DERY CALLS FOR UNITED FRONT (PAGE 13, MAY 10, 2010)

THE Member of Parliament (MP) for the Lawra-Nandom Constituency, Mr Ambrose Dery, has called for a united front on the part of leaders from the entire political divide in the constituency.
He said differences in political ideologies and the colours of political parties must not be misconstrued as political opponents being at each others throat.
Mr Dery who was addressing the first ordinary meeting of the fourth session of the Lawra District Assembly at Lawra in the Upper West region, stressed the need for political leaders to work to promote unity at all times.
“We in leadership are friends, classmates and schoolmates but many a time, we do not potray these characters to trickle down to our people” Mr Dery noted and said “The interest of the people must always be above our parochial interest”.
Touching on the relationship between District Chief Executives (DCE)’s and members of the assembly, Mr Dery, who is also the deputy minority leader in parliament, advised assembly members to relate well with their DCEs and all those who matter in the assembly so that they could work together as partners in development.
He equally called for effective collaboration between DCEs and MP’s to get the best for the people saying, the role of the members of the assembly and sub assemblies was very critical to the country’s decentralisation process and the democratic dispensation.
The Lawra-Nandom MP further commended all workers, particularly those on transfer to the district for their immense contributions towards the development of the district over the years and urged them to put in their best.
On the security and the relative peace prevailing in the district, Mr Dery cautioned the chiefs and people not to take them for granted but to work to sustain it saying “When we take a cue from the people of Gonja for instance, it means that we could traditionally pass power from one person to the other without encountering any problems”.
For his part, the Upper West Regional Minister, Mr Mahmud Khalid, who also graced the occasion, expressed grave concern about the bad blood among some members of the various political divide in the region, especially among members of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and called for a change of stance among the people.
Mr Khalid further called for unity if the region was to accelerate its pace of development pointing out that “Whether we are in opposition or in government, we are all working to attain one goal and that is to sought the welfare of our people”.