Dr. Mark Kurt Nawaane, the Member of Parliament for Nabdam in the Upper East Region is worried about the way the race to the NDC’s primaries is shaping up. Dr. Nawaane, speaking on A1 Radio’s Day Break Upper Show, explained that the campaign of interested contenders should be premised on ability to perform legislative duties as well as local political duties and not where one is from.
Should the campaign direction go unchanged, there could be cracks within the party; cracks that could affect the party’s fortunes in the area.
“The cracks that can happen after the elections can let us remain in opposition. We should be careful, the way we do it. I thought that this was the time that we should have unity of purpose to look at the goal. We want President Mahama to be on the seat in 2024 but it appears that while looking at the goal, if we do not take time, we would destroy the grassroots. When we destroy the grassroots, then you might destroy the party and make the party more difficult,” he said.
While not shying away from competition, Dr. Nawaane suggested that performing MPs should be allowed to continue their tenures in Parliament. The vexed issue of some traditional elders getting involved in sectional politics, according to Dr. Nawaane, is unfortunate.
“It doesn’t worry me [that I will be contested] but the involvement of some elders, some form of sectionalism [is worrying]; trying to create candidates out of sectionalism. They are causing that disunity which over the years, I came to make the Nabdam concept the most important thing. I came, the Nabdam development has been my concern. I created a platform on which we have been discussing these issues.”
“If you now come to create a platform that preaches sectionalism and you talk about development and you do not put your MP on that platform, [because he doesn’t belong to the section the platform was created for], what goes on there doesn’t talk about the problems of the lack of clinics, the problems of the lack of roads, the problem of lack of schools; but discusses who they should throw their weight [behind] to join the primaries, then I don’t get if it is a development platform,” he said.
The idea behind the formation of such groups, according to the MP, may be just to fuel a deliberate agenda against his re-election for the seat.
“Possibly, it would be an anti-Nawaane platform with some elders, some opinion leaders, and some chiefs fanning it. It doesn’t make sense to me,” he said.
Source: A1radioonline.com|101.1MHz|Mark Kwasi Ahumah Smith|Ghana
