Report by: Ishmael Barfi
Northerners across the country has been urged to resist any negative attacks on any northerner in politics.
According to the founder and leader of National Liberation Congress, Mr. Stephen Atubiga, it is time to bear teeth at any person who talk negative against northerners especially the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Presidential Candidate, Mr. John Dramani Mahama or the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia.
This he noted is to protect their image against all that was said about northerners in the past, which affects northerners future .
“Let’s note that apart from the fact that northerners were used, by a non-northerner to help him with the dirty job, to overthrow Dr Limamn government, northerners were also used to destroy each orher which crashed John Dramani Mahama ability to hold unto power in 2016”.
He averred that it is indeed good that the presidential candidates for the two main parties this time around are both northerners added that, it is important for them to avoid undermining their own and never allow any non-northerner to insult their own, more especially on their own soil and go scot free.
“I don’t think any northerner could insult any Ewe politician in the Volta, in same manner Fifi Kwetey insulted Bawumia in the North, and go unpunished”.
Adding “If we don’t wake up now and fight-on against any conspiracy propagandists seeking to conspicuously run down Bawumia with mal-information, disinformation and widely spread disinformation”.
This he reiterated is a bad tag on Dr Bawumia achievement, and failures or fallout will reflect back to every northerner’s future in the political despensation of the history of our country, just like those of Dr Limamn and JDM are doing to us now.
Full press statement below:
RESPONSE TO NDC/ FIFI KWETEY GENERAL SECRETARY OF THE NDC, FORTHE DENIGRATORY, UNDERMINING, TRIBALISTIC DISCRIMINATION AND HATRED AGAINST ALL NORTHERNERS UNACCEPTABLE
Good day ladies and gentlemen, members of the National Liberation Congress nationwide, all protocols observed. | greet you in the wonderful name of God Almighty. | would like to begin by acknowledging the traditional owners of the land, the People of the Ga State and to pay my respects to elders past and present. | would also like to thank all invited guests present, the media, CSOs, brothers and sisters of northern background and fellow Ghanaians, for being part of this press conference.
Whether we are a target of discrimination, a witness to discrimination, or victims of discrimination, we are taking active steps to address denigratory, undermining, tribalistic, and discriminatory political language where we can collectively create a more equitable, peaceful and a cordial relationship ahead of the 2024 general elections.
Unfortunately, some political leaders in their quest for political power make statements without consideration of the outcome of such comments. The National Liberation Congress will continue to name, expose, and shame all political leaders that keeps denigrating, undermining and discriminating Northerners on their campaign platforms. Ladies and Gentlemen, we cannot and should not allow politicians to undermine the peace we have today for their parochial interest. | therefore call.on concern citizens, the National Peace Council, traditional and religious leaders to speak against people who campaigns on religious and tribal lines.
Ladies and Gentlemen, We all recall that of recent fifi kwetey on our own land told us how Dr Mahamudu Bawumiia is a Disgrace to the history of any Northerner that ever existed. This is highly unacceptable, disrespectful denigratory , tribalistic and undermining to alt northerners. This resounds some of the things that were said against Dr.hila Limamn.
Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia and Former President John Dramani Mahama, former vice president Aliu Mahama have been of service and good reputation to the north and the whole nation just as Dr Kwame Nkrumah, JB Danqua, Busia, JA Kufour, JJ Rawlings, Prof Atta mills, Amisah Atta, Kotoka, Akufo ADDO, and all others who have had the opportunity to serve at the executive, legistature or judiciary arms of government, in the past and present, and none of them cannot be said to be a disgrace to his tribe or ethnic group. No such caliber of personality, whether dead or alive has ever been said to be a disgrace to his tribe or ethnic group, irrespective of their political or religious affiliation. We are therefore
calling on all Ghanaians to help us censure, condemn and execute such unpalatable words from a general secretary of a large political party of our beloved country.
