Counter group threatens ‘violence’ should Savelugu MCE be removed

A group believed to be supporters of the embattled Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) for Savelugu-Nanton District of the Northern Region; Hajia Ayishetu Seidu has promised a showdown with any group that will dare prevent her from discharging her official duties.

It has also served notice that it recognizes her as the MCE and any attempts to revoke her appointment will be met with series of protestations.

The counter group described the protestors as ignorant who are not abreast with local governance issues coupled with the competence of the MCE, yet are engaging in violent activities in the area denigrating the image of the party.

Led by the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Nantong Constituency Communications Director, A.A Latif, they described Hajia Ayishetu Seidu as the best MCE to transform area warning that they will not hesitate to also register their displeasure if the group continues their rowdy conduct with impunity while the security agencies look on.

They have since petitioned the presidency indicating that Hajia Ayishetu Seidu remains the MCE for the area and moves to remove her will be fiercely resisted.

Below is the MCE defenders’ petition

PETITION BY CONCERNED CITIZENS OF SAVELUGU-NANTON MUNICIPALITY FOR THE RECOGNITION AND SUPPORT FOR THE CONFIRMED NOMINEE, HON. HAJIA AYISHETU SEIDU, AS THE MUNICIPAL CHIEF EXECUTIVE OF SAVELUGU-NANTON

Good morning, Ladies and gentlemen, and a very good day to everyone here gathered. We appreciate so much the time and resources expended to be here today, on the occasion of our presentation of a representative petition. Please hear us out, as we seek to straighten a path that seeks to lead us away from goodwill.

Everything that happens, does so for a good reason. In this country, laws, regulations and standard practice supercede individual interests. This is sacrosanct. The processes that lead to the nomination of a person, by the President of the land, is quite hectic, to begin with. It entails a lot of consultation from the local scene, to the regional authority, and through to the very seat of government, in this case, the Flagstaff House in Accra. As such, it is not without doubt that people will hold divergent views as to the processes that lead to the appointment of the eventual nominee, and hold shades of grudges too. We take cognisance of the fact that, His Excellency the President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, did us the honour, did not exclude our municipality from the roll, and nominated for us one of our own, a mother and a servant of the people, Hajia Ayishetu Seidu. We would like to reiterate that, we acknowledge the time and deeper processes that went into the selection of nominees this year, and we are grateful to the appointing authority.

Ladies and Gentlemen, having received the mention of Hajia Ayishetu Seidu’s name, the Savelugu-Nanton Municipal Assembly convened to affirm or reject the President’s nominee, as by law enshrined. After what could aptly be referred to as a dramatic turn of events, and by the grace of the one true God, the President’s nominee was given the nod to assume her place as the Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) of Savelugu by 50 out of 64 (78%).

We would like to place emphasis here that, it was not a position gifted to her, as some people have thrown such contortions about. She, and a formidable team behind her, fought to assume the office.

As natives and residents of Savelugu, let us please give recognition to this fact, and help her build for us the community we have envisaged over the past years since the attainment of our status as a district, and through to being a municipality.

The President proposed her but we did the confirmation! Thus, we agreed to work with her! It will be therefore unfair to make a u-turn at this point especially without following the due process.

The Honourable Hajia Ayishetu Seidu was duly confirmed by our own representatives, the elected men and women of the Assembly, and therefore, per the democratic order of practice, is the legitimate representative of the central government here. We do not believe that this can be contested anywhere feasibly.

As ordinary members of both the New Patriotic Party (NPP), and most importantly this local government area, we have committed to make it known that, the needless dragging of matters would not affect the person and personality of the confirmed Honourable MCE, but the entirety of the municipality.

Under usual circumstances, one must expect opposition to whatever concerns the multitude.

It is absolutely normal to have some, from within the collective, who will commit time and resources oppose cogent ideas and one’s rise to grace. The only time when this becomes needless is when such opposition goes to affect the grassroot supporters and sympathisers of the general cause, and the catchment area as a whole. To wit, the existence of factions, battling it out, covertly, publicly, and rather painfully, has no effect on the perpetrators of this factionalism that seeks to destroy rather than build. It is we, the ordinary participants in the affairs of the government and the municipality, who suffer the undue delay in the start of serious governance here at the local level. Lest we forget, these happenings can cause apathy and disaffection for the party and government, coming from core NPP members and the public at large.

Besides, and much more importantly, this municipal area is bedevilled with huge developmental challenges that seek to erode the few gains made over the past years.

There are issues of sanitation, basic infrastructure, youth unemployment, fallen levels of education, and many other issues that would exhaust mention if care is not taken. Rather than concentrate our efforts at denigrating and hounding the people’s choice, and making it difficult for the machinery of government to assume full operational capacity here in Savelugu-Nanton, we could be well jump into full gear, helping the government of His Excellency Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo realise the hopes and aspirations of our people, and working assiduously with the collective interest in mind.

We dare say that enough time has been expended doing the bidding of power brokers, perceived and real, and now is the time to come back on track. In other places, far worse misgivings and agitations cropped up in the course of the selection and confirmation of DCE and MCE nominees.Our next door neighbours, Sagnarigu district is an example worth mentioning.

