SALAGA MP VICTIMIZES ZOOMLION SUPERVISOR

The Member of Parliament (MP¬) for Salaga Constituency, Alhaji Ibrahim Dey stands accused of dividing the party by intimidating, harassing and victimizing supporters of the other contenders in the just ended parliamentary primaries held in the constituency.

A petition signed by the Propaganda Secretary of the party Mr. Anas Rashid to the party's General Secretary cited the case of the transfer of the District Zoomlion supervisor Mr. Ali Zakaria on the alleged orders of the MP as an instance of the bahaviour of the MP that could create big division in the party as the December general elections draws near.

The petition, which is dated 13th March 2012, is reproduced below.

We wish to bring to your notice issues of much concern to the survival and growth of our dear party in the aftermath of the January 21st parliamentary primaries in our constituency, the Salaga Constituency.

It would be recalled that, Hon Ibrahim Dey was retained after the ballot papers were counted, followed by Mr. Abdul Hakim Ahmed, Alhaji Sakibu Harruna, and Mr. Awudu Amidu in that order. Mr. Hakim gave an open concession speech to the admiration of every one present including the retained MP just after the declaration of the results by the representative of the Electoral Commission (EC) in the district.

Regrettably, two days after this memorable event, the District Trycle Supervisor of the Zoomlion, Mr. Zakaria who supported Mr. Hakim during the campaign was hounded out of his office, the office later barricaded and his official motor bike forcefully taken away from him in the middle of the road by persons very close to the MP. All attempt s to negotiate and settle this seemingly embarrassing matter proved futile, even the Regional Executives could not settle it when we made a complaint.

The MP was almost immediately speaking on Radio Gold and indeed went ahead to confirm our greatest fear, yes, he directed the actions of those persons. He went further to say that there are some 'four arrogant guys in Mr. Hakim's camp' he would deal with at the appropriate time.

Sir, as we write this letter for your perusal, transfer letter is being dispatched to the said Mr. Zakaria from the Zoomlion Regional office in Tamale to proceed to a different district for his duties. Apparently, this was done for the MP to prove to him 'where power lies'. It is very strange that a party would come back to power after eight years in opposition and within the very first term the MP would see every- one who disagrees with him as his enemy. We have every reason to believe that the actions and behaviours of the MP are totally unwarranted and smacks of a person on a suicide mission as he prepares to embark on an arduous campaign to retain the seat in December.

It is worth noting that the said Mr. Zakaria was the MP's closest confidante from his days with the NPP till 2008 when he decided to join our party and subsequently won the elections. However, for some reasons Mr. Zakaria broke camp with him and joined us in the lead-up to the parliamentary primaries, hence his present predicament.

Sir, we should like to bring to your notice that Mr. Zakaria is one of the two members of the Chakosis ethnic group appointed to responsible positions within the district and deservedly so because, apart from the fact that Chakosis constitute about 10-15% of our votes he is about the only known person in the party who could speak seven (7) different local languages making him almost indispensable to any serious- minded politician desirous of wining an election.

We are therefore drawing your attention to this obvious case of victimization, and also sir, with all humility for you to rein in the MP and do everything within your power to ensure that Mr. Zakaria is not punished with transfer to another district because he has exercised his inalienable right of choice within our great party.

Thank you for your attention.
Yours faithfully
Anas Rashid
Constituency Propaganda Secretary
0248597919
0266608464
CC:
The National Organizer
The Regional Secretary
The Constituency Secretary