Opinions of Wednesday, 18 January 2012

Columnist: Alhassan, A. A.

Who Takes The Mantle Of Wa-West As DCE

: Momori Mark Abu Of Ga Or Hafiz Seidu Of Dolimo-Dabo

With the recent removal of the DCE of Wa-West several names have appeared including, Mark Abu Momori of Ga, Hafiz Seidu of Dolimo, teacher Yusif of Dolimo and one other candidate also from Dolimo.

The issue of Wa-West as regarding who to become the next DCE is a delicate issue and should be handle with all care and concern.

In 2009 when NDC came into power six candidates applied for the position of the DCE out of this number four were from Dolimo, one from Naha and one from Ga. I monitored the trend of the events very carefully and with information from the then constituency chairman, Alhaji Imori, he wanted the DCE to come from Dolimo his home town because they battled with the people of Wechiua for the district capital and once they were not given, the position of the DCE must go to Dolimo.

As a result of this development Mark Abu Momori was disqualified under circumstances I did not understand as well as some youth in the Ga-zone of the Wa-West District. As a native of Dolimo I wanted to know why Momori was disqualified from the race and not the other candidate from Naha who was physically challenge. To my surprise, the chairman told me Momori was a treat to his plans. From this statement I realized that the, whole issue was not fair.

The diabolic agenda was carried through and Seidu Tungbani became the DCE. The reign of Tungbani was not all that smooth regarding his leadership style and other misunderstanding with executives. This finally called for his removal as the executive stood on the grounds that they will not be able to campaign for the party in 2012 if he still remains the DCE.

With all respect let me now take a look at the candidates trying to occupy the vacancy in Wa West. Teacher Yussif was my teacher at the primary school. He is a native of Dolimo. I have no problem with him becoming the DCE of Wa-West. The only problem i have is with his age wether he will be able to convince the youth for us in the coming election. The decision making body can still find out more about Teacher Yussif since am not here to discredit any candidate but to say what I know about them.

Hafiz Seidu, he is a graduate teacher and we are all from the same locality. He is a member of the NDC all right and can occupy the position as the DCE Wa-West. The only problem I have with Hafiz is that he is so proud and cannot keep secrets.

He is the campaign manager of Hon. Joseph Yielle Chireh for the primaries in Wa-West. He is actually making things difficult for Chireh because he discusses whatever secret in the plans of Chireh outside. What we should also take into consideration is whether he is the choice of the people even in his home town. It is in the public Domin that with Chireh concern he has 70% stake in the bid. We do not want what happened in 2009 to happened again what we need is the right candidate and not some one affiliated to a political head.

Mark Abu Momori is someone I have not interacted much with. The first time I saw him was at the funeral of Gregory the son of Hon. Chireh in Lassia. My second encounter was at UDS-Wa campus when he was trying to let some students from Wa-West understand that Hon. Chireh was not bias in students sponsorship and recently in the radio stations in the region always defending the policies of the ruling nation democratic congress. He has the courage confidents and actually the qualities of a leader from his responses at the radio station. He is the only candidate outside Dolimo and also from Ga zone where the party normally has many voters in the whole constituency. I will also want to believe that Mark command respect from his people and other parts of the constituency. I also believe strongly that the disqualification of Mark Momori affected Alhaji Imoro negatively in his bid for a second term as chairman the other time.

The other candidate is someone I don’t known much about. The only thing I know of him is that he is a gentlemen.

In conclusion and in my opinion, and for the sake of transparency, once Dolimo had their turn another zone should be considered. Also the voting pattern should also be considered, it should not also be forgotten that, NPP has decided to take their parliamentary candidate from Ga and that should be looked at seriously. I am however appealing to the regional executive, as well as the constituency executive and all stake holders within the Wa-West district to try as a matter of fact get the right candidate Wa-West is for the people of Wa- West and our action will determine the kind of development we will get.

The four candidates should be looked at critically. Thank you. ……………………………………

By A.A Alhassan (University of Ghana)