Since independence to date, politicians have been criticized and accused strongly for failing to deliver and are a disappointment to voters but no individual politician, northerner or southerner has ever been derogatorily described as a disgrace to his tribe or ethnic group. Politics is a profession that is founded on the ability to instill hope, convince doubters, and unite the disunited. To be a politician you must over-estimate your abilities and under-estimate the obstacles. And all | would say, in honesty, is that | don’t think anybody goes into politics unless they over-estimate their abilities and under-estimate the
difficulties.
Policy protagonists of every ruling party since independence are always keen to claim that policy is successful while opponents are more likely to frame policies as failures. The reality is that policy outcomes are often somewhere in between these extremes. An added difficulty is that policy has multiple dimensions, often succeeding in some respects but not in others, according to facts and their interpretation; For example while free SHS is succeeding in achieving higher enrollment and higher literacy rate, it is failing in lack of resources to make the over enrolled schools accommodate and feed the students adequately. In any event of instances of failure or perceived failure of a politician, no one ever arrogantly insult a whole ethnicity as Fifi Kwetey did to we the northemers in this subject:
Accordingly, let’s conceive policy as having three realms: processes, programs and politics. Policies may succeed and/or fail in each of these and along a spectrum of success, resilient success, conflicted success, precarious success and failure. Let’s conclude herein by examining contradictions between different forms of success, including what is known colloquially as good politics but bad policy. Whatever the performance or failures of Bawumia as vice president may be, his failures can never be very different from those of previous government presidents and or vice presidents. Infact John Dramani Mahama, just like other presidents and vice presidents before and after him, was highly criticized for failure to deliver and other misrule issues, but he was never said to be a disgrace of his tribe or ethnic group. In fact apart from Aliu Mahama, Bawumia is the only Vice president who got the trust of his boss (the president of Ghana) and Ghanaians to serve two terms as Vice President, and even those vice presidents who got removed or served only one term because their bosses or Ghanaians found them incompetent or
failures were never said to be a disgrace to their tribes or ethnic group. How could such be said about Bawumia who is not only hailed by his party, the NPP, butis highly respected and support by all northerners, which is evidenced by the votes he increased for the NPP In the north and zongo’s since he became running mate and Vice President, as well as the overwhelming votes he swept from all the five northern regions during the recently held NPP presidential primaries.
Fellow northerners, let us arise in straight rebellion against anything or anyone that talks negativity against any northerner in politics, especially when that can reflects back to all that was said about northerners in the past, which affects northerners future today. Let’s note that apart from the fact that northerners were used, by a non-northerner to help him with the dirty job, to overthrow Dr Limamn government, northerners were also used to destroy each orher which crashed John Dramani Mahama ability to hold unto power in 2016.
It is indeed good that the presidential candidates for the two main parties this time around are both notherners. But it is important for us to avoid undermining our own and never allow any non-northerner to insult our own, more especially on our own soil and go scot free. | don’t think any notherner could insult any Eve politician in the Volta, in same manner Fifi Kwetey insulted Bawumia in the North, and go unpunished. If we don’t wake up now and fight-on against any conspiracy propagandists seeking to conspicuously run down Bawumia with malinformation, disinformation and widely spread disinformation, a bad tag on Dr Bawumia achievement, failures or fallout will reflect back to every northerner’s future in the political despensation of the history of our country, just like those of Dr Limamn and JDM are doing to us now.
l am calling on the NDC and it’s leadership to condemn such derogatory statement against we Northerners, especially from their general Secretary. They must know very well that most of the NDC support base is from the Northern and Zongo communities, and their key executive members cannot afford to be reckless in insulting northerners in the north, which could trigger a decision to stop Fifi Kwetey or the NDC executive from campaigning in the
North. Under Fifi Kwetey leadership Northerners have seen humiliation and disrespect more than any other general secretory in the history of the NDC. Look at how the conspiracy propagandist theories of Fifi Kwetey leadership as administrator of the NDC run down
Haruna Iddrisu and Mutaka during approval of the Ministerial Appointees. And how they were subsequently uprooted from their positions like small fries, without thinking and foreseeing the backlash the NDC is suffering today in the north and the zongo communities.
