I have been keenly following the political terrain for quite some time now. Most especially my beloved Anlo Constituency. Though I am fully aware the MP is not a development agent, I am also cognizant of the fact that the MP can help promulgate policies that have rippling effects on the developmental agenda of the constituency. Anlo abounds in a pool of talent and resources but these are not tapped to the mutual benefit of the constituency. A major factor that accounts for this appalling situation is the calibre of people who have been at the helm of affairs within the constituency since the inception of the Fourth Republic.

One thing that keeps baffling me is why Anlo Constituency continues electing, successively selfish and ineffectual individuals as Members of Parliament. It started with Clend Sowu who was a major casualty of Election 2000. Then came Ambassador James Victor Gbeho as Clend Sowu’s successor. Though the entire constituency revolted against Mr Clend Sowu for Mr. Gbeho to come on board, he also committed the mistake of ignoring his constituents hence he was also kicked out. When a new face in the person of Mr. Humado came on board, the people of Anlo thought at long last a saviour had arrived onto the scene to bring their plight to the fore – on the floor of parliament. But alas there was no difference between Mr. Humado and his forebears. This article aims at explaining why Mr Humado must not be allowed to go into parliament for the third time in succession.

Firstly, the MP through one of his secretary collated copies of certificates and resumes, and, or curriculum vitae of unemployed graduates within the constituency with the promise of offering them jobs. The young men and women who are not his cronies have not been offered jobs. In other words, those who are bootlickers have been offered lucrative jobs. These are young people I would prefer to call “beneficiaries of the corrupt system.” Instead of opening the pseudo-recruitment process up for equal opportunity for all, the MP uses his de-facto power to select the people who sing his praises. The unemployment crisis is not limited to only the educated. The fisher folks, farmers and the market women are dejected and have decided not to exercise their universal suffrage or franchise. This is due to the fact that these associations have made so many dispassionate appeals to the MP to address their concerns on the floor of parliament all to no avail. The Common Fund, which is our own tax contribution, has become his personal fund, and how he uses that is just nobody’s business. Not only unemployment crisis and misappropriation of the MPs Common Fund are the major reasons why Mr Humado must be deposed education is another reason the people of Anlo are clamouring his departure. Education within the constituency has taken a nosedive and this honourable MP has not proffered a single policy to arrest the situation. The MP’s Common Fund which is supposed to support brilliant but needy students in the form of scholarships and grants has now become a conduit for the MP to maintain his stranglehold on the Anlo Seat as scholarships are disgustingly offered to cronies and children of his inner circle members most of whom are less qualified than the deserving ones. In other words, scholarships are not awarded based on meritocracy, instead on mediocrity. Could it be as a result of lackadaisical attitude of the MP? Or the MP is totally unconcerned about the progress of the constituency? To the discerning members of the constituency, your guess is as good as mine- I leave it to your judgment. Based on my interactions with the constituents over the past three years, I must restate in no ambiguous terms that if we, the constituents, do not rise up against this despotism, nepotism and the sycophancy that have eaten deep into the political fibre of our constituency, then the future looks very bleak. The MP, Mr Humado in his campaign trails in 2008 told us the constituents the cause of his failure to articulate the concerns of the victims of the infamous Anloga Riot of 2007 when the police run riot murdering in cold blood three young men and a woman owed to the “Winner-Take-All” politics we engaged in in Ghana. As of that time, the constituents understood him perfectly hence decided to give him another tenure to enable him articulate the concerned of the innocent young men who one way or the other have been incapacitated. All the people of Anlo have always desired is a Commission of Inquiry to investigate the gruesome murder of these young men and woman and the psychological trauma and mayhem the police visited on the people of Anlo. With the change of government, one would have thought Mr Humado would seek justice for the individuals who lost their lives and those who have been incapacitated in the November 1, 2007 Riot but alas no action has been taken by the NDC, of which Mr Humado is an integral member, to investigate the cold murder of Anlo Citizens by the police. But due to the maladroitness of the MP this issue seemingly has permanently been swept under the carpet over the past three years. What is most surprising is no foundation has been set up by the MP to gratify individuals who have suffered one injury or the other in defending the sanctity of the Anlo State. This has made it palpably clear that the MP doesn’t have the interest of his people at heart. It must be noted that most of the young ones who have been brutally assaulted are disenchanted and confused because their MP has not spoken on their behalf. From the foregoing, Anlo Constituency is in dire need of a person to make a paradigm shift from the current situation. This is one of the main reasons Humado must be shown the exit.

Allowing Mr Humado to return to the Parliament of Ghana for the third consecutive time is tantamount to mortgaging the development of the constituency for another four years. This would invariably make the constituency a really dormant constituency. As a result, I urge all well-meaning constituents to rise up against the ineptitude, vindictiveness, patronage politics and the nepotism that have characterized Mr Humado’s reign. To be continued…

Theophilus Fui Togobo, tftogobo@yahoo.com; ttogobo@hotmail.com Member, Supreme Liberation Movement of Anlo