IDDI MUHAYU-DEEN SETS RECORDS STRAIGHT

IDDI MUHAYU-DEEN SETS RECORDS STRAIGHT

They say I am not a voltarian. They say I am not an Ewe. They say I do not hail from the Volta region. They say I should not talk for the people of Volta region. They say I should shut up because I have no locus. They say I am a northerner. They say I am a politician. They say I am doing politics with matters that concern the people of Volta Region. Why should I respond to them and why should I not?

I can see that my mentor, H. E. Alhaji Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia has indeed always been spot on in the manner he describes these people. He says that, whenever you are debating them on issues and they begin to attack your personality rather than attack your message, then you know that you have really bitten them to it; then you know that you have won the debate; then you know that you are victorious. This gives me so much gratification.

Ordinarily, I would decline their invitation to debate them in their territory and by that, engage in an exercise of pettiness and mediocrity. However, I am minded of the possibility that people who do not know me in private life may be tempted to grant an undue audience to their absurdity. To this extent, I feel compelled to indulge them and thus, response to their otherwise contemptuous cum mischievous effusions.

Am I a voltarian and do I have a stake in the Volta Region?

For the avoidance of doubt, I wish to state without any modicum of contradiction that I hail from Kete-Krachi in the northern part of the Volta region, where I was born and bred. I attended Roman Hill Kindergarten, then Roman Catholic Primary 'B' basic school at Krachi lakeside and then proceeded to Bunda JSS all in Kete-Krachi before I moved to Bolgatanga for my secondary education at the Bolgatanga SHS. The rest is history and not really consequential under the circumstance.

Am I an Ewe? NO. I am a Mossi by tribe and a proud one at that. The northern Volta is a cosmopolitan area comprising mainly of guans and typical northern tribes including Kokombas, Nanumbas, Hausas, Mossis and many others. So you see, to the extent that my hometown, Kete-Krachi is in the north of the country, I am a northerner except if you want to tell me that people from northern Ghana are not called northerners but something else.

Also, to the extent that my hometown, Kete-Krachi is in the Volta region, then I am a voltarian except if you want to tell me that Kete-Krachi is not in the Volta region. So you can see clearly from the foregoing that, being a northerner and a voltarian are NOT mutually exclusive since part of northern Ghana is in the Volta region. This is something you don't need to be intelligent to understand.

Am I an NPP sympathizer?

My answer is in the affirmative. And so what? Why should this even be an issue to start with? Are we now saying that if you sympathize with any political party in Ghana, you can't fight for your people? Your inalienable right to speak on national or local issues in the country is curtailed simply because you are politically active? Is that the new standard in town? Then who qualifies to talk about developmental issues in Ghana, since almost everybody is associated with one party or another? Is this what we want as a people?

I thought the main reason why people go into politics is to serve the interest of their people or constituents. Must we play politics with everything in Ghana? Is it not true that the entire population of northern Volta including all the Chiefs and people across the political divide have been clamouring for a regional status for over 20 years having advanced cogent arguments for same? Is it not true that in the runup to the 2016 polls, both Candidate John Mahama and Candidate Nana Akufo-Addo promised to honour this commitment if they won the elections?

So what is wrong if as an indigene of the area, I add my innocuous voice to help my people fight for what they are deserving of and have been promised? You sit there and tell me I can't do that because I am associated with the NPP. Such "kwasiabinti logic" [credit to Asiedu Nketia of mosquito fame]! Well, I am sorry to disappoint you because I will fight for my people today, I will fight for them tomorrow and I will fight for them forever. Even in afterlife, I will fight for my people if I have the opportunity and I owe you absolutely no apologies.

Assalamu alaikum

Iddi Muhayu-Deen

That Kete-Krachi boy

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