Mr Davis Acham Write up on Buluk Kaniak-The development of Buluk is in the hands of us Builsas . Its undeniable fact that we Builsas are among the industrious, adventurous and hardworking "species" in the world's population demographic.
However and regrettably, the land that host us Builsas lacks so many institutions that are suppose to complement our individual efforts in order to pivotal the development of buluk State.
Let us take a look at our "door next/ mouth neighbour" Navrongo. They have a public University, public College of Education, public College of Nursing, etc while we have none until recent efforts to start a College of Nursing. Why did government concentrated all these tertiary institutions in one town while we have none??
There are a lot of different banks and financial institutions cited in Navrongo and its environs yet Sandema has only a rural bank to boast of. There are many disparities.
The question is, what is the secret that is working for the Kesnas, that we Builsas have not discovered yet??
If we do trend analyses, one will see that where there are many institutions, there will be a surge in the population proportionately. And businesses will spring up at where there is a surge in population. And consequentially, banks and financial institutions move to where there are many businesses and people.
Its time we do critical analyses and see what we as a group of people are not doing right even though we are industrious genetically as I acknowledged earlier.
. Can we take a critical look into the voting pattern in Navrongo and that of Sandema??
Why is Navrongo progress more than Sandema??
We must think and not allow anyone take us for granted!!!
Let's think about Buluk and its progress. Our current MP has enjoyed our loyal to be on the seat for 8 long years. He was once a deputy minister for uninterrupted 4 long year. What hope at all can we expect from him again. We deserve better.
Mr Evans Akangyelewon Atuick
Mr Evans Akangyelewon Atuick's Write up on Buluk Kaniak-DAVIS ACHAM'S THESIS ON THE DISPARITY IN DEVELOPMENT BETWEEN NAVRONGO AND SANDEMA, VOTING PATTERN AND DEVELOPMENT OF BULUK- A REJOINDER-PART I
My brother's write up is, without any equivocation, well written and thought provoking. However,he appears to suggest that the voting pattern has more to do with our underdevelopment and needs to re-examine.In David Acham's own words:
"Let us take a look at our "door next/ mouth neighbour" Navrongo. They have a public University, public College of Education, public College of Nursing, etc while we have none until recent efforts to start a College of Nursing. Why did government concentrated all these tertiary institutions in one town while we have none??
There are a lot of different banks and financial institutions cited in Navrongo and its environs yet Sandema has only a rural bank to boast of. There are many disparities.
The question is, what is the secret that is working for the Kesnas, that we Builsas have not discovered yet??
If we do trend analyses, one will see that where there are many institutions, there will be a surge in the population proportionately. And businesses will spring up at where there is a surge in population. And consequentially, banks and financial institutions move to where there are many businesses and people.
Its time we do critical analyses and see what we as a group of people are not doing right even though we are industrious genetically as I acknowledged earlier.
. Can we take a critical look into the voting pattern in Navrongo and that of Sandema??
Why is Navrongo progress more than Sandema??
We must think and not allow anyone take us for granted!!!
Let's think about Buluk and its progress. Our current MP has enjoyed our loyal to be on the seat for 8 long years. He was once a deputy minister for uninterrupted 4 long year. What hope at all can we expect from him again. We deserve better."
From a content analysis perspective, it is obvious that Acham's main intent for writing this was to drum home the point that our current state of underdevelopment vis-a-vis Navrongo is as a result of our voting pattern, hence, if we change our current MP for the NPP candidate, things will get better because we deserve better!
For starters, I agree with Acham that we are far behind Navrongo in terms of development. I also agree with him that political leadership of Buluk must do more given our precarious situation, and that we deserve a fair share of the national development cake. It is also true that an increase in institutional infrastructure will bring in people from near and far into our districts,thereby, promoting businesses and improved livelihood for our people.
However, I disagree with his suggestion that critically examining our voting pattern will provide clarity to why we are lagging behind in development. I argue that the huge development disparity between Sandema, and by extension, Builsa North, on the one hand, and Navrongo, on the other hand, cannot be blamed on voting pattern and MPs alone.
Indeed, Since multi-party democracy in this 4th Republic took off in 1992, Navrongo has been a swing seat for parliamentary except for presidential which has always gone the way of NPP for obvious reasons. Indeed, the key remote factor is the execution of Col R. Felli alongside Gens Acheampong, Akuffo and Afrifa etc under Rawlings' military junta! Navrongo people have, since then, never forgiven Rawlings and his regime ( and any party associated with him) for pursuing the late fine soldier into the Navrongo palace to murder him in cold blood! This perhaps, explains why the NDC has never won presidential elections in Navrongo but has won parliamentary a number of times in this 4th Republic. Let's take a closer look at the parliamentary election trend. In Navrongo constituency( now Central ), Clement Bugase won as NDC candidate for two terms and got toppled by Achuliwor of NPP who did one term and died during the second. Kofi Adda came in and defeated Bugase of NDC. Kofi Adda did two terms and got defeated by Woyongo of the NDC in 2012, but Kofi Adda came back to win for NPP in 2016. In the case of Bulsa North, the Hon Sylvester Azantilow of NDC won for a term or two. Hon Basil Anurika of NDC stepped in and won for two terms. Chigabatia of NPP won, defeating NDC's Ataboadey. Ataboadey came back to defeat Chigabatia and did one term before Agalga stepped in. Agalga has done two terms now and may win or lose in the next election.
In fact, we can say from the analysis above that both Navrongo and Builsa North are not safe seats for any particular party! Same applies to Builsa South.
