I wish to use this opportunity to congratulate the newly sworn in Upper West Regional Minister, Hon. Issahaku Salia for his new political strive. Already, people tout the Upper West Regional ministerial seat as “the hot seat” but I will call it the seat of wisdom. The fact of the matter is that, as soon as the name of the new minister was pronounced, people who have the party at heart and are always begging for the unity of the party (NDC) in the upper west region were joyous but, for whether he would be spared by the “political mafias” who might come around him has become a puzzle in the minds of NDC loyalist in the region. The current position occupied by Hon. Issahaku Salia became vacant following a rift between the ex- upper west regional minister (Mahmud Khalid) on one hand and a section of the regional executive together with the Deputy Upper West Regional Minister on the other. It is a fact that the inability of these two feuding factions within the party in the region to resolve their impasse was largely due to parochialism - where they had allowed their egos to take precedence over the philosophy of the NDC fraternity. My word of caution to the entire rank and file of the party right from the constituency levels to the regional level is that, they should be ware of the malevolent possibilities of infighting or else, the ordeal of being in opposition for eight years and the struggle made to recapture political power from the NPP would be a bane if not a fiasco. Again, I will suggest to all who matter in the party to always try to use diplomatic channels in arresting whatever skirmish that might come their way before it reaches a crescendo. This is by virtue of the fact that the fracas between the two feuding factions in the region emanates from sheer selfishness and disregard for party structures on the part of the highest echelon of the party in the region. Sadly, a bad precedence has been set by a section of the party in the region just in furtherance of their sinister agenda. Now, a new minister has been ordained, still the problems of Upper West are enormous, we are living in a world of scarce resources. I hope this time round we will appreciate this fact and allow the minister to work freely devoid of undue pressure from over demanding ‘foots soldiers’ and party executives. Why am I saying this, a close observation of the ‘Khalid – chairman’ unrest in the upper west region revealed that a party guru was given four (4) separate contracts to a total sum of 7.8 billion old Ghana Cedis within the period of Jan, 2009 – March, 2010. I have in my possession a genuine contract award document to substantiate this allegation. The same document revealed that this same member of the party has four of his blood relations including his wife awarded contracts. Another instance was the situation where just a single member rapaciously hijacked an auctioning process at the Wa regional hospital by securing 10 motor bikes and three 3 hard body pick-ups to nurture his political ambition. Several sources revealed that he is impatiently eying for one of the “orphan” parliamentary seats in the region. Interesting but exasperatedly, these same people were the first to call for the removal of the ex-regional minister. My worry as a party member and a deputy youth organizer for Sissala West is that, these sanctimonious party bigwigs will have high expectations from the new regional minister, for, they will want to get more than Khalid could offer them and any failure can lead to another “11th may, coup” on the regional minister. This can further create discomfort among the youth and this time it may not be a “tender box for motor bikes” this time around, it may be the “regional minister’s car for cars”. This further goes to justify why I think NDC in upper west region is deeply rooted with egocentric politicians. My little advice to the new Regional Minister is that, he should thread cautiously with even his immediate pals both at work place and at home because some of them are sycophants and will do what ever it takes to tarnish the long standing relationship between him and others. ‘Cronyism’ is another canker worm he should be ready to fight. I sometimes ponder over this unsavory situation in the region, but, the more I linger over it, the more I hear one philosopher defining power as the ability for one to use his position to influence the behavior of others. My candid opinion on this assertion is that, ones influence could also be wrong and I think the case of the NDC leadership in the upper west region is of no exception. Of late, politics of pretence has suddenly engulfed the top hierarchy of the party in the region. I sometimes bow in shame to the current political status quo of the party in the region, if something pragmatic is not done; the faith of the party in the region in the possible near future will be calamitous. We have to appreciate the fact that even before modern politics, we were living in the spirit of good neighborliness and the basic way of showing this is through ‘greetings’. In Upper West with regards NDC, this core value does not longer serve its purpose. Opponents look at each other with mischief and contempt, passing derogatory statements and launching verbal missiles at each other. Even, the current regional minister was not speared by some of these supercilious party leaders in the region on a national news paper (daily graphic. 15th June, 2010. page 14) to favor a particular person who they described as “People’s Regional Minister”. My headache on this virulent situation is that when ever a party bigwig comes to Wa, party faithfuls who have the opportunity to interact with him/her will express their satisfaction with the situation instead of giving the real account of issues in the region. Because nothing has so far been done by the national executives of the party in the region, a group calling its self the concern citizens of NDC in the Upper West Region is still calling for the removal of the deputy upper west regional minister saying he will further deepen the division of the party in the region and blackmail the new minister designate. They used the daily graphic story indicated above to back their argument. They further attributed the demonstrations that took place against the District Chief Executives (DCEs) for Sissala East and Jirapa districts on the 23rd and 24th respectively to the deputy ministers’ use of DCEs against party faithfuls. On this same website, the ten (10) regional chairmen converged and released a communiqué blaming Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives (MMDCEs) and ministers for being behind the confusion in the party. In fact, I was so happy when I saw this published on the net, but the irony of it was that most of these appointees were nominated under the approval of these regional chairmen. We should also be mindful of the fact that MMDCEs and ministers are administrative heads and are sometimes been persuaded by the laws of this country to take certain decisions that might go against the interest of some party members. It saddens my heart when I see a regional chairman of a party trying to assume the position of a regional minister. My prayer is that God should give the good people of Upper West the needed patience for the new Regional Minister and also guide the Regional Minister against self-absorbed politicians who might want to make capital out of him. May he be able to identify all the interest groups in the region and unite them to roll back the brouhaha within the party in the region. Long Live Ghana, Long Live Upper West, Long Live NDC - Eye Zu! Eye Za! Credit: Abdul-Rahman Osman (Babs) Ndc Deputy Youth Organizer For Sissala West Constituency e-mail Babs on babspulma@yahoo.com. 0208350400/0240380758