One of the major challenges that have made many Members of Parliament (MPs) to fail in satisfying the needs of their constituents is lack of Vision. To quote from Helen Keller, a Philosopher, “The only thing worse than being blind is having sight with no vision”.

It may shock one to realize that many of our Ghanaian MPs do not have vision for their constituents. This has led to many of the MPs not living up to the expectation of their roles and constituents.

But one of the aspirants of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) MP who has developed his vision for the constituency though not yet elected as MP is Mr Abdulai Abanga, the 2020 NPP aspiring MP for the Binduri Constituency in the Binduri District of the Upper East Region.

Before I delve into some of the elements of the aspiring MP for the Binduri constituency’s vision, we must establish what is vision and its relevance to development.

To quote from John Graham, a philosopher, “You’ve got to give yourself the freedom to dream – to use your imagination to see and feel what does not yet exist. A vision is not the same as goals or objectives; those come from the head. A vision comes from the heart.”

A vision is the mental picture of the future you desire. More than just a goal, a vision is the embodiment of our hopes and dreams in a particular area; the picture of what has not yet happened, but what the future may hold.
A visionary leader set out concrete steps to bring a vision to life, and then they lead a team of people in that direction. They also lead with intention and enthusiasm in a way that makes their supporters happy to follow.

It is very important to note that, having a clear vision in business is absolutely critical. It is an extremely powerful tool to achieve the results you want. So, it goes with MPs and their constituencies. Visions are driven by passion and dreams, and they are reflected through real efforts to create real results.

Additionally, it is very important to recognize that Visionary leaders are very strategic, persistent, bold, organized, focused, optimistic, magnetic, collaborative, good communicative skills, open-minded, emotionally intelligent, innovative and inspirational.

The Aspiring MP’s strategic plan for the Binduri Constituency
Though not yet elected the Visionary leader and the MP for the Binduri Constituency Mr Abanga has envisioned what he wants the future to look like in terms of development of the Binduri constituency.

Speaking to this journalist at his Village, Banse, a -7 kilometres journey from Binduri, the District capital, the aspiring MP said among his topmost visions is to ensure that the community members who lack potable drinking water are provided with quality drinking water.

The Aspiring MP who told me that he had already strategized on how to get there, told me that he would work with the Binduri District Assembly and other development partners to procure a water driller vehicle that would be used to drill as many boreholes in communities to help address the water needs of the people.

‘I am very resolute and determined to ensure that this is done. Additionally, my other visions are to help set up a bank in this constituency and to also facilitate to ensure that we establish a factory here that can process the potential products of this area such as millet, rice, watermelon among others into finite products that could be internally consumed and externally exported to generate employment and wealth for the people. We need just a leader who can engineer the process which we lack as a constituency. I promise to work on this when elected as the MP for the area’’, he stressed.

The Aspiring NPP MP dream of Health Facility for Binduri constituency
The NPP aspirant reiterated that under his administration he would facilitate to ensure that government’s commitment to building a 100-bed capacity in the Binduri District to improve the health needs of the people is fast-tracked.
Currently, residents in the constituency depend largely on the Bawku West District Hospital at Zebilla and the Presbyterian Hospital in Bawku for major health care services.

The Aspirant’s pledge on Governance

Mr Abanga who stated that he would visit the constituency constantly to know their problems and to root them through Parliament for redress pledged that when given the nod his administration would serve everyone equally, irrespective of gender, religion, ethnicity and political affiliation.
‘'I am exceptionally passionate and concerned about improvement in education and Agricultural production. Irrigation will receive my attention to boost output in that sector and a lobbyist will ensure that the road sector is enhanced'', he said.

Attributes of well-organized and Team Builder of the Aspirant
Mr Abanga is also highly organized and pay close attention to the constituency and polling station executive, party supporters and sympathizers. Not only is Mr Abanaga intelligent in the traditional sense of the word, but he is also emotionally intelligent and understands the power of feelings and capable of showing empathy to those around him. What is even more amazing is that although Mr Abanga had not yet been elected as the MP for the Binduri, the youth, women groups including the elderly often troop to his residency at Banse to interact with him and to solicit for support.

His contribution to the growth of the party in the constituency and the national level

As a visionary leader, the aspiring MP draws people closer to himself by assimilating information from many sources to develop creative solutions as well as skillfully communicating his ideas focusing on the strengthening of the party structures at the grassroots and the regional level. He does this by getting others to believe in the ideologies of the party and working with the party and constituency executives to win more souls for the party.
As former Municipal Chief Executive for Bawku, Mr Abanga facilitated the construction of many development projects in the Bawku Municipality as well as the growth of the New Patriotic Party at that period. A case in point is that he played a leading role in resolving the Bawku conflict, and as a journalist who covered the conflict, I can testify this fact.

Even that when he was appointed by President John Agyekum Kufuor in 2008 as the Bawku MCE, he polled 44 votes out of 50 votes cast representing 93% of the total vote.

On the national arena, the aspiring MP has done a lot of consultation for the Government of Ghana by raising funds for development particularly the road sector. He did that by working with others to secure 200 million funding from Europe, specifically France for the road sector
As a chartered accountant by profession, Mr Abanga worked with other Ghanaians with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA), in collaboration with the World Bank to secure 40 million US dollars for the Northern Development Authority aside working with the Millennium Development Challenge Account between 200-2007.

Besides the above contributions, the NPP Aspirant worked with Dr Mohammed Amin Adam, a Deputy Minister of Energy, Mr John Peter Amewu, Minister of Energy among others in setting up the African Centre for Energy Policy.

Though not yet MP, the aspiring NPP Parliamentary candidate for the Binduri constituency in the heat of the COVID-19, personally donated some Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs) to the Binduri District Public Health Emergency Management Committee. The items included; 20 Veronica buckets, 480 200ml hand sanitizer, 20 gallons of liquid soap, 10 gallons of Sanitizer, 20 buckets, 1000 hand gloves and 100 nose mask in addition to drilling 30 boreholes in the constituency to help address the water problem.

Stakeholders’ remarks about the Binduri NPP MP Aspirant

While the chief of Binduri, Naba Robert Akolbilla described the NPP MP aspirant as somebody who is development-oriented, compassionate, good human relationship and dependable, the constituency executives described him as a unifier and very humbly leader and pledged to work hard to ensure that he wins the seat.

The women groups in the area whom the Aspirant had supported to form Village Savings and Loans Association and have established their small scale businesses also described Mr Abanga as a Saviour ordained by God to offer them support to cater for their families particularly their children and also pledged that they would endorse him come the December 7 polls.

In conclusion, there is the need for the constituents to take a concrete decision by voting for somebody who has a very good vision in place capable of turning the fortune of the constituents in the December 7 polls. There is the need for the electorates to examine themselves very well and endorse somebody who has very good human relations with the grassroots, very humble, compassionate and lobbyist as well good track record in development and international exposure in the forthcoming general election. It is only through this constituent can really benefit.