How do you expect us to celebrate this? The MD of the Ghana Water Company, former MP for Damongo Constituency, Hon. Adam Mutawakilu, and his supporters in the NDC should understand that not every distribution of items automatically amounts to empowerment or development.
I can see some people trying to tag the NPP and create a competition between Hon. Adam Mutawakilu and our indefatigable MP of our time, the man of action, Hon. Samuel A. Jinapor. But the comparison must be based on the kind of politics each person has demonstrated.
Samuel A. Jinapor has shown Savannah and Damongo how politics should be done not politics based solely on party colours, but politics centred on development, empowerment and transformation. He has helped move our communities from darkness to light and has demonstrated that political leadership should be about improving the lives of the people.
On the sewing machines, the question is simple: how many of the people who received them are actually seamstresses or genuinely needed the machines to establish or expand their businesses? If the machines were meant to empower people, then priority should have been given to those who genuinely needed them, regardless of their political affiliation.
Unfortunately, the impression being created is that some of the beneficiaries were selected because of their loyalty to him, while some people who actually needed the machines were left out. That is not the kind of empowerment we should be celebrating.
Look at the example Samuel A. Jinapor set when he was Deputy Chief of Staff. When he introduced similar empowerment initiatives in Damongo, he did not restrict the benefits to only NPP supporters or a particular group of loyalists. People were considered based on need, and, interestingly, many NDC supporters also benefited. That is what visionary leadership looks like: helping people because they need the support, not simply because they belong to your political camp.
So, when some NDC youth compare Hon. Adam Mutawakilu to Hon. Samuel A. Jinapor, they should look beyond party colours and examine the records, the approach and the impact. We need leaders who have everyone at heart, leaders who empower based on need, leaders who unite rather than discriminate, and leaders who understand that politics is ultimately about development and service to the people.
The comparison should therefore be based on facts, not political loyalty.
Iddi Adam Fuseini
TESCON President, Damongo Nursing and Midwifery Training College
0249483512