Developments and voting pattern? Acham mentioned the UDS, hospital, teacher's college and nurses training institutions as supposedly 'fruits' of the voting pattern in Navrongo vis-as-vis Buluk! For starters, both the Hospital and teacher's training colleges predated the 1992 constitution, hence, are inconsequential in Acham's argument. Same as the Sandema district hospital! The UDS is a Rawlings, and by extension, NDC government brain child even though JJ Rawlings and the NDC never won presidential in Navrongo before! If we even look at Builsa North and South and provision of technical and secondary schools by governments, the NDC regimes have done more and better. Except for SansecTech which predated the 1992 constitution, the Sandema Senior High, Fumbisi Senior High, Youth Leadership Vocational Training Institute and Kanjark SHS all came by way of NDC governments!
Talking about roads, we know that, while Navrongo has had their roads tarred over the years by both NDC and NPP governments, the Chuchuliga-Sandema-Fumbisi road has been largely neglected by both NDC and NPP governments over the years despite the cries of our people. Admittedly, the NDC governments are more guilty when it comes to doing our roads since they have always won presidential in both constituencies! Nevertheless, Rawlings did the Wiesi bridge and now, Nana Addo is doing the Santeja bridge too. Kuffour, though, lost in Builsa area, gave a contract to late Adams to tare Sandema inner town roads too! I am not sure the NPP governments took voting pattern into consideration here.
As for banks,Acham himself has provided reasons why we don't have banks! Banks don't just get up and set up branches; they look at profit and managerial cost accruing before setting up branches! That has nothing to do with votes and voting patterns! Ndoum got zero votes but set up a bank in Fumbisi. It must be for marketing reasons. Standchart was in Bolga, but pulled out for business reasons.
Therefore, base on the analysis above, can we say that the voting pattern is the only game changer here? I don't think so. Other factors come into play. Key among this is the strategic locations of both Builsa and Navrongo areas. Take, for instance, the siting of the UDS campus in Navrongo. The presence of the almighty Tono irrigation dam and the pre-existing IFCAT facility were the main game changers for bypassing Bolga and siting the campus in Navrongo! Did we have similar facilities at the time to mount a strong challenge for that campus? No! The strategic location of Navrongo on the main Ghana-Burkina and Upper East to Wa highways means that their roads have a better chance of being repeatedly upgraded compared to Builsa area roads. The cost-benefit analysis clearly favors Navrongo in construction of roads and siting of government sponsored facilities! The only important factor for us in the area of roads, for instance, is the location of the Fumbisi valleys.This factor is the reason why a farm produce processing factory has been sited in Fumbisi, and none yet in Builsa North. Needless to add, the top-down center-periphery development model pursued by successive governments in Ghana is also to blame for the unfair distribution of development projects. For instance, some years back, Wiaga had a vibrant Agric station, but it got moved to Sandema because government deemed it necessary to centralize important state departments and institutions in the district capitals!
Suffice it to add that, we are also a net migration area, hence, population wise, we are disadvantaged vis-a-vis Navrongo. Common sense would inform any government that, in the midst of limited resources, it makes no sense to build another teacher's training college in Sandema or Fumbisi when there is already one in Navrongo ( and within reach) unless the population dynamics change, and make that imperative!
Nevertheless, I agree that voting pattern and lobbying play roles in siting of government projects sometimes, but not all the time. Take the location of the only Astroturf in the Upper East in Navrongo! Bolga has been crying for a better playing field as the regional capital but Navrongo was favored! That is what lobbying(and perhaps,voting pattern) can do in some cases. If Acham did his trend analysis well ( since he is an expert in that) he would have realized that the first batch of astroturfs have been located in strategic NPP strongholds! Mind you, the only other one in the whole north is located in Walewale, home of Bawumia and Banbagni of the NPP fame! Remember, I called out our Mps sometime back for not going for these projects because it was said that sitting Mps were being offered these facilities on pro bono basis. Unfortunately, there was more to it than meets the eye! No one needs to tell you what went into the distribution of these astroturfs given that the President himself got the first one to Kyebi, his home town. Here and now, we are told by you and others that the NPP parliamentary candidate, James Abakisi, lobbied for the nursing college and the police station at Chuchuliga. The current Mp has come out to refute and challenge that claim with 'further and better particulars.' Nevertheless, anything is possible in Ghanaian politics if you examine what happens during by-elections whereby governments spend outside budgets to provide development projects just so they can win such seats! If, indeed,my big uncle, James Abakisi, managed to lobby to bring these projects, no one can argue with me that, that was only possible because his party's government is in power. Therefore, if we go by the mantra of changing MPs at the least opportunity, what will happen if James Abakisi wins the seat and the NDC's John Mahama wins the elections? Will he be in a position to lobby for such projects and get them to base with the swiftness with which he is said to have executed the latter? I'll leave you to make your own conclusions!
Bottomline is, voting pattern cannot be the overriding factor in the current state of development in Buluk! If that was the case, I see no good reason why an NPP government will site a nursing college in a constituency where they have always had dwindling electoral fortunes! We do know, that, our paramount chief has been pleading with successive governments for an institution of higher learning and other projects.Some powerful names have also been mentioned as having played a role in securing the nursing college and police station. These many voices could have played a part in the decision to give us such a college,but do we really care who lobbied or failed to lobby to get us a nursing college? Buluk shall be the winner when it is done and ready. Mi noi tri!
To be continued...
All are healthy write ups for the development of Buluk. BULUK FIRST! ZURGALUU LAM KAN BÈ, NAN DUM YENG KAN TIAK BOGTA!
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