I have read with disbelief and utter shock from some desperate commentators of other aspirants who sought to suggest that, the New Patriotic Party’s misfortune of losing some seats in Upper West Region is as a result of Chairman SB Kangberiye’s failure and for that matter he should be voted out and replaced with someone who has never come near holding any party leadership in his entire political period and who is on record to have campaigned vigorously against the 2004 Parliamentary Candidate and the New Patriotic Party.
One would’ve thought that, children going up in the political space should learn from history and be guided accordingly but let me disabuse this weak argument that can’t stand the test of time with incontrovertible facts as follows:
The Dombo-Busia-Dankwa tradition has enjoyed the leadership of four Regional Chairmen since 1992 and each of them has worked tremendously towards the growth of the party in the Region and they include;
1. Mr. Seidu —1992—-1994 (two years)
2. Mr. Alhaji Issahaku —1994-2004 (3 terms)
3. Mr. Alhaji Short –2005–2018(3 terms)
4. Mr. SB Kangbere — 2018—Date
In each of the noble regimes of the above chairmanship, the party has always faced critical leadership challenges in the first term and as no one can claim perfection in this world, there has always been an improvement in their leadership in their subsequent regimes and I will attempt to delve into the issues relating to winning Parliamentary elections and general performance of the party.
Firstly, Mr Seidu held the position for just two years of the formation stages of the party in the region and did his best to recruit young and vibrant youth from across all traditional gates across the region and handed over to Alhaji Issahaku (Saaka Jie), who most youth of today knew as the Regional Chairman of the party and only few heard about Mr Seidu, both of blessed memory.
Under the chairmanship of Alhaji Issahaku who held the position for 3 terms, we won power in 2000 and won our first parliamentary seat in 2004 (Wa East, Gofred Bayonne Tangu) and he stepped down honorably in 2005 when the applause were loudest.
Secondly, under the able chairmanship of Alhaji Short who also held this position for 3 terms, the party returned into opposition after his first term and we won 2 more seats to make 3 seats and he was retained in 2010 for his second term.
Sadly, we lost in the 2012 elections and lost all the 3 seats (Wa East, Godfred B. Tangu, Lambusie-Karni John Duoghr Baloroo and Lawra-Nandom, Ambrose Dery) as well and returned to a “zero NPP MP region” but in 2014, the party delegates handed Chairman Short a resounding victory over these same people who singing this same old song they sang in 2014 that Chairman Short was a failure because he lost all the seats in Upper West Region but our delegates didn’t have a short memory, they knew that, there were other factors to consider than just losing seats and I am confident that, these set of delegates are well informed to read in between the line today as well.
The believe, the trust and the hope the delegates had in Chairman Short were vindicated in 2016 when we came from zero to win 5 seats (Lawra, Abayifaa Karbo, Nanadom, Ambrose Dery, Sissala East, Abass Ridwan, Sissala West, Patrick Adama and Wa East, Godfred B. Tangu)
Further, in 2018, Chairman SB Kangberiye restored the lost hope of the party in the Region because the announcement of Chairman Short step down and look ahead in his political career had struck the whole region with cold that we were losing a father, a doer, a leader, a grassroots man and above all, a Chairman of all then 10 Regional Chairmen who also thought it wise to leave the stage when the applause were loudest after his 3 term.
The above leaders had their challenges, they had their flaws, they were all fallible at some point but in the end, we hail them for their leadership.
Chairman SB Kangberiye won the hearts and minds of the party delegates and I believe they’re yet to regret for making a decisive decision in 2018 and the continual sabotage from the some party leaders and government officials who have sworn an oath of allegiance with the devil to have him fail will continue to be disgraced by the living God.
It is an undeniable fact that the party didn’t perform as expected in the region but this is not a novel case to the New Patriotic Party across the country and as a result we lost 3 seats (Lawra, Abayifaa Karbo, Sissala West, Patrick Adama and Wa East, Godfred B. Tangu) and won 1 seat (Lambusia, Bright Baligi) with Sissala East replacing the 2016 Candidate but still won the seat (Amidu Chinnia Issahaku).
Sadly, some people who campaigned for Alhaji Short in 2014 after we lost all seats in parliament are calling for the dethroning Chairman SB Kangberiye and I can only conclude that, it serves nothing but their selfishness lest we did ask that where is the consistency?
Ladies and gentlemen, no one takes delight in what happened to the party in the Region in 2020 but if the performance of the party in the region wasn’t a reason to prevent some MMDCES been maintained and the honorable Regional Minister maintained as well, why will anyone in his right thinking hold this weak position of calling for the head of Chairman SB Kangberiye when there is or was responsibilities shared by everyone including these government officials.
I wish to plead with the NPP delegates in Upper West Region to retain Chairman SB Kangberiye as our Regional Chairman as his experience in the past 4 years as Chairman and other party opportunities served will help sharpen the fortunes of the party going into the 2024 elections and I believe that what is good for the goose is good for the gander, #maintainSBK.
Thank You.
Reference:
David Wolla-dire