RE: ?KPEMBEWURA THROWS WEIGHT BEHIND NDC??

The Gonjaland Youth Association wishes to express disappointment at an alleged statement attributed to Kpembewura Kibasibi in a publication in the Ghanaian Chronicle of Wednesday, August 17, 2005. The publication, titled; ?Kpembewura throws weight behind NDC??, alleged that the Kpembewura has declared his support for the National Democratic Congress for the 2008 elections and gave ?assurance that the chiefs and people under his jurisdiction were firmly behind them, adding; ?with the Kpembewura behind you, there is no way you should be afraid??.

It is our prayer that the allegations would be false; otherwise we would feel greatly let down. Our disappointment stems from the fact that the Kpembewura is one of the few highly educated chiefs in Gonjaland. His achievements have been great, including serving as Northern Regional Minister in the Limann led P.N.P. Administration. With that background, it was our hope that he would be a source of enlightenment for the illiterate chiefs on sensitive matters bothering on the basic laws of Ghana. It was therefore a matter of great shock to us that Chief himself would submit to making statements such as those attributed to him in the Ghanaian Chronicle.

Again, as a father of the land his apparent show of bias against particular politicians from the area is shocking, and cannot represent the collective view of the people.

Most importantly, it is not accurate that the Kpembe area has ?enjoyed total peace and bright sunshine until the NPP?? If indeed he said that, then perhaps age is not on his side and his memory on the 1994 conflict in the Kpembe area may be fading, or that he was being plainly mischievous.

In our opinion, these allegations are serious and the Kpembewura would serve his community and Gonjaland better by coming out to clear the air. In any event, our Association disassociates itself from the said statement, which to all intends and purposes was made with little regard to caution.

It is the view of our association that our chiefs must refrain from active politics because it is stipulated in the 1992 Constitution. And as long as this remains the case, no chief shall have the mandate to tell our people which party to support on not.

If on the other hand, the Kpembewura finds politics a more interesting vocation than the chieftaincy of his area, we advise he abdicates the skin to spare us the constant embarrassments in the media. Otherwise, he should keep his political opinions and leanings to himself and spare us the shame.

In the meantime, we serve notice to all chiefs of Gonjaland, that our Association will withdraw co-operation with any chief who openly engages in Partisan Politics. Needless to say, we are not party to any so-called declarations of support for any political party.

AL-HASSAN BABA DARISON CHAIRMAN, GONJALAND YOUTH ASSOCIATION

ACCRA-BRANCH

TEL: 0244 652482, E-mail: gonjalandacc@yahoo.com