Tamale: Bawumia toilet project sparks NPP, NDC fight

Supporters of Ghana’s foremost parties – the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the main opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) – have clashed at the site of a public place of convenience at Tsangli, a suburb of Tamale in the Tamale Central constituency of the Northern Region.

Accra100.5FM’s Tamale correspondent, B.K. Ernest, narrating the incident to Chief Jerry Forson, host of Ghana Yensom, the station’s morning show on Friday, April 28, said fighting raged for three straight hours –11am to 2pm – over a public toilet facility, until police stepped in to separate the two groups.

According to him, the disagreement surrounded an old toilet in the community, which gave off the stench, making life uncomfortable for residents in the area. He said when the NDC recaptured power in 2009, the chiefs and elders of the town approached the Member of Parliament and other high-ranking government officials in the area, with an appeal for the construction of a new public lavatory.

However, their appeal was not heeded, and, for years, until late 2015 when Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, the NPP's vice presidential candidate, toured the area, during which the chiefs and elders there presented their request for a new place of convenience to him. Dr. Bawumia, he said, promised to help the community in that regard, following up on his promise with trips of sand and stone to the site.

But, NDC supporters, realising that Dr. Bawumia had initiated action towards a new toilet project, also alerted the MP for Tamale Central, Alhaji Hassan Huseini, who also arranged for trucks to convey sand and gravels to the site towards commencement of the lavatory project.

But the NPP supporters would not allow the tipper trucks to discharge their content onto the site, insisting Dr. Bawumia had initiated the project.

However, activists of the governing party disagreed and a free-for-all fight ensued. The correspondent said neither gunshots nor stabbing was recorded and the Tamale Police intervened to end the fistfight.

He added that the chief of Tsangli has assured that he will meet the supporters of the two parties to ensure a truce and avert a flare-up of violence in the area.