Trouble looms over who becomes Wa MCE

What appears to a ‘gentleman agreement” among the members of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) members in the Upper West Region especially within the Wa Municipality has taken a different dimension as the entire party machinery is at its wits end as to who should be chosen as the Wa Municipal Chief Executive.

Deep-throat NPP sources have it that when the party won the 2016 general elections, there was a ‘gentleman’ agreement’ for the selection of various positions especially the positions of the regional minister, deputy regional minister and others.

The complex nature of the region stems from the deep-seated divisions with the Islamic religion made up of the orthodox and Ahmadi Muslims which dominates the municipality. So according to sources, it was agreed that the regional minster and his deputy positions would go to the orthodox Muslims while the position of the Municipal Chief Executive would be going to the Ahmadi Muslim sect.

As it stands, the positions of a regional minister and his deputy are fully fixed but the problem now hangs around the position of the MCE which is still pending. The Ahmadis were told according to NPP sources to provide a person for the position of the MCE.

One Alhaji Haki a retired teacher was nominated for the MCE position but he turned down the offer due to his old age and strong connections to the activities of his Ahmadi religion, where he happens to be the regional president of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Mission. He therefore recommended another Ahmadi by name Sumaila, who is a lecturer at the N.J Ahmadiyya Training College.

This is therefore is the source of the struggle for the MCE position for Wa. Some Ahmadi youth of the party then joined in the fray for the position regardless of the ‘gentleman agreement’ in place and started making moves for the position of the MCE.

Prominent among them and a front runner for these ‘rebel’ Ahmadi Muslims within the rank and file of the NPP in the region is one Abdul Fatawau Ishaque, popularly called Jatoe.

He was not initially shortlisted for the position and he jumped the gun and went to Accra for ‘powerful’ NPP political sources for support for the position.

As it stands now there is a stalemate as to who should be the MCE for Wa as the front of the party is sharply divided.

The sharp division comes from the fact that the Regional chairman Alhaji Abubakari Short and the constituency chairman Ali Kamara have been at loggerheads and did not see eye-to-eye long before the party won the 2016 general elections.

During the campaign period, it was clear that the constituency chairman and the regional executives did not also agree on a common platform for campaign strategy to the extent that there were rumors that the constituency chairman Ali Kamara was rather assisting the NDC Wa Central candidate Alhaji Rashid Pelpuo to capture the Wa Central seat.

Another source within the party had it that the arrangement in place was that after winning the general elections the constituency chairman, Ali Kamara, would have the privilege of nominating who should be the MCE for Wa an assertion which is being contested now.