I am A Zongo Boy - Kufuor

AS THE BUILD-UP to this year’s election campaign intensifies, President J. A. Kufuor has turned his eyes to the Zongo communities, with an appeal to vote for him, a true Zongo boy brought up at Pajehene in the heart of Aboabo, a zongo community in Kumasi, capital of the Ashanti Region.

Addressing a motley crowd last weekend at a funeral ground in Aboabo, Kumasi, the President said he had many friends from the Zongo community when he was growing up, especially in the 1970s when he made forays into the transport business.

Amid praise singing and acrobatics from supporters among the crowd, the President, flanked by the coterie of his ministers mentioned the names of some of his friends from the Zongo communities, including the late Alhaji Neira, a baron in the transport business and one of the richest and successful businessmen to have emerged from the Zongo community in Ghana.

Party activists continuously drummed in the ears of the crowd of mourners at the gathering what President Kufuor has done for the Zongo Community and the need for reciprocity on election day.

But to the chagrin of a section of the crowd of mourners, the moderator of the programme incessantly named Vice-President Aliu Mahama, Hon. Rashid Bawa, Hon. Boniface Saddique among others as people of Zongo or Northern descent who enjoy their current status as public officials because of President Kufuor’s magnanimity.

According to him, no government has ever appointed a Zongo or northerner to the position of the vice–presidency except that of President Kufuor.

The elders and chiefs of the zongo communities in Kumasi gave President Kufuor a new name to be identified by all ‘Zongolese’ or people of northern descent.

Christened ‘Umar Farouk’ by one of the chiefs at the gathering, the President was fully ushered into the Zongo community and was told to consider himself a true member of the community.

In the midst of the programme, Mr. Kofi Wayo, the maverick politician, sauntered in.

Led by Dr. Edward Mahama, his new political mentor, Mr. Wayo in his red attire diverted the attention of the crowd who cheered him with the usual PNC slogan: Two sure, two direct.’

With an unperturbed demeanour, President Kufuor just gaped at Wayo’s sauntering and grinned.

In a chat with this reporter, Wayo said Ghanaians are not fools and are tired of lies and deception.

He said the PNC intends turning the fortunes of this country in 90 days if given the opportunity.

Dr. Mahama on his part said they would break the monopoly and dictatorship of the IMF and World Bank and turn this country back to the course of progress and prosperity.

Commenting on the President’s 20-car motorcade, Mahama said it was a useless waste of national resources and pledged to use just two cars in his motorcade if elected.