Back From Wulensi - A Personal View

It is very interesting the way things suddenly begin to change when you are faced with a by-election. The people of Wulensi will ever pray that every year there should be a bye election in their constituency.

Having been to Wulensi (job sent me there and not election issues) and back this afternoon, I must say that things are knocking things. The picture(as I saw it): NPP has within the past two weeks initiated projects like electrification, road construction and extension of water to some suburbs of Wulensi.

Every Gov't agency is performing wonders by granting quick and adequate services,accessing the social Investment fund has now been completely liberalised where the perceived NDC people can now also have a bite of the cake. I counted about 8 DCEs and most NPP big men all over the place.In terms of being on the ground, the NPP is. Those who used to walk to their farms are now proud owners of bicycles and motor bikes. Women have had their suffering 'alleviated' with the supply of wax prints for 'Victory' celeberation(when election is yet to take place) etc etc.

The NDC is reduced to spectator level in certain cases. The NDC members are full of fury,because they have no power to stop certain acts that are making the playing field uneven.Their(NDC) greedy leadership is not prepared to pump money into the game to erode some of the advantages NPP have gained with monetary inducements. They are complaining all over the place and no body(Gov't or electoral commission) seems to be listening.

Buses load of NPP supporters arrived at Wulensi from Tamale to beef up the NPP parade of colours(I can not tell whether they are voters or not since I left b4 voting started).

Now to the trivial factor that matter most in Ghana Politics-Ethnicity or is it Tribalism: The appointment of Charles Bintim(A komkomba) as Deputy Northern Regional Minister is meant to appeace the Komkombas whose man(Nyamikan) was removed as MP. Interestingly,the NPP candidate is a Nanumba( meanwhile, a Nanumba initiated the court action that disqualified Nyamikan,a Komkomba). These two groups have lived lives that is more or less akin to the relationship between Israelis and a Palestinians. The NDC candidate is a Komkomba and the population in the constituency is overwhemlingly a komkomba one. This is the only advantage that NDC has. They have pumped very little into this election. I hear in the NDC days, the Two constituencies in the Nanumba district ie Bimbilla and Wulensi, were craftily split between the two ethnic groups. The Nanumbas maintained the Bimbilla constituency whiles the Komkombas took the Wulensi constituency (In both cases the Komkombas are the majority). But the bye election in Bimbilla gave the seat to a Komkomba courtesy NPP. NPP therefore fielded a Nanumba for Wulensi to undo the wrong they did in Bimbilla. Now one significant appointment in the history of the northern region is the current one. A Komkomba being the Deputy Chief executive of the Region. Well, let's see how that works and it may work out under the state of emergency,but after that we shall be glad if the status quo sticks.

Back to the elections: In the face of all these, I can see the NPP emerging to win the election by a small margin. Having recourse to what happened in Bimbilla,where money destroyed ethnic allegiances. The hardship people face today is not an election issue in a rural constituency. They say it is a divine act. NDC will only win by the slimmest of margins, if the Komkombas are actually very peeved that their kinsman has been wrongfully removed to be replaced by someone different.The NDC has a better candidate in terms of intellectual capacity and experience.

So the it is a daisy issue and I can only say that the results will be too close to call.

Meanwhile both youth groups are seriously exhanging insults and the NDC is suspecting that there is a rigging plan,but that is unfounded. the results will be intersting whichever way it goes. It is a contest between keeping to ethnic allegiance or keeping to monetary and material influence(is it called bribe?). Non of the parties there is doing any clean politicts except of course the small ones there who have very little stake in the permutations.