Re: An open letter to the president by Umar Kunateh

It is no secret that the president at his inaugural speech in ascending to the high office of president in 2017 admonished all Ghanaians to be citizens and not spectators.

This admonishment has driven a number of the Ghanaian citizenry to boldly and openly express their views and opinions on matters of public concern geared towards shaping our society and our nation for a better and brighter future.

In this spirit of citizenship, the Upper West Region and the Wa Municipality in particular woke up to an open letter addressed to His Excellency President Akufo-Addo in the matter of the impending appointment of MMDCEs to support the president’s agenda of delivering a Ghana beyond aid to the people of Ghana.

The said letter which has been published widely was supposed to guide the appointing authority on the caliber of persons who could be trusted to truly serve the interest of the party and the government.

Unfortunately, the writer who is a known pet of the Wa Central Member of Parliament failed to stay on the right focal trajectory by personalizing the issuing and narrowing it down to the person of Hon Issahaku Tahiru Moomin, the incumbent MCE for the Wa Municipality. In his haste to run down and denigrate the venerable MCE he failed to realize that there were a total of nine incumbent MMDCEs who had put themselves up for consideration for the vacant positions in their respective districts and municipalities.

The good people of the Wa Municipality had expected the writer to do a thorough analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of all the prospective candidates vis-à-vis their political records and achievements as far as our party; the New Patriotic Party and the government of His Excellency Nana Akufo Addo are concerned.

Sadly, however, he disappointed the average reader by engaging in a wild goose chase and exposing himself to public ridicule and disdain. In fact, the supposed letter which is riddled with a lot of inconsistencies and bad grammar dents the credibility of the writer as a Post-Graduate student with emphasis on Communication and Journalism at the SD Dobo University for Development Studies in Wa.

Let me put on record that the writer who is a popular Radio Show Host in the Wa Municipality has gained notoriety for stoking unnecessary tension across the social and political spectrum of the Municipality with his unethical journalistic conduct and blackmail all for his personal interest and private gain. It, therefore, beats my imagination that such a person who has lost all moral high ground will arrogate to himself the rights of a citizen and try to pull wool over the eyes of no less a person but the president of the republic.

It is important to remind Umar Aspirilla Kunateh that the New Patriotic Party in the Wa Municipality is very much wary of his unending solidarity to the incumbent Member of Parliament for the Wa Central Constituency, Hon Rashid Pelpuo who established a propagandist Radio Station for him to manage which he has done so well in the interest of the NDC and the owner; Dr Rashid Pelpuo.

Is it not the same radio station under his management that stopped and banned adverts and jingles of the NPP Parliamentary Candidate Hajia Humu Awudu though they were paid for and receipts issued? Is he not the General Manager of the station who gave these directives to the station? Left unto him alone, there wouldn’t have been a Nana Akufo Addo-led government to be in the position to appoint MMDCEs.

This mischievous letter by Umar Kunateh Aspirilla has seen him taken a swipe at the president by referring to him as arrogant and selfish. This cannot be the choice of words in a letter that is supposed to appeal to the good conscience of no less a person but the Commander-in-chief of the Ghana Armed Forces and the number one Gentleman of the Republic. This smacks of disrespect, ignorance, hatred and mischief. I doubt whether an experienced politician and statesman like HE Nana Addo Danquah Akufo Addo will have time for such a letter.

Your legendary hypocrisy as far as the profession you have chosen for yourself is so nauseating and disturbing to the average radio addict in the Municipality. In the recent matter of vetting of prospective MMDCEs, you jumped the gun by claiming to have the list of shortlisted candidates for the respective municipalities and districts at a time that the committee had not publicly communicated same.

Your needless speculation caused unrest within the NPP in the Municipality which doesn’t auger well for your fast-eroding credibility.

I would have ended this rejoinder here but since you tried to denigrate the incumbent MCE for Wa, let me ask you when was the last time you visited Wonwaana Pharmacy inside the Wa Central Market for your usual ‘soli’? If you did in recent times, you would have seen the massive transformation from the unprecedented infrastructure put up for traders and shop owners in the Wa Main Market.

Or you don’t know that it is part of the vision and hardwork of the MCE, Hon Issahaku Tahiru Moomen? Do I need to remind you that people like you and your paymasters masterminded the unfortunate defeat of the MCE at the last parliamentary primaries with lies and vile propaganda because of the threat he posed to your preferred candidate the incumbent MP because of the closeness of the results of the 2016 parliamentary elections in the Wa Central Constituency?

Hon Issahaku Tahiru Moomen as candidate of the NPP in the 2012 elections closed the gap from a twenty-four (24) percentage difference to ten (10) percent. A remarkable feat for a first-timer. No wonder he further closed the gap to about one (1) percent difference in the keenly contested election of 2016 losing by just Five Hundred and Seventy-One (571) votes. No candidate of the NPP since 1992 has ever managed such a performance and the president is very much aware of this feat.

Your disposition on this matter as contained in your so-called open letter to the President is akin to hitting your foot against a rock. You will get hurt without the rock noticing it. Remind yourself that the president has worked with the Hon Issahaku Tahiru from his days as a parliamentary candidate as well as an MCE for the last four years and he knows him far better than your misplaced letter seeks to convey.

And the president knows who best fits the position as far as the broader agenda of delivering to the expectations of the Ghanaian people is concerned.

Until you decide to reply this rejoinder, good riddance!!!!!!!