MP stoned at Nima Sallah

Member of Parliament (MP) for the Ayawaso East constituency, Naser Mahama Toure aka Mc Naser, last Saturday had a foretaste of what appears to await his National Democratic Congress (NDC) party in the 2016 elections when residents pelted him with stones on Sallah Day at Nima.

The anger was more on the NDC Administration which the Nima youth believed had disappointed them, having sacrificed for it only to be greeted with hardships and power outages popularly called Dumsor.

Naser, who recently had his filling station at Achimota levelled to ground zero in the aftermath of the June 3 disaster, was ruffled for the power load-shedding debacle and general hardships in the country by the youth of Nima.

The occasion was the usual annual Eid Ul Fitr celebration to climax the end of the annual religious exercise of Ramadan fasting by Muslims dubbed Salafest held near the Lesson Pharmacy and close to the Nima Market.

Attempts to get his side of the story were unsuccessful, as calls placed to his cell phone were unanswered.

The MP, when he mounted the dais erected especially for the annual event, could not deliver his speech, as he was deliberately stopped from doing so by the over thousand strong audience, made up of mainly youth, who shouted at him to 'go away' before he was pelted with stones.

Even before he could gather himself and commence his delivery, his audience registered their opprobrium with a verbal protest of 'Away! Away!! Away!!!'

This did not deter the Nima MP, who was surrounded by his NDC executives onstage, as he perhaps took it for a joke.

He tried to restart his speech, but then the now ecstatic audience changed the tune to 'Dumsor! Dumsor!! Dumsor!!!', with an ascending tempo and pitch. Hon Mc Naser was, at that point, totally deafened by the rising decibel.

As if that was not enough, the mainly youthful audience resorted to hurling stones at their honourable representative in Parliament, who did the safest thing by running for cover.

The reaction of the audience was more at the government of the NDC, a party to which he belongs, than his person, given his endearment to the people in the constituency.

Perhaps their message was, 'though we voted for you, we are not enthused by the inconveniences caused by the energy crisis and its attendant load-shedding regime.'

The MP is credited with a number of projects in the constituency, one of which is the face-lift given to the Nima market, a major trading centre for traders from as far afield as Techiman and Togo.

He is known to be supportive of various community projects in the constituency.

These notwithstanding, the audience decided to register their disdain for the management of energy in the country and perhaps for them no better way to do so than through the man most of them voted to be their representative in Parliament.

He also provided the Nima District Police Station with a generator to provide electricity during Dumsor, which his government had woefully failed to curtail.

Until then, the facility had to endure darkness anytime there was power outage.

The annual Salafest is organised by a popular musical group, VVIP, with roots in Nima. The group comprises Reggie Rockson, Prodigal and Zeal.