Balado Manu upsets constituents…registers to vote at Tatale

The decision by the Member of Parliament (MP) for Ahafo Ano South, Mr. Stephen Balado Manu, to abandon the constituency he has represented in Parliament since 1996, and register at Tatale, his hometown in the Northern Region, during the recent bio-metric registration exercise has sparked controversy in the area.

Even members from his own party, the New Patriotic Party (NPP), have expressed concern about his action, and questioned why he choose to go to his hometown to register as a voter after his defeat in the party’s parliamentary polls.

According to some of his critics, the action of the MP was a betrayal and insult to their conscience, thereby setting the precedence for other constituents to emulate, by not recognising non-citizens from a particular area who aspire to lead a local people politically, since it had amply demonstrated that they would do so for their parochial interests.

The constituents said they were disappointed in the MP, even that though he did not win his primary, he should have stayed in the constituency to help the current parliamentary candidate of the NPP to win the seat.

“In so doing, Hon. Balado would be exhibiting maturity and love for the NPP and his constituents,” said the concerned constituents.

Currently, it is being spread all over the Ahafo Ano South Constituency that Balado Manu, who previously cast his vote at Domeabra in Ahafo Ano South, had now deserted them and was now a registered voter at Zabzugu-Tatale.

But, when The Chronicle contacted him at Mankranso, the constituency capital, the MP would neither deny nor confirm the allegation.

He told The Chronicle that he was not prepared to comment on the matter now, and that at the appropriate time, he would do so.

The following day, when this reporter again reached him on his cell phone, he was still adamant, saying, “I will not comment on the issue, even at the Supreme Court.”

Pushed further for his comment, Balado Manu told this reporter that he (Balado) was a language tutor in French and English, and for that matter, words could not be pushed into his mouth.

“My brother, I said am not going to comment on the matter, even at Supreme Court I would not talk on it, because I have my own reason and right for not commenting on that.”

Currently, information gaining grounds in Ahafo Ano South alleges that the MP might be eyeing any one of the proposed constituencies in his home town.

The Zabzugu-Tatale Constituency is one of the areas the Electoral Commission has proposed for creation into another constituency.