Kandiga-Mirigu-Sirigu Road Contract Brouhaha – Is The NDC Upper East Regional Chairman Serious?

I have been compelled to put this piece together because push has come to shove. And also because the Upper East Regional Chairman of NDC has just rubbed salt in the wounds of the people of the Seven communities east of the Kassena-Nankana administrative areas (Namely Kandiga, Mirigu, Sirigu, Nabango, Natugnia, Manyoro and Yua – not in any particular order).

On the morning of 31^st May, 2016, some of us woke up to the news that the Upper East Regional Chairman of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Alhaji Mumuni Bolnaba (Hope I had the name right) was on a local radio station (i.e. Word Fm-88.3MHz) reacting to a press conference organised by United Kassena/Nankana East (UKANAEAST) on the above mentioned road contract awarded to him in 2011. To make a long story short, he called the people behind the press conference “USELESS PEOPLE”. By extension, UKANAEAST and the people behind it are “USELESS”.

On the 7^th of June, 2016, another local radio station (i.e. A1 Radio – 101.1MHz) played the recorded voice of Alhaji Bolnaba and got him on air to react to his “useless people” comment and you could palpable feel the host of the programme trying hard to tell the NDC regional Chairman that those comments were inappropriate. But to my surprise and many others who called into the programme, the Alhaji didn’t only decline a retraction and an opportunity to apologise; he actually repeated his words and maintained that the people who organised the press conference were, in his words “USELESS PEOPLE”. He sought to erroneously justify his comments by naming one member of his party and a citizen of the area as the brain behind the press conference.

To set the records straight, let Bolnaba know that I am a proud citizen of the area and an active member of UKANAEAST and I am not useless likewise the many accomplished members of the group. If he cares to know two of the contestants who are in the race for the NDC primaries for Paga/Chiana Constituency are members of the group and cannot be said to be useless. We have only decided to live above partisan politics and seek development for the area. We have only decided to come together as one people with a common destiny to struggle for what is rightfully ours. The truth is that the section of the road that Alhaji Bolnaba is supposed to work on has long delayed.

This delay has resulted in loss of lives and others maimed for life because of his unprofessional diversions. I remember giving a lift to one of our sisters who works with Navrongo Health Research Centre (NHRC) and her story was nothing but harrowing. She is a victim and if not for a certain smart medical doctor in Tamale teaching hospital, she would have been history or mentally disoriented for her whole life as she recounted to me as I drove her to Bolga Yikene. She crashed into one of the uncovered culverts. So as concerned citizens of the area, if we call for you or any other person connected to the road project to expedite work, it is in our rights to do so and you dare not describe us in such unpalatable terms.

Let Bolnaba also understand that we did not award him the contract and our social contract is not with him and we decide who to contact before venting out our frustrations over a five year old long delayed road project. And so if we did not come to him, it does not mean we did not complain to those who matter. I was one of the forceful voices on our WhatsApp platform for this press conference and I have no regret for my stance. I take serious exception to the comments of the Upper East Regional Chairman of NDC and those who matter must call him to order.

One interesting aspect of all this conversation is that, checks with some consultants in the region indicate that most projects that Alhaji Mumuni Bolnaba (and his firm, Bolnaba Construction Company Limited) is handling in the region has stalled. Apart from the above mentioned road project, mention is also made of a project in Bolgatanga Polytechnic, Zorko Senior High School and another in either Bawku Secondary School or the Technical School and many others which have escaped my vexed brain as at the time of writing this piece.

All these contracts, I am reliably informed are under the NDC Upper East Regional Chairman and have stalled whilst other contractors who were awarded similar projects in some of those areas have completed just like the case of my village road mentioned above. The road was awarded to him and one other contractor. The other contractor completed his side long time ago albeit the fact that it has already started developing “dug outs”. Information in the grapevine is that, the last time a Regional Minister dared to question the actions of this contractor cum Upper East NDC Regional Chairman, he lost his post. A fine gentleman who, I am told, would have been one of the best Regional Ministers, if not the best the region would have had. And that is what we call POLITICS in Ghana. If you refuse or don’t know how to play to the selfish terms of so called party gurus like Alhaji Bolnaba, you will lose your position despite whatever good intentions you have for the people.

And this brings me to a matter I have been pondering over for a very long time. It is a matter we need to take a second look at if we are serious about development in this country. It is a matter which, as a local government actor, I have observed and felt its negative effects on development at the local level. It is even a matter that has effects on the fortunes of political parties that are in government.

It is about “PARTY CONTRACTORS”! Party members especially executives and particularly party chairmen will so much power on government appointees at the regional and district levels so much so that much of the time they decide what goes on in the district or region. Being in the Local Government system for close to eight years now, if anybody tells me or you that it is not true, tell him/her to say that to the marines. I think it is time we clearly define the relationship between ruling governments and their party structures.

One of the challenges of our current dispensation is that, appointees at the regional and district levels use majority of their time in office doing partisan politics and little time doing what their offices expect of them. Not any appointees fault though, they are normally forced by party apparatchiks to do so else they are reported and they get the sack. I agree it is a leadership problem too. Leadership at all levels! This is one of the causes of institutional inertia which manifests itself as the “fire fighting” approach to governance we see every day in this country.

The shoddy works we see all over is partly due to this party contractor phenomenon because hardly can the terms of contracts be enforced by those concerned. Like my community road project it was to be completed in nine calendar months and now it is taking five years- a clear breach of the contract terms! I know of delayed payments to contractors for work done but also remember that public institutions do not make advance payments as per our financial laws except what is called Advanced Mobilisation.

You are only paid or reimbursed for work done and capacity of the contractor matters a lot. In this Alhaji Mumuni Bolnaba case, that is what I see. Greed is a factor too. As greedy as we have become, what is becoming clearer is that Alhaji Mumuni Bolnaba has used his position as the Regional Chairman of a party in power to bulldoze his way into so many contracts that has effectively diminished his capacity to effectively deliver on any of the projects. Greed has pushed him to bite more than he can chew. Simple! In any case, if delayed payment was the cause of these stalled projects by Bolnaba Construction Company limited, don’t you think this press conference was part of efforts to put pressure on those who are delaying his payment to pay him so that he can get back to work? Why the loose talk?

Alhaji Mumuni Bolnaba also sought to conclude that the group that organised the press conference are NDC members and he knows them after his so called investigations. Fallacious statement to make! And I doubt his ability to do any meaningful investigations and if this is the kind of investigation he does for NDC in the Upper East Region, then NDC is naked in the region.

Truth is, the group is above political parties and there are serious NPP and other political party members on the whatsApp platform alone; not to talk of the numerous other citizens of the area who are not on the platform but members of UKANAEAST. In any case, which one is in the interest of Alhaji Bolnaba as the regional chairman of NDC? A completed road which he can boldly use to campaign to garner more votes for his party or the death traps he created on several portions of the road that is killing and maiming people? And these are the people who would go telling everybody that matter in their parties that “we are winning”, the ground is solid, I am working hard for the party, we worked to bring you to power etc just because their selfish ends are being served. We really have a long way to go as a country.

I cannot conclude this piece without touching on the most important thing that matter most to us in the seven communities – completion of the road project! In the interview with Word FM, the man says I will complete the project next month. That was on 31^st May, 2016. Fast forward to 7^th June, 2016 on A1 Radio’s Day Break Upper East show, he tells the host that I will complete the road before the election. Which is which? Doesn’t this mean the man is not even sure of when he will complete the road project? Your guess is as good as mine! I end here trusting that the National Executive Committee of UKANAEAST would take the necessary action to exact the needed apology from this man.

Charles A. Akurugu
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