From Issifu Seidu Kudus Gbeadese
Dear Dr Ahmed Jinapor,
I bring to you warm greetings from my cave where I observe my self-isolation in solitude. I am one of the lovers of your family’s positioning in Gonjaland and in Ghana’s politics. The use of the two Jinapor brothers (John and Samuel) including yourself in most cases as living examples when it comes to political tolerance and real democracy in Ghana, makes your family and Gonjaland stand out in the national conversation. That I am proud of!
I have many friends and loved ones from your family; your sister Sheila is my good friend who I share a lot with. Hon John Jinapor is one of my role models who I respect so much. He shares a lot of information with me as a young man trying to fit in. Your dad who has personally invited me to his palace and has never hidden his admiration for me in public is one of the chiefs I equally admire although I have my reservations with some issues. If you come to Damongo Langbonto, we share same blood within the extended family in Langbonto. So, this is partly the reason I find it difficult sometimes to speak about certain things when they come.
I am forced out of this cave today to speak up because of some recent developments which I’ve followed closely. Dr Jinapor, I want to know where you stand within the political equation in Gonjaland and in Ghana at large. Yes, you have indicated over time in the media and on other platforms that you are not a politician and if you were one then, it is the CPP you owe allegiance to. That’s fantastic! But, within you and to your God in silence, are you sure about that?
Between 2013 and 2016, you were appointed by H.E John Dramani Mahama as a board member of Immigration Service, which you have admitted over time. I don’t know in what capacity you were appointed though; whether you were appointed as a technocrat or simply because you were a Gonja Prince or mainly because your brother was in government. Due to this, I can’t speak much to this issue, but I want it on record that you served in John Mahama’s administration as an appointee.
During this period when you served as an appointee, never were you ever spotted in an NDC program-I don’t know of Yapei-Kusawgu Constituency anyway, but not in Damongo. We in NDC in Damongo never felt your presence in government, in fact, a lot of people never even knew you were an appointee. Maybe you silently supported your brother, Hon Jinapor, which most of us didn’t see visibly as we are seeing today.
Dr Jinapor, with all due respect, what interest do you have in Damongo? I may not be a true son of the land to ask you this question because I am neither a prince of Gonja nor a kingmaker, but your Imam in the palace. Why do you all of a sudden seen the need to show your face with politicians in Damongo, even when you still insist you are not a one?
I have shared platforms with you in times when you came to represent your brother, Samuel Jinapor on students programs. You have being in his closed company on several political programs especially in Damongo. Particular among them was the NPP Constituency executive elections in 2017 which elected Chairman Kwame over Samuel Jinapor’s choice of Chairman Mbemah. Even in times when Samuel couldn’t show up for programs due to some other schedules, you were sent to represent him. It is good to love your brother and support his dreams and ambitions, but do you do same for Hon John Jinapor in the Yapei-Kusawgu Constituency?
With the ongoing voter registration exercise, and in the absence of Samuel for the first phase of the exercise, you led the NPP crew in both the region and the Damongo Constituency to monitor the exercise. Upon arrival at some polling stations, you introduce yourself as the elder brother of Samuel Jinapor, but you are always quick enough to add that you ain’t a politician though. In all these times you were moving in NPP vans with NPP regional and constituency executives. You never for once introduced yourself as the fine academic we know or at best, the eldest son of Buipewura Jinapor, who is ready to succeed the Jinapor’s when the throne become vacant in some years to come.
Dr Jinapor, you are a living witness to the open display of weapons and threat to human lives by the hooligans your brother trained and brought to Damongo to cause trouble. You are a witness to the wanton abuse of power by your brother who you came to represent in the monitoring exercise. As I write, the nephew of the incumbent MP, Amadu Waliu was beaten to pulp by those rif rafs all in the name of protecting your brother’s interest. In all these times, you were right there as an observer on behalf of your brother.
The worse scenario is that, your brother, Samuel Jinapor, Deputy Chief of Staff and the NPP Parliamentary Candidate for the Damongo Constituency, has engaged in an opened illegality. He has endorsed and facilitated the illegal movement of “political aliens” into Damongo and in the end, use force and power to register them. As the lawyer he is, we expected him to know the law guiding the process of the registration. For the avoidance of doubt, the law as quoted by the EC in its letter dated 3rd July, 2020, paragraph (4)…”per law, an applicant can only register in a location where he/she resides or is ordinarily resident for not less than twelve (12) months before registration. This law has been disgraceful violated by your brother, Samuel Jinapor, after all, he will be the ultimate beneficiary of the ongoing illegality.
Dr Ahmed, is that the show of democracy you have always advocated for on TV 3 and on Newsfile? Do you break the law while I watch you and in the end I am told to challenge the process? It is like seeing a police officer attempting to urinate at a place where it is boldly written…”do not urinate”, and you are asked to allow him to do so before you report him to himself to press charges against himself. Allah is alive and indeed, He has never forsaken the weak in society who get cheated by the strong and affluent.
Today, what is happening in Damongo is not receiving any condemnation from the voices that matter because, the person perpetrating those shameful acts of illegality occupies a juicy but influential position in government. Nobody is talking because the perpetrator is no less a person in Gonjaland than one of the lovely sons of one of the powerful chiefs if not the most powerful in Gonjaland. Today, Dr Ahmed, you are comfortable to sit on TV to speak about how you respect and prefer justice and due process, is that what you are seeing in Damongo as you monitor the process with the NPP executives?
Well, in the next NDC government when H.E John Mahama wins Insha Allah, things will be different; the variables will change, that I can assure everyone especially in Gonjaland. This time, benefits will come with responsibilities; show me your work book and take your marks. We won’t sit back and watch anybody cross boundaries when the tables turn. We will fight it even if we don’t win.
Dr Ahmed is the official spokesperson of Buipewura Jinapor, who I am sure has voted all his life in the Yapei-Kusawgu Constituency. Coincidentally, his next brother, Hon John Jinapor is the MP for that constituency where his father is one of the chiefs. Why is Dr Ahmed not interested in monitoring same registration as an Independent Observer with NDC executives and in NDC branded vans in Buipe? Well, time is still our greatest ally.
I don’t hate anybody, I only hate injustice and so I will always speak against it even if I don’t win. I respect Dr Ahmed Jinapor at least for achieving this much in academia and as a true prince of Gonja who I am suppose to offer prayers for as a Kamara (Imam). This is just a letter.
Shalom!!!
7th July, 2020.
