POLITICAL ACTIVITIES IN UPPER WEST LOW KEYED (PAGE 16)

During the earlier part of this year, the Upper West Region was one of the busiest places in terms of politicking in the country with many presidential candidates frequenting the region to campaign and to pay courtesy calls on chiefs, student groups and civil society organisations, among others.
However, the trend has surprisingly changed as it looks as if nothing is going on. Supporters of the political parties are therefore speculating as to the kind of strategies the aspiring Members of Parliament in the region or their presidential candidates are adopting.
Unlike the southern part of the country where political rallies are being held almost every weekend and at times even during weekdays in communities, districts and at constituency levels, in the Upper West Region the strategies being adopted by some of the politicians seem to be like guerrilla warfare tactics, where some aspirants, particularly some of the incumbents sneak in from Accra to their constituencies and return to Accra without even media personnel getting a hint about their arrival.
There were instances where presidential candidates arrive in the region without even the media getting wind of it. A typical example is when Dr Edward Mahama of the PNC recently visited. None of the media houses was aware of it. Sometimes the security agencies, particularly the police, are not informed to at least offer some security, since every presidential candidate is a potential president of the country.
Notable among some of these parties are the Convention People’s Party (CPP), the Democratic Freedom Party (DFP) and the People’s National Convention (PNC). Since the beginning of the year, one can even count on the fingertips the number of rallies some of these parties have held.
All one sees in constituencies across the region are posters of candidates. There are flags, which are also fixed on electric poles, perhaps depicting that the respective parties are strong on the ground in those areas.
In some constituencies such as Wa Central and Jirapa, sheds have been constructed and labelled as special places for the various political parties. A number of the youthful supporters go there to deliberate on issues emanating from campaign tours and how the battle is to be won.
While some people are of the view that the present low political activity in the region is positive, there are many who also think otherwise.
Speaking to the Daily Graphic, Mr Abass Mumuni, a civil servant, was of the view that too much of political activity can divert attention from the many development issues, which are very close to the heart of the people.
Madam Esi Yamoaba, a drinking bar attendant, for her part, says too much of politics brings a lot of tension to the area but was quick to added that we are in political season and therefore nothing can be done to stop it.
Miss Jane Kunsaanah of the Legal Aid Department in Wa said she was only interested in working to put money in her pocket and therefore was not bothered whether the politicians were campaigning or not.
She said although she would participate in the electoral process, she would not allow promises from the numerous politicians to distract her.
Mr James Wor, a parliamentary candidate for the Democratic Freedom Party (DFP), in the Nadowli East Constituency, said organising big rallies were very expensive and that sometimes it was better to move to the people in their communities and houses to address them.
He was also of the view that many candidates perhaps did not attach much importance to the media coverage of such events, hence their inability to invite or inform the media houses when holding their campaign rallies.
The Upper West Regional Secretary of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Mr Kale Caesar, explained that rallies were held at the constituency level, but they might not be very big compared to rallies in the south.
He said the scattered settlements in northern Ghana made it difficult to know whether rallies were being held or not.
For his part, the Regional Youth Organiser of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Mr Hafiz Bin Salih, was hopeful that the region would witness some form of activity before the end of this month because the NPP had lined up a number of events to be held in the various parts of the region.
He, however, cautioned that those activities should not be used to foment trouble by activists of other political parties.