Prez courts displeasure of Tumu residents

The inability of the President John Dramani Mahama to honour an invitation to this year’s 2016 Parigbeli festival of the people of the Tumu traditional area is courting their displeasure.

This, they say may affect the votes of the President in the upcoming general elections slated for November 2016.

A member of the Parigbeli Planning Committee Mohammed Kanton who spoke to Ultimate News’ Musah Lansah in Tumu said, ‘this is the fourth time we have invited him to the festival and he has not come. He did not also delegate someone from the flagstaff house to attend in his stead. Even the late President John Mills sent a minister of state to attend on his behalf”.

Mr. Kanton added, ‘we have received complaints from the people that they are not happy”. When asked whether he was not satisfied that a presidential staffer Kale Caeser and the Upper West Regional minister were there to represent the president. The two are our brothers who came there as part of us and not to represent the president. The regional minister was invited as a guest of honour while the president was supposed to be the special guest of honour so at least someone should come there”.

This, development he believes may affect the electoral fortunes of the president.

‘Our people are not happy and they may punish him(the president when the time comes. He has never set foot here ever since he won the elections or he wants to say we are nothing to him?”, he quizzed.

Ultimate News checks in town revealed that its not only the planning committee member who is unhappy about the president’s inability to honour the invitation.

Some residents who spoke to Ultimate news advised the traditional council to stop wasting their time inviting the president to future Parigbelis.

Meanwhile, the festival attracted a huge crowd who from the ten regions including the international community.

Speaking at the durbar, Paramount chief of the area Korou Richard Babini reminded government of the need to speed up work on the Tumu-Wa and Tumu-Navrongo trunk roads.