      They should also take into consideration the one that would promote the sheanut and cotton industries as well as the provision of skills to make them self-reliant.      Mrs Agnes A. Gandaa, Coordinator of the Tamale Ecclesiastical Province Pastoral Conference (TEPPCON) made the call at a two-day forum for the youth at Tumu on Monday.      The forum was on the theme: "Conflict resolution and good governance – the role of the youth."      TEPPCON is a Catholic non-governmental organisation dedicated to addressing the social, pastoral and economic issues affecting the people they are nurturing.                                                                                                                                                               &n bsp;                                                                                                Mrs Gandaa advised the youth to establish youth secretariats and invite political leaders to find out from them how they would fulfil their promises.      She reminded the youth that it was their duty to help persuade minors in their communities who had registered to voluntary decline and get their names removed from the voters register.      Mrs Gandaa said the presence of minors and people who had done double registration were likely to cause confusion on election's day.      She said the responsibility of the youth to their family, community and the nation was paramount and urged them to demand from political leaders how they would contribute to ensure free, fair and peaceful elections for the country.      Mrs Gandaa asked the Electoral Commission to be more concerned about removing the names of minors and all other persons perceived to be aliens from the register to make it clean before the December 7 elections.      She said the Commission should also adopt strategies to ensure genuine results in the 2008 polls, pointing out that Ghanaians needed a genuinely elected president but not "forged and dishonestly elected one".      On education, Mrs Gandaa said the high poverty level of the people of the north could be reduced if the youth had access to education.      She said bridging the gap of the north could only be possible if the Northern Scholarship was maintained to develop the human resource base to help in the development agenda.      Talking about conflicts in the north, Mrs Gandaa said conflicts would reduce if traditional rulers and religious leaders detached themselves from partisan politics.      She said the involvement of traditional rulers and religious leaders in partisan politics had not only brought divisions in the communities but had also divided and affected the faith of their members.      About 70 youth from the Sissala East and Sissala West Districts attended the forum. GNA