Open Letter To ?Some Few Reasonable Persons? ....

....IN THE NPP GOVERNMENT AND PARTY.
PART 2

AGENDA TO DESTROY DAGBON ? During the run up to the 2000 general elections the issue of whether an NPP government would not muddy in the dicey Dagbon chieftaincy crisis. Most elderly Dagombas were quite apprehensive for they were living witnesses to the 1969 massacre in Yendi. However the most respected Dagomba elite among the elderly in Dagbon in the person of Lawyer Alhaji Ibrahim Mahama assured them that what happened in 1969 cannot be repeated again. Lawyer Ibrahim Mahama urged all sons and daughters of Dagbon to throw their weight behind the NPP and vote massively for the party because of the then running mate Alhaji Aliu Mahama now vice president. With skepticism and suspicion the people forgot of their political lineages and voted for the NPP because of their son Aliu Mahama. The unsuspecting and magnanimous Lawyer Ibrahim moved from village to village-in Dagbon and appealing to the chiefs to give their votes to their son. Even at a radio discussion on Radio Savannah in Tamale in September 2000 Aliu Mahama was asked whether his party when it attains power would not disturb the peace that was in Dagbon as many people particularly the youth had forgotten that there was ever a massacre in which as many as 33 people lost their lives. Aliu Mahama replied that since the Supreme Court the highest court in Ghana had ruled on the matter the issue had been consigned to the dustbin.

Today the skeptics among the elderly who advised against voting for the NPP have been vindicated. Lawyer Ibrahim Mahama who employed all his influence to bear on people to help the NPP attain political power has been chased out of the country. Even though proponents of this government deny they chased him out. If he had not listened to wise counsel by some elders he would have been murdered like the late Alhaji Issa Mobilla.

Events leading to the murder of the Ya Na and 40 others have made some of us believe that the government of the NPP and some Asantes within the government and party have a grand design to destroy Dagbon state. To achieve this wicked agenda they have got some unpatriotic Dagombas within their ranks to carry out this grand design. These people in government and their Dagomba collaborators see the existence of a peaceful and united Dagbon state a serious threat to Asanteman and Asantehene?s influence.

Events in Dagbon indicate that President Kufuor, his Asante cabal and the few disgruntled Dagombas in the NPP led by the Vice President Aliu Mahama have a clear agenda to decimate Dagbon state. Since the murder of the Ya Na and 40 others supporters of the NPP in Dagbon have been assisted to breach not only Dagbon customs but also the laws of Ghana with impunity. My reasons are stated below.

1, CONFESSION OF IDDRISU IDDI (Ex-ZALINKO LANA) ? On March 29th 2002 two days after the gruesome murder of the Ya Na a high powered govt delegation led by now Senior Minister Honourable Joseph Henry Mensah was dispatched to Dagbon to meet both the Abudu gate and the Andani gate. All these meetings were later shown on Ghana Television.

At the meeting with the Abudu gate Ex ?Zalinkolana Iddrisu Iddi who parades himself in NPP government circles as Mba Dugu (Chief Lindquist of the Ya Na) who ever gave him that title he and the NPP government would tell Ghanaians one day. This shameless old man told the government delegation that they were responsible for the murder of the Ya Na. His reason being that for 28 years they the Abudus have known no peace since the rule of the Ya Na.

This elderly shameless old man is still walking a free man and government functionaries pay courtesy calls on him when they visit Yendi on official duties.

ABDULAI MAHAMADU (ALIAS BOLIN LANA) AT WUOKU COMMISSION ? Abdulai Mahamadu alias Bolin Lana son of late Mahamadu Abdulai when he appeared before the Justice Wuoko Commission told members of the commission that they the Abudus had a pact with the NPP leadership when they were in opposition and campaigning for votes. Under the pact the Abudu gate was to assist the NPP win political power and when that was attained they would also assist them perform his father?s funeral. What therefore happened was in fulfillment of the pact.

Miss Elizabeth Ohene then Minister for Media Relations confirmed the existence of a pact but however they did not intend to murder the Ya Na. Miss Elizabeth Ohene conceded that their intention was to remove the Ya Na from the Gbewa Palace to pave the way for the Abudus to carry out the funeral of Mahamadu Abdulai. This was what the Honourable Miss Elizabeth Ohene told Ghanaians on a Radio Gold programme on March 29th 2002.

FAILURE TO IMPLEMENT GOVERNMENT WHITE PAPER ON THE WUOKO COMMISSION REPORT ? The President assuring Ghanaians that what transpired in Yendi between 25th March to 27th March culminating in the murder of the Overlord of Dagbon and 40 others told Ghanaians that it was a criminal act and that the perpetrators would not be spared if they were found out. He acted with dispatch to appoint the Wuoko Commission where billions of the Ghanaian taxpayers money was wasted. The Commission submitted its report. The government on its part came out with a White Paper. However when it came to the turn of the government to implements its own White Paper recommendations, the President and his men in government-developed cold feet. This is because one of the spiritual fathers of the NPP gurus Ex- Zalinko Lana Iddrisu Iddi alias gag yegu was to be prosecuted for murder.