Let us remember how the Ewe set up a nine member Ewe committee to ‘investigate’ and incriminate two northerners, Abuga Pele and Philip Assibit, leaving Clement Kofie Humado (the Sector Minister) off the hook because he is an EWE. In deed a northerner who was not even a public officer in the government has been a sacrificial lamb rotting in jail or(1 should remind you of how Raymond Atubuga had to abounding then president JDM resign as then executive secretary to the president due to pressure, discrimination, bulling and disrespect from then Chief of Staff Banny.) (Or you have forgotten how JDM then Vice President went through a lot of undermining as sometimes in the middle of his journey by road, some of his convoy will be called back as been too much around him from the presidency)
(Sometimes JDM instructions as a then Vice President will be redirected from an aid of then president Atta Mills as Mills was out of the country JDM acting as president per the constitutional mandate)
All these mean a Lot to we the concern northerners and same must be a deep worry to every northerner who thinks good about the present and future of the north and northerners. These attacks and knocking down of prominent northerners should mean a lot to all northerners, irrespective of political affiliation or religious affiliation.
As a northerner, | feel so bad for the disrespect and undermine JDM went through as a president which he is still going through now, as a presidential candidate in the NDC. But\ blame JDM himself for most things he went through and those he is still going through in the NDC now. When you failed to unite your own northerners and pull as along as your own, but rather fallin the trap of being used to destroy the genuine selfless brothers around you, these are the obvious consequences. The backlash of JMD wrong actions against clean northerners around him, while being misled by the selfish northerners and non-northerners around him, is long standing on his Faith. He is now surrounded by those who only care about what they can get around him not his interest of becoming president again. Most of his core followers and managers now don’t care about his backyard that can make or unmaker him. All they care is how they can use him to make more money and power.
Fifi Kwetey and others have no idea how we northerners have struggled and pushed each other to have seen our own leading political parties today, Irrespective of our political affiliations. We fought hard and built cooperation from our Akan and some Eve brothers to have JDM tead NDC in 2012. And we solidly canvased support and votes for him to emerge victorious in the 2012 elections. Note that a huge drop in the northern and zongo support for JDM sent him to opposition in 2016, and that was obviously caused by his betrayal of northerners and the North.
In 2012 we did everything to protect and defend JDM image and Interest. Bawumia is equally a northerner like JOM and we are standing up same for Bawumia or any northerner who is undermined and disrespected. Happily, both the NDC and NPP are led by northerners now. Surely northerners are free to choose between JMD and DMB. Northerners will make their own choices base on their experiences and understanding on who (between JDM and DMB) best serves their interest in the north and as northerners. No non northerner should think that he is more intelligent than all northerners, and therefore he should be telling northerners which northerner is a disgrace to the north or whatever. To us, neither JOM nor DMB or any of our brothers in politics or other endeavors is a disgrace to the north, and Fifi Kwetey cannot extend that arrogance he exhibited in disgracing our important figures, Haruna and Mutaka, to insult Bawumia in same manner; we won’t take any nonsense from him and his likes anymore.
We are of the views and believe that it was Fifi Kwetey own personal statement of hatred towards we Northerners for JDM failing to make him or his favorite his running Mate inthe 2020 elections, because he knows saying that will anger the north and northerners against NDC and that will crash JOM hopes for 2024.
Meanwhile we are surprised that the NDC has been quite about this issue since, unless the NDC is telling us the Northerners that they sent Fifi Kwetey to say what he said. As the popular saying goes ‘silence means consent’, meaning the NDC is consenting to the reckless derogatory insults on Bawumia and all concern northerners if they don’t come out to condemn it and punish Fifi severely. To clear any doubts, we will be sending a petition to the NDC, as Northerners, against the General sectary misguided undermining and disrespectful statements against another Northerner. And the response of the NDC will inform our next line of action. If the NDC fail to act appropriately and keep the arrogant general secretary with disrespect for northerners in office, well will take strong position on the NDC as concern northerners.
Thank you all for coming.
Source: www.thenewindependentonline.com
