Tumu, the capital of Sissala East Constituency, on Sunday, September 29, 2024, became heavily populated with NDC fanatics showing love and support for Issah Mohammed Bataglia, the NDC Parliamentary Candidate for Sissala East, as he launched his campaign. This is to advance the NDC's determined effort to salvage the seat from 'Celebrity cannibals.'

In almost eight years, the NPP's record in Sissala East is as light as corn husk. There is no record they can point to persuade voters to give them ears.

In contrast, the NDC has tarred Tumu town roads, opened feeder roads, and connected communities to the national grid.

The only nurses and teacher training institutions in Tumu are traced to the NDC, along with several other notable projects, including the Tumu Senior High/Technical School.

Hon. Mohammed Adams Sukparu, MP for Sissala West, was right when he said Sissala East must do well and vote for his twin brother Bataglia because Hon. Chinnia was not an adequate partner. If Hon. Chinnia was adequate, he would not have stood on the floor of parliament to counter Sukparu's vivid description of the poor nature of our basic educational infrastructure.

The dilapidated school infrastructure is not only limited to Sissala West. It affects Chinnia's constituency even more because just recently, Sumborun Community Basic School, in an attempt to construct an improvised shelter over an uncompleted classroom block, led to a log falling on one of the schoolgirls, causing a severe head injury.

Before becoming an MP, Hon. Chinnia was the Deputy Upper West Regional Minister. In his bid to unseat his predecessor in parliament, he awarded a road contract from Fian-Issa-Kojokperi to Wahabu-Wellembelle for GH¢167.40 million.

The road was expected to be completed within 36 months, commencing on March 10, 2020, and completing on March 9, 2023. Nothing had been achieved on the road, but his parliamentary bid was achieved.

Hon. Chinnia launched his 2020 campaign on five thematic areas. One is to have stakeholder engagement with chiefs, religious leaders, assembly members, heads of MMDAs, and other opinion leaders each year to discuss and find solutions to the developmental challenges confronting us as a constituency.

The second is to establish six Farm Mechanization Centres in strategic locations in the constituency. Twenty-four tractors will be allocated to these centres, with each centre hosting four. Each centre will also have a warehouse to store and distribute fertilizer and other farm inputs to farmers. Farmers will again benefit from new technologies and modern agricultural practices to enhance yields on their farms.

Third was to provide infrastructure and diversify our education by encouraging and supporting our students to pursue law, medicine, engineering, and other fields lacking in the constituency.

Fourth was to support women with soft loans from the government’s pro-poor financial schemes to enable them to start businesses of their own to enhance their living conditions.

Fifth was to establish an MP’s office to create a 24-hour access condition to the MP by constituents.

It is clear that not one of the five thematic areas has been achieved. It is not in my place to declare that Hon. Chinnia did not live up to his promises, but we are all here. The good people of Sissala East will do their own assessment and declare him good or bad on December 7, 2024.

Bataglia has been very passionate about the development of Sissala East. Through Virtue Foundation, he has been able to write his name in gold in the areas of health, education, targeted interventions, and many more. If he is given the mandate to partner with President Mahama, Sissala East will receive abundant fortune as it did under previous NDC administrations.

In his address, Bataglia mentioned that the Sissala Development Network (SIDNET), in its assessment of our developmental challenges, reports that roads stand out as our critical challenge. All the other dignified speakers at the campaign launch were vocal about the poor nature of our roads. The NDC's $10 billion Big Push will address these challenges.

Given the constituency's agricultural potential, especially in crop and animal production, the NDC Parliamentary Candidate emphasized the need to establish a satellite campus for the study of agriculture. This will improve knowledge and boost yields on the farms.

Knowledge of agriculture is very necessary if we want to adequately take advantage of the Farmer Service Centres (FSC) that the NDC will be established in all agricultural districts. The FSC will support farmers with modern agricultural equipment, technologies, and inputs. This will result in increased production volumes of crops and animals.

Increased production volumes of crops and animals will make available adequate raw materials to facilitate the sustenance of the 24-hour economy. The Resetting Manifesto is excellent, and Sissala East must benefit from it with Bataglia as their parliamentarian.

Sissala East must emulate their brothers in the West and install an MP who will listen to them and bring himself down to their level. Sukparu needs a twin brother to team up with him to bring development to our area, and that twin brother is Issah Mohammed Bataglia.