In the midst of poverty, lack of water, etc.DCE SPLURGES ¢500m ON CAR…But Laud Zakaria insists he has done nothing wrong

DESPITE THE acute water crisis, lack of classrooms and chairs, teachers' accommodation, and streetlights, the District Chief Executive (DCE) of West Mamprusi in the Northern Region, Mr. Laud Zakaria, has maneuvered to secure the approval of the General Assembly to release a whopping a GH¢50,000 to purchase a pick up vehicle for him.

The decision by the DCE has not gone down well with some members of his own party, the National Democratic Congress (NDC), and their counterparts from the New Patriotic Party (NPP), who have vehemently opposed it.

According to the spokesperson for the NPP members in Walewale, the district capital, Mr. Simon Ali Jarana, the DCE's priority was misplaced, because the water situation in the district was nothing to write home about, school children were still lying on their stomachs to write, no standby generator for the hospital, malfunctioning streetlights, lack of accommodation for teachers and students, in the two senior high schools in the district.

Mr. Jarana and his NPP comrades are therefore suggesting to the DCE, and the general house of the assembly, to rather invest the money in addressing the aforementioned issues to salvage the people from their present predicaments.

They are also charging Mr. Zakaria to go to the aid of the people of Nakpaya, suburb of Walelwale, where twenty houses and foodstuffs were gutted by fire a week ago by unidentified persons.

He should also provide accommodation for health personnel in the area.

Mr. Laud Zakaria however told The Chronicle in an interview that he inherited eight years of NPP problems, and that it would be insane on the part of the NPP members to accuse him of not doing enough to address the problems confronting the area within a year.

He accused the NPP Constituency Chairman in Walewale of collecting all the contract monies, and yet did not execute them.

According to him, his administration was now chasing him to refund the money to the assembly. He also accused his predecessor, who was the NPP parliamentary candidate in the 2008 election, of using the Nissan Patrol car meant for the assembly, to campaign, and subsequently destroyed it.

According to Mr. Zakaria, only one project in Walewale Senior High School was initiated and completed by the NPP.

The rest were uncompleted projects, contending that he had inherited over twenty uncompleted projects.

According to him, the car he wanted to buy was not for his official use, but for the assembly, and that it was based on this that he went in for a pick up, instead of a Mitsubishi Pajero.

“I have been pushing my car in Accra and Tamale, and anywhere I go, meanwhile I am representing them as their president,” he stated.

He argued that it was not only a disgrace to him by pushing his car, but that of the assembly and the entire people of the district.

According to him, he travels with the car to Accra and Kumasi without the air conditioner, because if he tried it, the car would have brokendown.

The DCE further told this reporter that at a certain point in time, the District Coordinating Director had to hand over his official car to him, when he saw he (DCE) and his driver pushing his car at his bungalow.

He said his Ford was still in Tamale for repair works, and charged his accusers to choose between sitting down, and not making rounds to solve their development needs and the car, because development goes with cost.

Mr. Zakaria contended that the suggestion to buy a car for him was approved last Thursday, after it had passed through all the necessary committees, including the General Committee of the assembly, which he calls the local parliament.

When quizzed why he did not make a request for the repair of the old car, the DCE claimed that its fuel consumption was too high, and that could put a financial burden on the assembly's meager resources, adding that the engine of the car, which would have been replaced, was about GH¢6,000.

He also denied he was auctioning the car to himself.

Meanwhile, the President of the Azoka Youth Club in Walewale, Alhaji Abukari Ibn Suleman has told this reporter, that the youth in the area are gearing up to protest against the conduct of the DCE, including the approval of the GH¢50,000 which he claimed the DCE used his veto power to secure.

When contacted, the Presiding Member of the Assembly, Mr. Issah Abdallah, denied that the DCE used his veto power to secure the money for the purchase of the car, and explained that the cars of the assembly were worn out, and when the members of the assembly met, they unanimously approved the GH¢50,000 for the purchase of a pick up, which the DCE would be using until his car is replaced or repaired.