Bawumia’s three days tour of the Upper West Region and matters arising

The National Democratic Congress (NDC) in the Upper West Region has taken note of a two-day official tour of the Vice President of Ghana to the region, arriving on Monday 10th October 2020, and departing on Wednesday 12th October 2022. Just like a similar idle tour embarked upon by President Akufo Addo, just about two months ago, this vain tour was also a failed attempt to repair his tattered public image, punctured by deceit, failed promises, and commercial levels of incompetence. We are very much certain that, the lack of enthusiasm as demonstrated by his own Party Masses, the laments of no development as expressed by traditional rulers, the proliferation of abandoned development projects across the length and breadth of the region, and the apparent show of zero interest towards his presence in the region by the ordinary masses, would have spoken volumes of messages to him about how disappointed the ordinary masses have become as a result of his failure. Our intelligence gathered all point to the fact that. The Vice President’s “official” visit to the region was only a decoy to misapply state resources in his wild goose chase of becoming the flagbearer of his party, the NPP. At the time that, this insensitive government cannot marshal resources to feed innocent teenagers who are starving at our various Senior High School Campuses, the Vice President was seen flying over everybody in an Arabian King style and with a long queue of high-fuel-consuming four-wheel drive engines, running after him. The naked opulence displayed by the Vice President was a direct slap on the faces of the Chiefs and people of the Region who have been grappling with the canker of very deplorable roads as a result of the deliberate neglect of that sector by this visionless government. Whilst we have never had any reason to doubt the conspicuous incompetence of Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia, we humbly entreat the good people of the Upper West to treat his repeated chain of promises with disdain and endeavor not to attach any scintilla of hope to it. The Vice President over the last six years has distinguished himself in making broken promises. Attaching any hope in promises made by Dr. Bawumia will not be different from expecting repentance from the devil. We are appalled by the fact that in his desperation to lay hands on non -the existing legacies of his government in the region, the Vice President insinuated that the NPP government defeated cholera in the Upper West Region for the past five years, by providing adequate drinking water. Whilst we will not seek to belabor the point that, the Vice President appears to be very far from the realities on the ground, we wish to reiterate that, the successes chalked in the domain of portable water and good sanitation in the Upper West Region, are the fruits of conscious investment made by the erstwhile NDC Government under His Excellency John Dramani Mahama and the continuous investment the NDC Members of Parliament in the region are doing in that sector. Evidence of this allusion can be seen in the 3.3 million gallons of water per day, Wa Town Water Project at Jambusi, 8 number small town water projects at Wechau, Manwe, Piina, Goripie, Kpongu, Nator, Sombo and Wellembelle, together with the over 2000 bore-holes, hand pipes and mechanized water systems constructed by the then central government, Municipal and District Assemblies, Honorable Members of previous Parliaments and sitting MPs of the current Parliament, whose outstanding performance in that sector far out weights any attempts made by this wobbly administration. On sanitation, it is common knowledge that the community-led Total Sanitation (CLTS) Program which the NDC embraced, and the Former Chief Executives of the various MMDAs under the erstwhile Mills/Mahama regimes invested massively in, yielded commendable results. Records point to the fact that, by August 2016, 264 communities in the Upper West Region were certified as open defecation-free communities, with some District Assemblies, notably Nandom, hitting a 100% attainment. But for the incompetence brought in by this NPP regime, it was projected that the remaining ten Assemblies were to hit the 100% mark by August 2017. The cancellation of the National Sanitation Day and the refusal of this government to make continuous investments in the sanitation sector are reasons we are still far off the 100% mark. It is thus unbecoming that Dr. Bawumia seeks to appropriate for himself and his non-performing government, glories they have no known record in. We deem it appropriate to remind Dr. Bawumia that, the new cholera that is silently claiming the lives of Upper Westerners in geometric progression, is the unbearable living cost, exacerbated by uncontrollable inflation, over taxation of meagre incomes, rising cost of utility, rising unemployment, insecurity, poor health infrastructure, falling standards of education, unabated rise in the cost of fuel and transport, poor road network and sky rocketing rise in the cost of agricultural inputs. It baffles the NDC that, instead of investing much tact, energy, and resources in reversing these ills, this government is rather fantasizing about profligacy, ostentatious spending, and unmitigated levels of debauchery. We were not surprised that, the Vice President could not find any convincing words to soothe the Tumu Kuoro and his subjects on his government’s failure to demonstrate any significant commitment on the Wa – Hian -Tumu – Chuchuliga road, after his government terminated works that were being executed on that road by the John Mahama regime. His resort to making another promise over several other promises made initially exposed their lack of commitment to getting that road done. It is again instructive that, Vice President Bawumia in his submission, unwittingly exposed the fact that, this government does not have any dedicated source of funding for that road, the reason why four out of five contractors assigned to that road have refused to show up on site. While we don’t have faith in any promise made by Alhaji Mahamudu Bawumia, we deem it appropriate to recall for his attention the following abandoned projects in the region and to call for immediate action toward completing them. 1. Seed Capital for the Upper West Regional Hospital 2. Seed Capital for the SD Dombo University of Business and Integrated Development Studies (SDD-UBIDS) 3. Dikpe Bridge 4. Community Day Senior High School Projects at Konzokala, Wellembelle, Zini, Naro, Dorimon and Boo. 5. Asphaltic overlay of inner town roads within District and Municipal Capitals in the Upper West Region. 6. Hamile – Fielmuo – Gwollu -Tumu Road 7. Tumu – Wellembelle -Wahabu road among many other road projects. 8. Abandoned Lecture Theatres, administration blocks, library complexes, and student hostels at both SDD-UBIDS and Dr. Hilla Limann Technical University. 9. Abandoned classroom and student hostel blocks in various senior High Schools in the region 10. The dualization of Wa town roads among others. We wish to remind the Vice President that, his frantic effort to associate himself with the legacy of Chief Simon Diedong Dombo will amount to nothing. His desperation is akin to a man who tries to reap where he has not sown. The complete neglect of the development needs of the Chiefs and people of the Upper West Region by this government is only but spite on the face of Chief S.D Dombo. Bawumia should rather be apologetic for being an accomplice to this unfortunate turn of events.