Opinions of Monday, 11 November 2013

Columnist: Ali, Prince Justice

Why Moses Bavia was rejected ...

...for the position of District Chief Executive postion for sissala east district

Good Morning ladies and gentlemen of the press, we have invited you here to share with you details of the events leading to the rejection of Moses Bavia as the District Chief Executive of the Sissala East District.
We will start by congratulating his Excellency John Dramani Mahama the Commander in Chief of the Ghana Armed Forces and the President of the Republic of Ghana for his victory in the keenly contested Supreme Court case. We also thank Nana Addo Danquah Akufo Addo for accepting the verdict of the Supreme Court.
To go straight to the point, we the members of this platform are not surprise by the rejection of Moses Bavia but are rather much surprise with the heavy weight the regional minister and his entire team put behind the nominee of the president. We must say that the regional minister, the regional and constituency executives of the National Democratic Congress (N.D.C) tried as much as they could to salvage the situation but their efforts were not enough to do so. We must also say that had it not been for their efforts the nominee would have been shocked with only four (4) votes.
Ladies and gentlemen of the press, it is not for nothing that the Honourable Assembly Members rejected the president’s nominee but his own incompetence and disparaging remarks he made about the assembly members during the four year tenure of Honourable Alijata Suleman. To say that the Assembly members did not know the reasons why they were in the Assembly was most unfortunate and we are sure he will be lamenting over such statements now. As if this was not enough the current Member of Parliament who made enormous efforts for the president to nominate her choice just a week before the confirmation day also phoned into the radio station (RADFORD F.M) and made unguided statements about an elderly member of the People’s National Convention (PNC) in the person of Mr. Allendu Tanhign who is the vice chairman of the Peoples National Convention just because of an appeal he made to the Honorable Member of Parliament to try as much as possible to assist in completing the bridge between the Chinchang –Tumu road so as to enable easy flow of farm produce. For this disrespect shown by the Member of Parliament to both the PNC elder and some other elders of the community, coupled with the high incompetence of the nominee, the Assembly Members thought it wise not to confirm the nominee because to a large extent, confirming the nominee will further deepen disrespect and mediocrity in the District. This was manifested clearly by the absence of the Honorable Member of Parliament during the rejection of the president’s nominee. The big question is why did the Honourable Member of Parliament refuse to attend this important programme? It is an obvious fact that her presence at that occasion would have worsened the plight of the nominee. We the Concerned Youth of Sissala, Concerned Democrats and Young Democrats in Sissala East District are therefore, of the view that she lacked the courage to stand before the August house that was to determine her faith.
Ladies and gentlemen of the press we wish to also bring to the attention of Honorable Alhaji Amidu Suleiman that we are fully aware of the conduit role he played for the nomination of the nominee and we wish to plead that he stops it. We are getting disappointed in him trying to impose an incompetent person on us. We know the weight he carries in this current government and how close he is to the president, we respectfully advice that he rather use that influence to work on our roads and assist our many unemployed graduates who are roaming the streets of Accra and beyond in search of jobs and scholarships.
The mathematics of the Assembly
Ladies and gentlemen we know many of you are not aware of the political dynamics of the Assembly Members in the house of the Sissala East District Assembly. The assembly is made of thirty (30) Assembly members nine (9) of whom are government appointees of which two (2) are now deceased, Eleven (11) are sympathizers of the National Democratic Congress, Eight (8) are sympathizers of the People’s National Convention and One (1) is also sympathizer of the New Patriotic Party. Following this statistics it is clear that quite a significant number of even the sympathizers of NDC in the House did not vote for the nominee because he is strongly been perceived as a stooge and incompetent in terms of mirroring the aspirations of the President and the local people at the local level. Any attempt by the president to re-nominate him or any other person who is perceived to be an “ally” of the Honorable Member of Parliament will be seen as daring the local people and will surely suffer same fate as Moses Bavia if not worst.
The Assembly Members as well as the populace are fully aware of the names submitted to the President and that if wider and honest consultations were done they would have uncovered an individual among the names who is not only competent by all standards but also resonates well with the youth and the local people.
The rejected nominee is now in town with the message that the Honorable Member of Parliament of the Sissala East constituency and the Minister of Roads and Highway who lobbied to get him nominated has once again promised to get him re-nominated and if he is rejected again, which they are very much aware will be the outcome he will be ask to work in an acting capacity. To the local people, this is a laughable threat.
Need we say, the endless desperation and calculated attempt to abortively save a dyeing soul right at birth has once again pushed the MP of the area (Hon. Alijata Sulemana) to hire thugs to disrupt recent assembly sitting where the deputy regional minister of the upper west region was in attendance. Thank God, their action was brought to an abrupt halt by the larger masses in the district. In fact, their action was greeted with the tidal wave of scorn of the masses which made the thugs disappear into thin air leaving the brass band acquired by the MP for her campaign in the 2012 general election with her posters to lie in the public glare obviously to the disapprovement of many of her constant display of immaturity as the MP of the Area.
Indifferent of their boss, the campaign team of the nominee has also castigated the Chief and other elders of the land for inducing the assembly members with money to influence their decision, this we must say got many of the elders of the land and the assembly members aggrieved. Why must we run down such an important institution in the community, where is the respect we use to have for our elders? Why do these people continue to create problems in the district, we urge the president to go ahead and do the right thing by nominating a much competent person and not listen to these selfish people again.
Ladies and gentlemen we need to emphasize that the president does not need the Member of Parliament for Sissala East to win an election in the Sissala East. From the declared results by the electoral commission during the 2012 election the President had close to Six Thousand (6000) votes more than the Member of Parliament. This is a clear reflection that the people repose more confidence in the President than the MP so the President should not allow those self seeking individuals to drag his name in the mud.
We will conclude by appealing to the President to institute an independent and much reliable team to research on the much acceptable person for the district and not that type of lousy research conducted by Dr Clement Apaak who claimed to be working to protect the interest of the President but failed to ascertain the truth for reasons better known to himself. We are not enthused by Clement Apaaks modus- oparandi of fact finding mission where he went to sit at a drinking spot popularly called TANI and interviewed some three predetermined individuals which he used as a bases for recommending Moses Bavia was quite unfortunate and a complete affront to the reputation of the President. We sincerely believe that a true research will reveal the person that the people are yearning for who will be competent enough to partner the president in delivering the better Ghana agenda.
Long live the national democratic congress, long live John Dramani Mahama and long live the Sissala Land.

WRITTEN BY DIMMAH OSMAH THE SECRETARY OF CONCERNED DEMOCRATS AND YOUNG DEMOCRATS. CELL NUMBER 0543908247