[ 2016-11-30 ]

Nduom gets funny, wrong applause at rally
The general feeling that not every ordinary voter
who jumps with glee at every English word spoken
from the height of a campaign scaffold by a
politician really understands what is said has
found a funny proof at a mini rally of the
Progressive People’s Party (PPP) in the Upper
East region.

The night rally took place in the Bolgatanga East
Constituency and it had in attendance the
party’s presidential candidate, Dr. Papa Kwesi
Nduom, who used the occasion to heap a heavy dose
of blame on successive governments for what he
described as an unacceptable degree of poverty and
inequality in the region.

The flagbearer cited some grim regional poverty
profiles to support his attack. And, whilst
unwrapping the disturbing facts on that moonless
night, it was expected that the crowd of
supporters, assembled at the Zuarungu Catholic
Social Centre, unanimously would heave a sigh of
disappointment in reaction.

“When it’s the 10 regions, they say who is
number one in terms of poverty? Who is number two
in terms of poverty? Who is number three in terms
of poverty? Upper East is number two in terms of
poverty,” he said with vim.

But a section of the crowd, to the raw shock of
the presidential nominee and party executives,
cheered wildly and clapped in reaction to the
depressing statistics shared. It was instantly
obvious that the cheering fragment of the audience
did not understand the meaning of the English word
"poverty". The supporters clearly thought the
second position they heard, out of ten regions, to
be positive, and were even more prompted to
welcome it with immediate praise because the punch
in Dr. Nduom's voice, as he declared the poverty
results progressively, also came with a reflection
of pride as he landed.




It took a visibly stunned and embarrassed
parliamentary candidate of the party for the
Bolgatanga East Constituency, Starling Ayinenongma
Baba, who flanked Dr. Nduom in a red-and-white
smock, and other enlightened members of the party
to halt the wrong cheer and applause.

As captured in a 3-minute video, the improper
reaction almost took the steam out of the
enthusiasm Dr. Nduom came with, as he was not sure
if the wrong ovation was as a result of
inattentiveness or illiteracy. But the
presidential candidate would not reject the
reaction less than he would condemn the depth of
underdevelopment he said he had noticed in the
region. He called the abnormally happy supporters
to order as observers, extremely amused by the
development, could not conceal their teeth.

“I want you to listen. It is important for all
of you to understand that poverty is not good.
Poverty is not good. And it is the Progressive
People’s Party that will come and remove poverty
from the Upper East,” he stressed, with a busy
forefinger sketching the emphasis in the air
whilst his voice drowned in the same noise he
sought to subdue.

He added, after the noise had faded away:
“Today, when you come to Upper East, many places
don’t have good water to drink. When you go to
many places, you can only plant a crop once a
year. The rest of the year is dry; no work to do.
When you come to Upper East, many of the roads are
horrible. They are terrible. A lot of the schools
are also not good. There is a lot of work to be
done. There is a lot of work to be done. The NDC
has not done that work. The NPP has not done that
work. The PPP will do that work!”

You should be angry- Nduom to electorate
As of the time the rally was in progress, the
region had a commuter traffic zigzagging with fury
through thick clouds of dust on the multi-potholed
Bolgatanga-Bawku Road. The Zuarungu Meat Factory
was standing in hopeless ruins and the Rice Mills
in the Bolgatanga East Constituency was screaming
for repair.

Whilst pledging to revamp the collapsed factories
if he won the December 7 polls, Dr. Nduom also
lamented the state of the Bolgatanga-Bawku Road,
saying the whole state of affairs in the region
was enough to spur anger for change at the polls.

“People of the Upper East cannot be happy. You
have been bypassed as far as development is
concerned. You should be angry. You should feel
disappointed. You should understand that the
living conditions that you are under are bad. It
is not normal.

“It is not normal not to have good drinking
water, drinking from some ponds, which animals
also drink from, as the only source of drinking
water. It is not normal to have terrible roads
such as these. You should feel angry and channel
that bad feeling to the elections on December 7 by
voting against the NPP and the NDC and trust the
PPP and give us four years and see what difference
we can make,” he charged.

PC promises maximum development of potentials
Moments after the presidential candidate had
officially presented the parliamentary candidate
to the crowd, the parliamentary nominee reiterated
his promise to unearth and to promote the
developmental potentials he said had been ignored
in the constituency.

“I bring on board diversity, creativity, honesty
and dedicated leadership for the complete
transformation of the entire Bolga East
Constituency. Bolga East has a lot of
underutilised resources which, if voted into
power, I will progressively utilise to the
benefits of the entire constituency.

“The youth unemployment [situation] in Bolga
East is quite alarming. If voted into power, I
will encourage and support the youth to acquire
employable skills. I will link unemployed
graduates to institutions for consideration based
on their individual competence. I will give the
needed support to develop our music and sports
industries, provide weaving and training centres
and arrange for financial services to empower our
women,” Starling Baba assured.

PPP’s performance in Bolga East in 2012
Starling Baba, a 32-year-old teacher, is going
into the 2016 polls not only as the youngest
contender in the constituency but also as an
underdog, having finished at the bottom of the
2012 election results table with just 156 (1.08%)
of the 14,393 of the valid votes cast.

Dominic Ayine, representing the National
Democratic Congress (NDC), captured the seat with
8,841 (61.43%) votes. Rockson Ayine Bukari of the
New Patriotic Party (NPP) obtained 3,523 (24.48%)
votes whilst David Apasera, who stood for the
People’s National Convention (PNC), attracted
1,873 (13.01%) votes. The election saw 253 of the
14,646 total votes cast rejected with turnout
pegged at 81.90% in the constituency.

Dr. Nduom got only 70 (0.48%) of the 14,215 valid
votes cast in the presidential election. The
NDC’s John Dramani Mahama captured 10,543
(71.64%) votes, whilst Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo
of the NPP garnered 3,123 (21.22%) votes. Hassan
Ayariga obtained 353 (2.40%) ballots for the PNC;
Dr. Michael Abu Sakara Foster of the Convention
People’s Party (CPP) gained 22 (0.15%) votes;
Akwasi Addai Odike of the United Front Party (UFP)
secured 24 (0.16%) ballots; Henry Herbert Lartey,
representing the Great Consolidated Popular Party
(GCPP), got hold of 52 (0.35%) votes and Jacob
Osei Yeboah, an independent presidential
candidate, garnered 28 (0.19%) votes.

Source - Starrfm

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