Part II Of Cataloguing The Failures Of NDC

Part II Of Cataloguing The Failures Of Ndc In My District/Constituency.

I find it very pathetic all the calls for me to put a stop to my exposure of the lies and failures of the NDC in my district and constituency. These calls have come at the back of admissions that all what I wrote in my earlier article which this one is a sequel to, are true. I shall continue exposing their neglect of my people, my constituency, my kingdom and my country for the love of it.

Hitherto 2012 general elections, there was a zone in my constituency that the NPP found it very difficult to penetrate with their message. This was the Gbintiri zone, which is home to one of the biggest markets of northern region. Upon assumption of power in 2001, the NPP despite the fact that since the inception of multi-party democracy the people of this area never voted for them, embarked on massive infrastructural development in the area. The NPP government built the Gbintiri Primary School which was a death trap at the time they came to power, a Junior High School block was also built in Gbintiri by the same NPP. To cap it all, the Gbintiri market was constructed with enough stalls to accommodate traders who were before then selling their wares in open space. A big and modern bridge was constructed at Kanchina to link Gbintiri with the rest of the country. It must be noted that before the construction of the bridge, the people of Gbintiri who are predominantly farmers, had no way of connecting with urban centres in Nalerigu, Gambaga, Sakogu etc to sell their farm produce and also access health care especially during the rainy season. The Bridge therefore came as a Godly intervention. In the midst of all these massive development projects, the people of Gbintiri did not replicate this kind gesture in 2008 when they once more voted massively for the NDC. It came as no surprise therefore that in the run up to the 2012 elections, the NDC boasted that the people of Gbintiri can never be won with development projects; and that no matter what NPP do they the NDC would continue to win in that zone were they not to even go there to campaign. With about 3 month to the elections when the feedback from Gbintiri wasn’t favouring them, they quickly mobilized an earth mover machine and a tipper truck and deceived the people that they have given the road from Nalerigu to Gbintiri out for construction. Thankfully, the people were not convinced and for the first time, NPP beat NDC in the Gbintiri zone since 1992. The supposed contractor has since vanished to thin air immediately after the elections. We are impatiently awaiting his reincarnation in 2016.

The Nalerigu Youth and Leadership Training Institute which the NPP established to train youth of the area in employable skills as masonry, carpentry and electrical engineering is now a white elephant under this NDC government. The school was a boarding school and well equipped with the requisite tools under NPP. At the moment, the school cannot boast of twenty students. The pioneers of the school under the NPP are as expected self-employed; and doing well in their chosen fields of apprenticeship. Before the baton of power was handed to the NDC in 2009, the school was well populated with over 400 students including girls learning dressmaking. So what miraculously has happened under NDC that all of a sudden the school is not attracting students anymore? Is the school being starved of grants? Or the tools for the students to work with are no longer provided? This is just another area NDC has come to mess with in my district. Another project abandoned by this NDC government is the Nalerigu library complex started by the then NPP MP Hon. Hajia Alima Mahama. The project which was almost 70% complete is left unattended to by this government. So when NDC propagandists come on air to say that government is borrowing for infrastructural development, I wonder if these developments are embarked upon in Mars or Jupiter where I do not have the opportunity to see them. Currently, there is overcrowding in all the basic schools in my district especially in the urban centres of Nalerigu, Gambaga, Langbinsi and Sakogu. The government through the district assembly is doing nothing to arrest this phenomenon. Taking the D/A J.H.S of Nalerigu as an example, the average class size is over 95. The MP cannot help mitigate these challenges with his share of the Common Fund like his NPP predecessor used to do. Surprisingly, they call it the bitter Ghana Agenda. Oh sorry, better Ghana Agenda.

The main occupation of the people of the East Mamprusi district is farming. Since NDC assumed power, farmers have had cause to speak about the erstwhile NPP government with nostalgia. On the campaign platform, the NDC promised that they will make agro-chemicals more affordable. In direct contravention to their campaign promise, farmers had shocks of their lives when during the farming season fertilizer prices were announced by government. The once GH25 bag of NPK fertilizer under NPP in 2008 was astronomically increased to GH55 whist ammonia was sold at GH49. In 2008, a bag of ammonia fertilizer was sold at GH19 in the district. Farmers have begun to abandon maize cultivation because they cannot afford the exorbitant hikes in agro-chemicals. Added to this price hikes is the unavailability of these fertilizers in the district during the farming season. NDC attachés busily smuggle these fertilizers across border to sell when farmers are in dire need locally. This year, fertilizer could be sold for between GH70 and GH75 per bag. Because of the frequent fuel increments, an acre of land which was ploughed for GH15 in 2008 is now ploughed for GH45. How do you expect the already poor farmers to produce and possibly escape poverty if you make conditions necessary for production highly unfavourable and expensive? I need a better explanation of NDC’s social democratic ideology. What do they mean when they say they are social democrats? Does their type of social democracy mean the rest of the populace will have to sweat for them to enjoy- as is currently the case in SADA, GYEEDA, SUBA, Woyome etc? Please watch out for SHOEDA.

When the people of Langbinsi were promised in 2012 an ultra-modern Senior High School to be delivered to them before end of 2013, they came out in their numbers and jettisoned the free SHS also promised them by the NPP. Unknowing to them, it was once again an NDC dust thrown at their eyes. That school was never delivered in 2013, and in fact none was. This year being 2014, and with sod cut for construction of the first 100 SHS to be delivered in 18 months (possibly with help from Harry Houdini, the great magician), the people of Langbinsi cannot even tell where the site for their SHS is.

There used to be a Metro Mass Transit bus plying Tamale-Nalerigu and another one Nalerigu-Bolgatanga before NDC came into office. Notably, these buses were more comfortable to travel in besides their safety. In addition, their fares were cheaper than the private transport operators. However, not long after assumption of power, these buses are no more even though we still travel to these capital cities. If you even happen to catch the Tamale-Bunkpurugu bus which is still operating, you will have nothing to relish about. The bus is decrepit and the fares are just as exorbitant as the private operators which are even now comfortable than the MMT buses.

The cumulative effects of all these lies and failures of the NDC government are the compounding hardships and poverty we have to endure. I can vouch that the propaganda of the NDC will not work in the next elections because most natives of the East Mamprusi district and for that matter Mamprugu and Ghana at large are walking encyclopedias of the failed promises of the NDC. The proof of the pudding, they say is in the eating. The NDC quinine pudding has been tasted and will surely be vomited come 2016 for a sweeter and healthier pudding in the NPP.

Long Live Ghana, Long Live Mamprugu, Long Live NPP.

Author: Simon Suayam, from Nalerigu

Mobile: 0207854685

Email: suayamsimon@gmail.com