I first heard and later read recently with utter dismay (but not much surprise) that President Kufuor had recently fired Mr. Philip Basoah, District Chief Executive for Kumawu Afram Plains (formerly Sekyere East) district. From the official statement signed by Mr. Kwadwo Adjei-Darko, Minister of Local Government, Rural Development and Environment, under the directive of the President of Ghana, Mr. Basoah was to be “removed from office with immediate effect” but without any “reasons for the action” (www.ghanadistricts.com/news/?read=14465&PHPSESSID=7fcb669d987bc1c87f1bf6f451659c79).
The people of Kumawuman are quite angry (and rightfully so---as sample reaction from Kumawu citizens’ comments from the above referenced article shows) over such baffling actions by the President. The aftereffects are that the whole Kumawu Afram Plains area is now in an uproar and thrown into a state of uncertainty as the people have turned en masse to revolt and protest against the president and the incumbent MP of Kumawu, Mr. Yaw Baah (the sole instigator and driving force behind the President’s unexplainable act).
Regardless of what the “official word” may proclaim or choose to “spin,” the people of the area and all inquiring minds who care to know the truth behind the firing of Mr. Basoah (incidentally, the kin of business mogul B.A. Mensah of International Tobacco Ghana Ltd. fame who spearheaded President’s Kufuor’s ascendancy to the presidency) know exactly why the former DCE was let go of his duties without justification. Mr. Basoah was simply relieved of his duties by the President because the current MP feared and complained to Kufuor and other NPP “top men” in Accra that the local DCE was campaigning against him by endorsing someone else for then soon to be held NPP parliamentary elections for the area. If the current MP was doing his job right by the people, then he should have had no concerns, worries or fears about anyone potentially running against him and him losing in any NPP “primary” elections. A little competition never hurts, that is if you don’t have any reasons to be worried in a fairly run contest, especially one among those who are supposed to be within the same political “family.”
By the way, who said that it is the birthright of any sitting or incumbent MP to be the automatic “choice of the people” for the foreseeable future until that person decides to “retire” on his or her own accord--ridiculously even for an MP who is not performing in the people’s eyes? The “powers that be” from the NPP good old boys club apparently feel that it is not right for anyone else to challenge the presumptuous MP in their good graces until a time when that person decides or deems on his own accord to relinquish his post. This is the same illogical and counterproductive rationale used to sustain “Senior Minister” J.H. Mensah (as MP of Sunyani) and other NPP cronies in office for multiple terms (irrespective of their performance or allegiances towards the people they were elected to serve). Apparently, the big wigs from their base camp in far away Accra know better than the local people of Kumawu Afram Plains and other localities what is in the people’s own best interest.
The Kumawu Afram Plains district is now in state of unrest because of Kufuor’s disastrous and ill advised actions. The NPP Kumawu primary election has now indefinitely been suspended as a result of all this brouhaha. One candidate (a popular female lawyer and the presumed choice of the people) wishing to contest under the NPP flag as the MP for the area was denied her constitutional and party rights to run. This is the same candidate (a lawyer in her own rights) whose supposed support by the former DCE against the incumbent MP for the area’s NPP parliamentary flagship led to his own demise and firing by the President. She had to travel all the way to Accra to seek an injunction against the NPP big boys so that she could be allowed to run for the MP candidacy in the area under the NPP flag. When all else had failed to deter her (to the obvious chagrin of Mr. President, Baah and Co., who could not find evidence of any wrong doing to use against or disqualify her candidacy, as hard they may have tried), the “boys” decided to have a secret election for the area’s parliamentary NPP candidacy without her. As the good Lord would have it, the incumbent MP Baah still could not even garner a victory in the illegally held contest without her, as the delegates’ vote for position was miraculously split exactly in half between Mr. Baah and another contestant (one Mr. Edusei) previously considered to be a “nonentity” by the powers that be.
The social and political climate in the Kumawu area is now in a state of limbo and disarray as a direct result of the DCE’s firing and the clandestinely held primary election for the NPP parliamentary candidacy. The people has voiced their obvious displeasure towards Mr. Baah and now the NPP brass are running around like chickens with their heads cut off---not sure of themselves or what to do next---and have had no choice but to suspend the whole proceedings until further notice to choose their party’s parliamentary candidate for the area. The youth and others have been protesting against and clashing with law enforcement authorities and NPP “big men” sent from Accra, which has led to some damaged properties and injured person in the process.
Folks, this is your new “democratic” Ghana under the “rule of law” run by men who apparently like to preach virtue in public but practice vice when they think no one is paying attention. When allegations of improprieties are brought against the likes of Richard Anane and Kwamena Bartels and others, the President conveniently and unapologetically prefers to feign ignorance for lack of evidence, yet he deems it right to fire a popular and hard-working DCE at the words, behest and fears of a complaining and an unpopular MP. To make matters even worst, the former DCE has now been ordered by no other than the President himself that if Mr. Basoah desires any hopes of getting his job back he has no choice but to campaign for the same man (Mr. Baah) responsible for his firing as the substantive NPP MP candidate for Kumawu.
The ploys and advantages of Ghana’s “centralized” government deliberately created by former President Rawlings for his own caprices and subsequently inherited by the NPP continue to be used by President Kufuor and his buddies towards their own selfish ambitions. The President should not be able allowed to arbitrary impose his will on Kumawuman and other local citizenry on a whim thru the installation or removing of a DCE without any regards or concerns about the needs and desire of the people the DCE is to serve. This flawed and corrupt system that grants the President the prerogative to choose and dismiss DCEs has to be uprooted all together, but that is another story in itself all too long to cover properly here that will need to be revisited at another day in time.
The good people of the Kumawu district should show the president, the reigning MP and their other cronies from the “good old boys” camp where true power really lies by using “the power of the thumb” and exercising their franchise to boot MP Baah out in the upcoming elections. I would also encourage this esteemed and brave lady of a lawyer (one Ms. Julianne Addo-Yobo), the affable and erstwhile DCE Mr. Basoah, or anyone else for that matter who feels qualified enough and so desires, to run on the “Independent” ticket against Yaw Baah (if the NPP bigwigs still insist on him being their candidate of choice). We will then certainly find out the true voice and choice of the people of Kumawu (contrary to wishes of the power structure emanating from Accra). People of Ghana and Kumawuman, let us not leave any stones unturned this upcoming elections by voicing out our displeasure without compromise and voting for true leaders instead of those forced upon us by men who don’t have our best interest at heart.
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