Residents of Bakpaba, a community in the Bimbila constituency of the Northern Region have described the ruling National Democratic Congress administration as very heartless and insensitive.
According to residents, the NDC has shown that they do not care about the welfare of the Ghanaian, especially those in rural communities, as they have not only forgotten about the many promises they made on improving their lives but also gone ahead to introduce various policies that have only served to worsen their plight.
The indigenes of Bakpaba made the bold declaration in interactions with vice Presidential Candidate of the New Patriotic Party, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia during a visit to the community.
To loud applause and endorsements from other residents, Adam Salifu explained to the Dr Bawumia how insensitive the NDC has been to their plight.
He said “all of us here are farmers and as we all know, in places like this no one can guarantee that he or his family would be free from snake bites by the time the farming season is over. We all also know that when a snake bites you it’s a matter of life and death, there is no middle ground anywhere. Because the NPP government truly cared for us, they made the anti snake serum free of charge. So if one got bitten by a snake, all you had to do was to send the person to either Yendi or Bimbilla and he would receive the serum free and be well.
But regrettably, we voted for the NDC after they came here to tell us many lies and promises. However, immediately they got into government one of the first things they did was to abolish the free anti-snake serum policy of the NPP and started charging us for it. Worse was yet to come, and it came when they pegged the price at one million old cedis. Where would we get one million cedis from to pay for our lives if we get bitten by a snake? And because of this many of our children, and even adults, have died because of the wickedness of the NDC. That is how the NDC has repaid our decision to line up in the sun to vote for them.”
Another indigene of Bakpaba, Bugri Alhassan joined the discussions to clarify the pricing of the anti-snake serum under the NDC. He indicated that though the NDC had fixed the official price of the serum at GH¢100, the real price farmers and all others in the area paid for was GH¢150, as some officials had colluded with few workers at health centers to create artificial shortages of the serum and then sell at about 50% more than the official price.
“With all the sacrifices we go through as farmers to get Ghanaians food, the NDC still decided to charge us for something that touches on our very lives. Even the GH¢100, is unbearable but somehow they have also found a way to even sell it higher at GH¢150 and despite numerous complaints to officials, no one cares so the situation continues to worsen. They just wanted our votes but not our lives” he added.
Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia noted his sadness at the plight of farmers and indigenes in the rural communities. He said that if even the NDC has no plans to improve the conditions of the ordinary Ghanaian, they should not increase the suffering of those who queued in scorching sun to elect them.
He maintained that it was obvious the NDC did not have the Ghanaian at heart and asked Ghanaians to massively vote them out come December and elect Nana Akufo-Addo and the NPP which had the track record of caring for the Ghanaian.
