Politics and Chieftaincy polarisation retarding development - Paramount Chief

Kuoru Osman Deiwia Nankpa III, the Paramount Chief of the Gandawii Traditional Area in the Sissala West District, has identified political polarisation and chieftaincy disputes as major causes of disunity among Ghanaians.

The situation, he said, was retarding the development of the country including the Sissala area and urged the people to close their differences and forge ahead for development.

Kuoru Nankpa III made the observation at Tumu over the weekend during the annual Sissala Youth Forum congress, which was anchored on the theme: "Fostering Unity and Bridging the Infrastructural Gap in Sissala Land: The Role of the Youth".

He said Chieftaincy and political polarisation has derailed the peace and unity of the people to the extent that, Parent Teacher Associations (PTAs) and Unit Committees could no longer function effectively and that teachers could no longer instill discipline in schools.

“Key community stakeholders can no longer genuinely act to insist on the right things to be done for the course of educational development without being tagged of either doing the bidding of a particular political party or a chieftaincy faction.

"This negative trajectory must change in order to put our educational development back on tract, harness the potential of our very young ones and rescue the future of the Sissala land," the Paramount Chief stated.

Kuoro Nankpa III therefore entreated the youth to actively play their role in the society to help achieve the development needs to the traditional area.

He appealed to the government to work to give a facelift to the deplorable roads in the area, as that negatively affected the economic and agricultural activities of the people.

“I have joined many of our compatriots in a number of occasions, called on government to work on our roads, including the completion of the Bolga-Tumu-Hain-Wa highway, which had always been on contract since time immemorial but never gets completed, and the Tumu to Gwollu, Gwollu-Jeffisi and Gwollu Zini road,” Kuoro Nankpa III said.

He advised the youth to hold leaders accountable to the people as that would help solve the current infrastructure challenges in the area.

Mr Issifu Napuna, President of the Sissala Youth Forum, commended executives of the forum for working to ensure that the forum chalked remarkable successes amidst the coronavirus pandemic, including supporting the Sissala East Municipal and Sissala West District Health Directorates with COVID-19 essentials to fight the virus.

Also, the Forum organised a Parliamentary debate for the Sissala East Parliamentary candidates ahead of the just ended 2020 general elections.