The gravity of theirs was as high as the limit of the sky.But they displayed high sense of political maturity and democracy when they, including other people who did the DCE bidding ,came together to restore political sanity and peace resulting in the continuity of the developmental agenda of the district.

However, so characteristic of people who really consider the development of their locality above all other personal interests and demands, they have found express ways of laying their individualities aside, and have teamed up to prosecute the set agenda of their collective wishes, and that of the central government.

Elsewhere, political party interests, though of considerable consideration, have paved way for them to work towards one goal – development. While some districts have begun implementing the Planting for Food and Jobs initiative with all seriousness, the case is different here. Even, less-endowed districts can ably point out their DCEs with pride, and begin to mention what efforts they have already put in place as in contributing to development.

Again, lets look at our closed villegers, Kumbungu. The DCE took delivery of fertilizers and other farm inputs on behalf of his district to prosecute the flagship program-Planting for foods and jobs. The people of Savelugu are known to be ahead of Kumbungu in all good aspects of life including education and democracy as we always to them .

I am sad to state that today Kumbungu has now taken the lead democrtically.We are now a laughing stock! Can we do the same here, in this municipality that has all it takes to hit the road running with full vigour? We would like to plead with all indigenes and residents of Savelugu-Nanton, the dissenting groups within the NPP fraternity, and all well meaning partners to consider the development of Savelugu-Nanton as the only project of prime consideration, and merge forces to deepen our resolve to leave positive prints in this land that we all love.

Lest we forget, it is not unknown that the constituency within which we stand here today, is not a safe seat for the party in government today. Traditionally, the NPP as a party has not fared very well, electorally, in this place. Having been blessed with the taking of this constituency for the foremost time, one would expect that, as orphaned children given a place in a temporary shelter, we would work hard to broaden our support base, diversify our political activities positively, and increase the support tally that we have on target, so that we plant a foothold on this constituency. Rather than effectuate this agenda, infighting and unrewarding machinations have taken over our collective interests, and here we are today.

The many years spent in the political wilderness, in our consideration, should inform and remind us, very often, that it took a lot of time, energy, and commitment of costly resources before political power became ours to manage, by the grace of the Most High. We cannot afford to allow persons and factions within us to take us down that path again. Our actions and inactions will tell where we really want to be found, in the not-too-distant future.

Before anyone or any group from among us can do us any further harm, let us please give all the support to our honourable MCE, so that, as government’s lead representative here, and acting with communal and political party structures, we can retain this seat, make it ours, and own it.

We would be able to project and realise the very reason why political parties exist – contest elections, win elections, control affairs – again and again, many times over.

Honestly, the mother-figure in our MCE is such that, she can be very understanding and cooperative once we are a team and nothing else. And with the support of all, she will lead us to achieve all we ever wished for our fledgling municipality.

Respected people, all eyes are on the Savelugu municipality, in these times. If we are unaware of this, then we need to take heed, for the harm being done is ever increasing. The more we keep these disagreements going, the more we lose favour in the eyes of very respected stakeholders in this land: our revered chiefs who own the land, the clergy and ulamas who direct our paths. As we keep dissenting on the rightful assumption of Hon.

Hajia Ayishetu Seidu to the high office of Municipal Chief Executive of Savelugu-Nanton, we loose favour in the eyes of our party hierarchy in the region, and ultimately His Excellency the President of the Republic, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.

This is not healthy for us at all. By our actions, we are telling the President that though we have confirmed the person he held extensive consultations to nominate for the municipality, we will not support her to work, and we will not allow her to work with the Assembly.

We are only telling the people’s representatives, the Assemblymen and Assemblywomen, that, we do not respect them and the honour they have bestowed on Hon. Hajia Ayishetu Seidu, and that, they did not convey the broad expectations of their electorates.

We would only be sending wrong signals to the good people of our town that we cherish individual motives more than the development of the town. If care is not taken, and we actually inherit a page in the President’s blacklist, the stock of projects and programmes registered in the name of our dearest townships and environs of Savelugu and Nanton would all go to waste – others will eat up our grace and honour, while we lag far behind in the various development indices compiled from time to time on districts in Ghana.

Respectfully, we would like to call on the overlords of the land, the religious leadership, party executives and supporters, the northern regional minister, youth groups and all well-meaning stakeholders in Savelugu- Nanton to let us lay calm to peace and understanding, accept the confirmation of the honourable Municipal Chief Executive, Hon. Hajia Ayishetu Seidu in good faith, and help her advance the development agenda of the municipality. We owe this to ourselves, and posterity will be the determiner.

The verdict of 2012 elections was a difficult one take but we took it in good faith. Although some members of our party didn’t agree with the then candidate Nana Addo, now our president, but we respected his decision. Is time to repeat that political and national patriotism in ourselves.

We all here respect your views and opinions but we felt they can be better resolved in a round table discussions.

We thank you for the audience. For progress and our forward march, and for accepting to be part of this new direction, may we all succeed.

Thank you!

——- SIGNED ——-

Alhassan Abdul Lateef

Communication Director (Nanton Constituency)