In Choosing The Next Upper East Regional Minister: An Advice To H.E President Nana Akufo Addo And Chief Of Staff Hon. Frema Osei-Opare 

Our Ancestors say, “if you want to tell something to the gods, tell it to the wind”. The Akans say, “if the party is going to be exciting, the signs are already clear in the morning’. Thankfully, we can say so far so good, we have the first ever woman and a competent one as our Chief of Staff. The President has already sent positive energy around by bringing in two of the most innovative Ministries, Inner Cities and Zongos and Business Development and carefully selected accomplished gentlemen, Hon. Boniface Abubakar Siddique and an astute businessman, Mr. Ibrahim Mohammed Awal respectively as Ministers.

These three appoints have already created goodwill, won new converts and silenced those who used the trump card that, the NPP is against Northerners and that they will drive “Foreigners” away. This propaganda stopped selling in 2001 when NPP won and “Foreigners” were not touched and ‘died’ completely due to the Samira Bawumia effect when she told minorities and foreigners like Fulanis to ignore the propaganda because she was one of them.

This great start may however be short-lived if the appointment of Regional Ministers is not carefully handled. The Upper East Region in particular has enormous development challenges and ethnic diversity. Minority groups need to be considered amid pressure from majority groups and people with connections. It is a difficult one. The appointing authority must learn from the mistakes of the previous administration which yielded to pressure from power brokers and ended up appointing clueless and absentee Regional Ministers. The region has the had highest turn-over of four regional ministers between 2013-2016 alone. One of the Deputies can be remembered for hitting a motorist and driving away because he thought it was a donkey. With all these changes, the region has no Regional Hospital as claimed by Former President Mahama in his last address. The road network is poorer than Upper West, which the Upper East refer to as a “younger sister”.

There is wide speculation that, one Mr. Sumaila Abdul-Raman, aka Samarat, one of the former Employees of Action Aid Ghana who worked under the current Chief of Staff when she was a Country Director there is being considered and pushed by her to be the next Upper East Regional Minister. This rumour has spread like harmattan bushfire across the region and the party faithfuls are not happy. They are asking who is this man? How active has he been? If he is not popular in his own backyard of Pusiga, how can they increase the party’s. vote come 2020? Can the Party ask him if he said he will only stand for Parliament in Pusiga only when assured of a Cabinet position when the party comes to power? Some are asking, if he rebuilt the room of his mother and left that of his step-mother in his father’s house, can he run the region inclusively, since charity begins at home?

Another speculation is that, Hon. Joseph Kofi Addo, MP for Navrongo Central and Minister Designate for Water Resources and Sanitation is pushing someone, the people of the region who are not from that area will feel neglect expecially after Hon. Mark Owen Woyongo we made Minister for a long time from 2009-2012.

It must be noted that, H.E President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and Hon. Frema Osei-Opare have a reputation of being firm, lfair and incorruptible. Will they listen to voices of the people, because, it is voice of God and in so doing, safeguard their reputation, ensure proper regional development and then strengthen party 5 structures with a happy following? .

Appointing Mr. Sumaila, though a distinguished gentleman and manger at Action Aid, will amount to imposition and elitism. The accountability and respect to the people will not be strong. Think twice and let posterity judge you. Remember, you asked us to be citizens, not spectators. Imposing someone will be turning citizens into spectators, unless you didn’t mean what you said. Sorry, your reputation for truthfulness is solid. PUT YOUR EARS ON THE GROUND AND CONSULT THE GRASSROOTS BEFORE APPOINTMENT, DON’T IMPOSE PEOPLE, GIVE THE REGIONS PEOPLE THEY KNOW.

Goodluck.
Bukari Tia Barnabas
Put Ghana First
Promoting Excellence and Inclusive Governance