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Ayiriga bent on political
Mischief
Andrews Zugah - Ghanadot
Accra, Aug 25, Ghanadot - A group
known as the Bawku Youth Development Association accused the
Presidential Spokesperson of using his position in
government to inflame the recent disturbances in the town
of Bawku, which had allegedly
led to the death of two persons, including an officer
of the Ghana National Fire Service on Monday, August 24,
2009
“He is not a beacon of peace because his activities in the
Bawku Municipality are inimical to the fragile peace in the
area,” the youth said about
Ayariga, appealing to President Atta Mills,
his boss, to call his spokesperson to order “so as to
prevent him from pursuing a selfish political agenda to the
detriment of the delicate peace in Bawku and its environs”.
Ayariga, who had apparently given up his post
in Accra, as the spokesperson of the
president, has started to campaign for a
seat for parliament which is yet to be
declared by the courts as vacant for the area.
He was
said to be distributing materials ostensibly
to win votes if the seat which was a subject of litigation,
eventually became vacant and was said to have been provided
with heavy security by the military on
his campaign tours.
Mr.
John Akparibo Ndebugre, former MP for Zebilla, had earlier
warned Mr. Ayariga before the
recent renewed violence which led
to the death of two people in the area.
Mr Ndebugre, in his
warning, had urged President Mills to call his
spokesman to order because his presence in the area was
causing trouble.
Two residents were killed a day after the former Zebilla
MP’s warning, but Ayariga blamed the
death on robbery
before investigations were conducted.
Later, it
turned out after investigations to
be a renewed clash in the festering Bawku conflict
of which Ayariga had been warned.
A youth group
opposed to Ayariga blamed him
for spreading false information to the people that there was
an impending by-election this month in the Bawku Central
constituency and for distributing
political campaign gifts to constituents amid heavy military
and police protection under the guise of sharing relief
items to the people.
Abdul-Razak Wuni, the spokesperson of the youth lamented “We
are most appalled by the fact that he is being given heavy
security to go round the constituency to campaign with the
so-called relief items amidst tension in the
municipality when there no
by-election has been announced."
A member of the group, Adam Issah Zangbeo quizzed
,“Since when has Mahama Ayariga
become a NADMO boss or a Municipal Chief Executive to be
distributing relief items?
Abdul-Razak Wuni said that from
his point of view
what Ayariga was doing in the area was
“wrong, illegitimate and is creating unprecedented tensions
in our already volatile constituency since to the best of
our knowledge and that of the Ghanaian public, there has not
been any declaration of a vacant seat in our constituency”.
The Bawku Central Constituency seat has been
the subject of litigation in court following a writ filed at
an Accra Fast Track High Court by a cattle breeder, Sumaila
Bielbiel, who is challenging the eligibility of the
incumbent MP, Adamu Daramani-Sakande and political pundits
are worried that any pre-emptive actions or comments by
individuals, especially government officials, would be
grossly prejudicial to the matter and eventually disturb the
peace in the area.
He stressed that Ayariga's
actions were subtle attempts to prejudice the outcome
of the Bawku case, which was pending in court and
jis disguised political campaign
being waged would further
aggravate the violence and simmering tension in Bawku.
Presenting what the youth group described as
the abuse of official power, Abdul-Razak Wuni further
accused the Presidential Spokesperson of using the
“controversial (five) tractors he acquired to plough
Mamprusi farms for Kusasis to cultivate. We are wondering if
they have any regard for the 1984 Minyillah Committee on
farmlands in Bawku”.
A group of women pleaded at the news conference saying “We
appeal to Mahama Ayariga to give peace a chance to save
women and children in the Bawku Municipality. There is no
by-election there and therefore he should stop campaigning
to avoid needless provocations.
Ghanadot
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