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Opinions of Sunday, 18 May 2014

Columnist: Njochala, Nicodemos

The People Of Kpandai Cry For Development

-By Njochala Nicodemos.

Kpandai is a farming community in the Northern region of Ghana with a very sizeable population of farmers. It is one of the few food baskets of the country. People here work so hard by producing so much food to feed the nation. But the unfortunate case of Kpandai is as a result of failed political leadership.

Since 1992 with the inception of democracy, no development has come to Kpandai. It is important to raise one or two reasons why Kpandai failed to get the needed development it deserves.

From 1992 to 2012, Kpadai had a “Mugabe” Member of Parliament who for a period of twenty years was at the helm of affairs as the MP for Kpandai.I am talking about the former MP for Kpandai, Honorable Kojo Tawiah Likpalmo.Under the Mills administration, Honorable Likpalmo became a minister of state at the presidency. I can say without any trace of doubt that the lack of development at Kpandai has seriously been attributed to the twenty year ‘MPship’ of Honorable Likpalmo. Let me explain. For the twenty years that Honorable Likpalmo was in parliament he had never for once contributed to any debate on the floor of parliament much more to talk the problems of his constituency. Honorable Likpalmo made it a personal policy to run down the youth of the area especially those in tertiary institutions for fear that they may come and over take him. For the 20 years that he was the MP for Kpandai, he cannot up to date account on how he disbursed his MP’s common fund. In fact he is on record to have said that he owed nobody any responsibility when it came to the disbursement of his MPs common fund. The effect of this is that education suffered as many more youth of the area dropped out of school with a very bleak future.

As if that was not enough the only senior high school in the constituency, Kpansec, for over twenty years did not experience any infrastructural development. Honorable Likpalmo also introduced his own kind of politics in Kpandai.He was a manipulator and manipulated the entire process by selecting constituency executives, and so for the past twenty years, Honorable Likpalmo was busy hand-picking constituency executive who served his whims and caprices. No wonder in2012 the good people of Kpandai said through the electoral process that enough is enough and crushingly defeated and humiliated him in the parliamentary elections.

We the people of Kpandai thought that a new beginning has come with the election of current Member of Parliament Honorable Mathew. For almost two years now, the current MP has refused to be part of Assembly meetings let alone come home and meet the people who sent him to parliament. The current MP does not appear to be interested in the seat again. Honorable Mathew has also adopted the same style of leadership which caused the total regression and lack of development of Kpandai community. It will therefore be wrong, unacceptable and totally out of place to allow the current MP to repeat the mistakes of yester years. It was the same attitude Honorable Likpalmo put up which has now stagnated the development of Kpandai.

The youth have now realized that the political leadership has woefully and totally failed them. Therefore they are not going to sit down unconcerned to allow political mediocrity, lack of vision, wanton behavior of greediness to take the better part of the Kpandai society. The youth are now dead alert and are therefore calling for nothing short of political accountability and truthfulness. Anything short of this will be rejected into the dustbin of history.

For example as I write the small town water project that is the mainstay of water in Kpandai is in a total state of disrepair and water produced from the tank stinks to the higher heavens and looking yellowish in color. I will therefore call on the authorities that be that they should expedite action on the above mentioned problems. The current MP should be up and doing by bringing about the needed development to the Kpandai area.

Email Address:njochala1985@gmail.com