We Don't Like NDC Gari

What an interesting Monday it was at the Damba College of Education Campus. Some local NDC officials in the Krachi East Constituency wanted to stop students and lecturers of the College from attending a seminar with NPP vice presidential candidate Dr. Mahamudu Bawumiah.


Just a day before the seminar, authorities of the Dambai College of Education Campus could no longer host the seminar for Dr. Mahamudu Bawumiah as they received a directive from the Ministry of Education.


Many perceived this to be a plot by the NDC to stop the seminar. How can a scheduled seminar all of a sudden be put to a stop? Many students knew there was political involvement and therefore made determined efforts to meet the NPP vice presidential candidate. The students and lecturers decided to host the seminar outside the school premises.

The local NDC officials after realising they were no longer in control tried to entice the students with bags of gari- this was to take away attention from Bawumiah's seminar. Surprisingly, their tactic failed. The students attended the program in their numbers. Other students seized the opportunity[they took the bags of gari] and also attended the program.

At the seminar, one Mr. Lambert Sefiadzi Ahiadzu [Head of Department, Social Science] at the college made an interesting statement. He said;

"Because of this program, a political party is today sharing Gari on the Dambai College of Education Campus. The Press can rush to the Campus right now to find out at the Dining Hall. This is just to prevent students from coming to this program. So this is how they think they can buy our conscience."

NPP Youth Organizer also added;
"Just when I thought this government was going to get serious, I have realised that they are still reducing our politics. I am happy that they have given a clear option. This election is about Gari or teacher trainee allowances."

The NDC has however rejected claims that the party wanted to disrupt the seminar. NDC Youth Organizer of the Krachi East Constituency Adam Soko explained their reason for distributing free gari the following day. He said;

"This is just a diversionary tactic from the NPP. They don't have anything doing. I had some gifts for the students of the college, not only the TEIN[NDC] members but all the students in the college in the form of gari and sugar, and so I discussed with the patrons of the school and they suggested that because we cannot disrupt the academic activities of the students, we can only distribute the gari and sugar in their free time. They therefore suggested that since Bawumiah was coming, we should take advantage of that period to share our Gari and we perfectly agreed with them"

Explaining further he said;

"We therefore agreed that we will announce to the students during launch that our youth wing had something for them which we did. But the NPP were also having their program outside the campus so some came, took and even went to the NPP program. This was a harmless gift and we didn't discriminate between who to receive it "