ACQUITTAL & DISCHARGE OF YIDANA SUGRI & IDDRISU JAHINFO ? These two persons who were seen with the decapitated head and arm of the Ya Na and who admitted possessing them but handed it over to Ex-Zalinko Lana were acquitted and discharged by an Accra High court for want of prosecution. They were so acquitted because the prosecutors were deliberately made to prefer charges, which could not be relied on. People have been prosecuted and convicted for possessing human parts of unknown persons in courts under this very Kufuor administration. This is the very government that touts it self for giving Ghanaians good governance and rule of law.

DESTRUCTION OF FOUNDATION OF TEMPORAL GBEWA PALACE: The govt set up a committee of three eminent chiefs headed by the Asantehene Nana Osei Tutu II. The committee was to look at the traditions of Dagbon and other related Dagbon customs and finally see to the entombment of the late King Ya Na Yakubu Andani II, the installation of his regent and final funeral rites of the King.

As a step the committee recommended the construction of a temporal palace to accommodate the widows and immediate family members of the King. The old palace in which the Ya Na was slain has been desecrated according to Dagbon custom and could no longer be occupied by the family of the slain King nor any future King.

The decision to build a temporal palace was taken by the committee in consultation with the Kuga Na and representatives of the royal families. When the go ahead for work to commence, some group of persons led by one Mahamadu Ziblim (alias Parishei Na) openly in broad day light amidst ?tight security? at the site and destroyed the foundation. The security men looked on helplessly whilst the anarchists carried out their destruction. After the Kuga Na and well-meaning citizens had protested the anarchists were unwillingly arraigned before court where there were cautioned. All this took place when Dagbon was still under a State of Emergency.

RENOVATION AND OCCUPATION OF OLD GBEWA PALACE: - The Gbewa Palace where the Ya Na and forty others were gruesomely murdered in broad daylight after coming under attack for three consecutive days became a tourist attraction destination. People from all walks of life including Diplomats trooped to Yendi to have a glimpse of the palace and all well-meaning people who saw it could not help but to curse the perpetrators of this heinous crime and their collaborators. The vandalized palace was becoming an embarrassment to the government and a dent on its image. This was so because the government has been proclaiming itself to the international community as an apostle of ?good governance and rule of law?. A way had to be found to save the government from further embarrassment. The government thus told the Abudus to renovate the place and they would be allowed to perform the funeral of Mahamadu Abdulai. The Abudus decided to carry out the wish of the government. They quickly mobilized forces and carried out the renovation day and night. Amidst ?tight security? they carried out the renovation unimpeded.

There was as usual hue and cry by the vibrant and watchful media houses in Accra and Tamale about the illegal occupation of the Gbewa Palace. The Yendi District Chief Executive when he was asked by the media who the invaders were he said they a group of unidentified persons and he was thus negotiating with the ?squatters?. It is funny under a government that claims it practices good governance and rule of law and imposes a State of Emergency yet has to negotiate with a group of ?squatters? whose activities breaches the law. Aftter the ?squatters? had covered up the dastardly act to save the image of the government they were forcibly flushed out and no single ?squatter was apprehended for questioning.

After covering up the dastardly act at the behest of the government the place has been cordoned with barbed wire even though the Kuga Na had recommended its demolition. Whether the government is keeping the place as a museum monument and a tourist attraction or is keeping the place reserved for Mahamadu Abdulai?s funeral as we have heard from the grapevine only The Almighty Allah and time would tell.

BREACH OF DAGBON CUSTOM ON TRADITIONAL DRUMMING AND DANCING: - In Dagbon when a Ya Na passes away and is not yet buried no drumming of traditional drums is allowed. Until his death is confirmed by those traditionally mandated the ban is then lifted.

In line with the age-old Dagbon custom, the Kuga Na as acting President of Dagbon Traditional Council in consultation with the Northern Regional Security Council (REGSEC) imposed this ban. REGSEC was to enforce this ban since it is the only body capable of doing so. This ban was strictly enforced with a few exceptional breaches at Diari and Tolon during the period when Mr. Ernest K. Debrah was the Northern Regional Minister. However the appointment of young Boniface Abukari Sadique as the Regional Minister has emboldened those anarchists to carry our agenda of decimating Dagbon.

During the last Eid festivals (Fitir & Adha) REGSEC acting on the instructions of the Regional Minister Boniface Abukari Sadique announced days before the festivals and reminded the people of Dagbon and Bimbilla that the ban on traditional drumming was still in force. REGSEC therefore sounded a warning to those who intended breaking this law would not be spared, as the axe of the law would fall on them.

On those festival days people of Yendi belonging to the Abudu gate came out openly and were even provided security by the very REGSEC that had announced the ban and threatened those who intended breaking it. To date the Honourable Regional Minister is yet to tell the chiefs and good people of Dagbon why despite his announcements and threats of punishment he went ahead and gave them protection. I do not think the enouncement and threats were targeted at some particular persons in Dagbon. The Honourable Regional Minister?s behaviour since he assumed the reigns of power in the Northern Region as far as Dagbon is concerned smacks of hypocrisy, dishonesty and double standards. He is trying to please his master the Vice President and in doing this he would fail miserably and would not get any sympathy from even his master. The good people of Dagbon were yet to witness the worst as far as breaching of Dagbon customs is concerned. The Abudu gate who have no regard for Dagbon custom and interpret it the way they want have been emboldened by the breach of the ban on drumming to commit further breaches.

Views expressed by the author(s) do not necessarily reflect those of GhanaHomePage.