His Excellency, the President of the Republic of Ghana, Nana Addo Dankwah Akufo-Addo is expected in the Upper West Region on 22nd August, 2022 to, among other things, inspect ongoing projects, commission completed projects, and cut sod for the commencement of new projects.
His two-day visit would see him inspect the Agenda 111 projects in the region and the B.K. Adama Multipurpose Youth Resource Centre in Wa, commission the 13.8 megawatts solar power plant at Kaleo, and cut sod for dualisation of some roads in the Nandom Municipality among others.
The president was also expected to call on the Wala Traditional Council, hold a durbar of chiefs and people in Nandom, and call on the chiefs and people of Lambussie, Issa, and Wechiau.
President Akufo-Addo had earlier visited the Upper East, Northern, and North East Regions this month to have firsthand information on the state of affairs in those regions.
The President had opted not to be an “armed chair” president, who would only receive reports from the regions but be conscious of the actual state of the people he governed.
Political vs Official visit
It was unclear to me whether the visit of the president to a place was political or official. Previous visits of the President to the Upper West Region where I am domicile, political party executives led by the Regional Chairman had always been part of the team and duly introduced at meetings with stakeholders.
What I did not know during those visits when the President also inspected, commissioned, and cut sod for projects, was whether those visits were political or official.
All I knew was that he was in the region to perform duties to the benefit of the Ghanaian populace, not the political party. That was unequivocal.
However, “No matter how spiced the soup may be, the scent of the he-goat in the soup cannot be missing”.
That was to say, no matter how official the visit of the president to the region might be, the role of the political party the president represented could not be overshadowed.
Minister says the visit is official
The Upper West Regional Minister, Dr. Hafiz Bin Salih, the representative of the President in the region, said the visit of the president was official and as such needed to be “planned and organized officially”.
By officially planning and organizing the visit of the president to the region, the Regional Minister had been accused of sidelining the Regional Executive Committee of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) party.
He had further been accused of rather involving former regional and constituency executives in the planning process which could have been planned by the Regional Coordinating Council (RCC) if the visit was deemed official.
Executive Committee outraged
The conduct of the Regional Minister had, in no mean description, infuriated the Regional Executive Committee of the NPP party.
The committee had, thus, directed the members of the party to boycott the visit of the president since it was “official” and needed only “official” support.
At a press conference on Wednesday, August 17, 2022, addressed by the Regional Secretary of the part, Dr. Daniel Tanko Dawda, the Regional Executive Committee could not fathom why the current executives would be sidelined in the planning process but former executives involved in what is “non-political”.
Are the former regional and constituency executives now an extension of the RCC to be involved in the official planning of presidential visits?
According to the Regional executives, the act was dastardly unacceptable as the regional and constituency executives had the responsibility to ensure the success of the party and needed to be involved in any activity in the region that had a bearing on the development of the party, directly or indirectly.
“The Regional Minister in his usual hide-and-seek behavior has refused to involve the party in the planning and organisation of the event (the President’s visit).
“In an attempt to meet the minister for information concerning His Excellency, the President’s visit so that we can make input, the regional executive meeting was convened and the minister in his usual clandestine way, refused to attend the meeting“, Dr. Tanko intimated.
He observed that as at about 15:30 HRS on Wednesday when the press conference was organised, neither the Regional Chairman of the NPP party nor his executives could categorically tell which day the President would come to the region. A situation, he described as unfortunate but resulted from the regional minister hijacking the planning and organisation process.
Party at a crossroad
The scuffle between the Upper West Regional Executive Committee of the NPP party and the Regional Minister who represented the President in the region could have a dire impact on the performance of the party in the region.
One would have rather thought that, with the desire of the party to “Break the 8” in the 2024 general elections, and perhaps secure an absolute majority in parliament, there would have been strong cohesion between the party leadership and political appointees, particularly at the grassroots level.
That might be the case in some parts of the country, but obviously not the same in the Upper West Region. There seemed to be a sharp division between the president’s representative and the party representatives.
Greed, what the Wala man would say “Dimongtaa” had eaten deep into the fabrics of a few members of the party in leadership in the Upper West region.
That had influenced their decisions to take actions without recourse to the interest of the group that had secured them those privileges to lead.
The personal interest of a few members of the party in the helm of affairs in the Upper West Region could mar the agenda of the party if nothing was done to reverse the trend.
How would it be or how would the President feel if the Regional chairman of the party and his regional and constituency executives boycott his visit? What signal would that singular action of the party executives in the region send to the party faitfuls?
That had brought the party to a crossroad and urgent steps had to be taken to address the seemingly differences between the Upper West Regional Minister and the Regional Executive Committee of the party if the party was to succeed in the region.
Recommendations
The Regional Minister and the Regional Executive Committee of the party must bury their differences and work in unison and in the interest of the party rather than pursuing their personal and parochial agenda.
The National leadership of the NPP party ought to intervene and call the fusing parties within the leadership of the party in the region to order to save the image of the party for it to remain the popular political party of choice for the people in the region as it had been over the years.
Author: From the Roof Top