On April 17 2015, a huge drama occurred at the Akatsi College of Education in the Volta Region of Ghana. It was a politically motivated and orchestrated demonstration against what I will call a ‘Ghost’.
Felix and Samuel both deputy ministers under the government of John Dramani Mahama had gone to Kumasi to hold a programme with trainee teachers.
These trainee teachers whose allowances have been cancelled by the government of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) saw the presence of the two young deputy ministers as an excellent opportunity to stage their abhorrence for the abolition of their trainee allowances which in the past was of huge benefit to them.
Not only did the students shun the programme, but they also used it as an opportunity to do what I will mildly call hooting and heckling of those deputy ministers. So intense was the derision that the ministers had to virtually run to safety. It was a substantial embarrassment to the egos of these young ministers, to say the least.
For a reminder, this demonstration against these two junior ministers was as a result of the cancellation of trainee teachers’ allowances in Ghana.
Then on the April 17 2015, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, the 2016 vice presidential candidate of NPP, was to be at the Ho Polytechnic and the Akatsi College of Education to make presentations to the students.
On the day of the programme and on the eve of the presentation, Dr Bawumia picked up intelligence about how plans were far advanced in the NDC circles in the Volta Region to do what was to be a reprisal hooting and heckling against him in the Volta Region. Gentle and humble as he is, he decided to return to Accra rather than proceed with his tour and other programmes in the region.
Then at the time Dr Bawumia was back in Accra attending to other businesses, some hired NDC hoodlums in Akatsi who thought he was in the town rushed to the supposed venue and staged what they claimed was a demonstration against Dr Bawumia! What they did could best be described as a demonstration against a ‘Ghost’ or ‘Papa Water!’ Because Bawumia was nowhere near the town.
The question is, what did Dr Bawumia do wrong to the Akatsi people to attract a demonstration? Was he the one who cancelled the allowances to trainee teachers in Ghana? Was he suspected of having a hand in the students’ demonstration against those two junior ministers in Kumasi? It was provocative and annoying to stage-manage a demonstration against Dr Bawumia, the fine, honest, humble and a gentleman par excellence in the Ghanaian political landscape.
I commend Dr Bawumia for returning quickly to Accra after picking up the intelligence about the intended demonstration. It was the most laudable and decent thing to do. Nobody could predict the outcome of the demonstration had Dr Bawumia appeared at the venue.
Dr Bawumia is not only a national figure but also an international personality. Any conscious or unconscious attempt to harm him using backdoor strategies could lead to unpalatable reprisals to Ghana.
To me the reason the Akatsi NDC loyalists plotted such a scheme was to embarrass Dr Bawumia for the brilliance he always demonstrates in plugging holes in the NDC’s bad economic policies; an affront they could no longer bear so they had to devise ways and means to scuttle and demean his intelligent economic submissions and of course to settle the Kumasi score. They prefer that than to face him intellectually because they simply can’t beat the man! The man is just good and his presence alone always creates ‘tsunami’ in NDC camps.
What happened in Akatsi in the Volta Region was just a wake-up call. Dr Bawumia must beef up and also widen his intelligence network when visiting some regions in the country. The under-performing NDC government can do anything to any person to stay in power. This must be borne in mind and care taken to avoid a nasty scene in the future.
To the people of Akatsi in the Volta Region: your area is one of the most deprived in the country and one would have thought that you would have rather demonstrated against your underdevelopment and not against someone who was nowhere near your community. Be smart and don’t allow failed politicians to always induce you to stage the kind of ‘ghost’ and ‘papa water’ demonstrations you held on April 17, 2015 against a man who was nowhere near your college.
Your behaviour, it must be stated, was an embarrassment to your community and the Volta Region as a whole. No wonder several groups in the Volta Region had come out to dissociate themselves from your disgraceful conduct that day.
Once again, I commend Dr Bawumia exceptionally for not going to Akatsi and the Ho Polytechnic by cancelling all his programmes in the Volta Region in that instance. God bless Ghana, God bless Dr Mahamadu Bawumia. God bless the NPP!
Email: Akisayi@yahoo.com
By Akilu Sayibu
Via: -Daily Guide
No comments:
Post a Comment