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Opinions of Wednesday, 15 November 2017

Columnist: Musa Tupare

NPP: WA Central Constituency NPP deserve a new sense of direction

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The Wa Central Constituency in the Upper West Region has continued to elude the New Patriotic Party since the inception of multi-party democracy in 1992 despite the different strategic efforts always put in by the party, election after election.

From the performance trend however, the closest the party ever came to winning the parliamentary seat was in 2016 when Hon Issahaku Tahiru lost by some seven hundred votes to the incumbent member of parliament-Hon Rashid Pelpuo. It was such a painful and shocking loss considering the amount of work put into the campaign which witnessed unprecedented commitment and sacrifices from the youth especially, who desired a new-face and a sense of direction for the Wa Central Constituency.

The zealousness to depart from the lame leadership under the watch of Hon Rashid Pelpuo propelled and energized the New Patriotic Party fold across the length and breadth of the Constituency to campaign tirelessly day and night to achieve the desired goal of annexing the Wa Central Parliamentary seat.

Unfortunately, whilst all of these masses of the New Patriotic Party toiled and sacrificed beyond measure to win the seat as well as make Nana Addo president, the Constituency Chairman-Ali Kamara clandestinely and selfishly went into cahoots with the NDC Candidate and incumbent member of Parliament-Hon Rashid Pelpuo.

The Constituency Chairman defied all possible logic and threw caution to the wind by secretly campaigning for Hon Rashid Pelpuo and by so-doing hampering the chances of the NPP Candidate in the 2016 elections. Mr Ali Kamara is on record to have trekked around the constituency at very ungodly hours to meet prominent stakeholders of the NPP in an attempt to convince and sway them to vote against Hon Issahaku Tahiru Moomin in favour of Hon Rashid Pelpuo.

In one of the instances, he was caught spot-on and red-handed by candidate himself in the company of the then Municipal Chief Executive-Hon Nuhu Putiaha at Boli;one of the populous villages within the Wa Central Constituency in full swing campaigning for Hon Rashid Pelpuo and the NDC.

This cannot be the mark of a person deserving of the position of constituency chairman in a liberal party like the New PATRIOTIC PARTY. Mr Ali Kamara was also seen by a number of people frequenting the flagstaff office of Hon Rashid Pelpuo for what is believed to have been secret meetings intended to further the anti-NPP agenda in 2016. He ostensibly went there for his booties whilst he sacrificed the toils and sacrifices of thousands of party members who is supposed to lead as Constituency Chairman.

Latest information and evidence available to the public concerning this shameful and unimaginable ‘romance’ between the Wa Central Constituency Chairman and the NDC through the Wa Central Parliamentarian is the inexplicable award of a contract to the Chairman from the MP’s share of the Common Fund. This Project is the Zonal Council office situated at Boli in the Wa Municipality.

No one can constrain and heckle the Chairman from legitimately bidding for and going ahead to win a contract under the procurement laws of Ghana. But when the chairman decides to trade off his position as an opposition leader in the constituency for a contract from the Member of Parliament, it obviously raises eye browse and becomes a matter of concern as his loyalty and commitment are put to the litmus test.

As if that doesn’t suffice, records from the Wa Municipal Assembly on the disbursement of the MP’s Common Fund reveals that the Chairman is remitted on Quarterly basis by the Member of Parliament. This clearly disgusts and frustrates the masses of the party in the constituency who have been sacrificing their time, efforts and sometimes meager financial resources to keep the party afloat.

In the wake of this unfortunate conduct by the Constituency Chairman, it behooves on all responsible party members to push for a new sense of leadership and direction for the party in the Wa Central Constituency. The incumbent chairman can no more be entrusted with the destiny of the party and as such he must bow out of any party executive contest to save himself the little credibility left in him.

Under the circumstance, the NPP as a liberal democratic establishment which thrives on equity and equality cannot hound him from offering himself for election if he shamefully decides to. However, the masses of the people in the constituency whose cherished dream of changing the statuesque in the Wa Central Constituency got dashed as a result of the greed and selfishness of Ali Kamara must rise up and oppose any further attempts to entrench and perpetuate these negative and retrogressive tendencies.

If the party hierarchy does not deem it appropriate to investigate all of these damning and stinking allegations and possibly bring the Constituency Chairman to book in order to deter others, the ordinary members of the party must show that they have the power to make and unmake leaders in the party.

LONG LIVE THE NPP,

GOD BLESS NANA AKUFO ADDO,

LONG LIVE MOTHER GHANA.

BY; MUSAH TUPARE

CONCERNED PARTY MEMBER