Alhaji Yakubu Imoro Kakpagu has been elected as the parliamentary candidate for the National Democratic Congress for the by-election in the Kumbungu constituency scheduled for 30th of April 2013.
He polled 170 votes out 289 valid votes cast to beat his closest contender Dr Jacob Mahama who had 84 votes. Abukari Osamn Mohammed obtained 14 votes, Hamza Adam 12 votes, while Abdulai Baba Ibrahim had 9 votes. The by-election was necessitated following the resignation of the MP Alhaji Mohammed Mumuni who has been appointed as the secretary general of Africa Caribbean Pacific Group of States (ACP).
The sixth aspirant, Mohammed Imoro stepped down at the congress ground.
Alhaji Yakubu Imoro Kakpagu until the 2012 election was the Member of Parliament for Kumbungu, but displaced by Alhaji Mohammed Mumuni during the 2012 NDC primaries.
The former MP has since vowed to return to the constituency to represent the people of kumbungu constituency with little opportunity.
Eliasu Ewuntomah Mahama, the Kumbungu district electoral officer declared Alhaji Imoro Yakubu Kakpagu as NDC parliamentary candidate on Sunday 14 April 2013 at the temporal Kumbungu district assembly yard.
Speaking to Zaa News at Kumbungu, the parliamentary candidate elect, Alhaji Imoro Yakubu Kakpagu said there is no loser and that he will reach out to all aspirants to team up for 30th April election.
He said there is no winner or loser and that the contest was an internal one.
The constituency since 2012 is perceived to be sharply divided among the immediate past Member of Parliament, Alhaji Mohammed Mumuni and the candidate elect, Alhaji Yakubu Imoro Kakpagu. But the Deputy National Women’s Organizer of the NDC, Margaret Chiravira who was among the national executives to supervise the election said, the delegates have proved to her that, the impression that has been created is totally different from the reality in Kumbungu.
Sharp division in kumbungu constituency
IN SPITE of the open admonishment by the national executives of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) to all candidates in the 2012 parliamentary primaries of the party to bury their differences and unite for the victory of the party in the December 2012 elections, there still seems to be some “raging animosity” in the NDC in the Kumbungu Constituency of the Northern Region.
The animosity started when Alhaji Mohammed Mumuni the then foreign affairs minister came to the constituency office to pick his nomination form.
In the run up to the party’s crucial parliamentary primary in the area, there were persistent accusations against the NDC Executives in the Kumbungu Constituency from the camp of the Foreign Minister, for openly campaigning for the incumbent MP, Alhaji Yakubu Imoro Kakpagu, without any regard to the party’s code of conduct.
According to insiders, apart from the Constituency Chairman, Alhaji Mahama Abukari and the Women Organiser, Hajia Fati Timbilla, the rest of the executives led by the Constituency Secretary, Iddrisu Ibrahim Tikuma are allegedly conspiring with the MP and continue to antagonize the party’s candidate.
Even though, the Kumbungu Constituency Primary was one of the most peaceful, transparent, free and fair in the region, as described by all the candidates, electoral officers and the observers, which even compelled the loosing candidates to pledge their unflinching support for the winner, there still seems to be some hidden agenda, which ought to be uncovered by the National Executives of NDC in order that party faithful would see themselves as one for the unity and development of the constituency which is one the deprived constituency in the northern region.
’’No more factions’’
The parliamentary candidate elect, in his victory address to delegates and members of the party said, no more Lawyer Mumuni or Kakpagu faction; quoting Ghana’s first president Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, Alhaji Yakubu Imoro said, “at long last the battle has ended and that Ghana our beloved country is free for ever’’. You would from today start seeing me in places where you were not seeing me; Alhaji Imoro Kakpagu told the people in the constituency.
’’Opportunist’’
Immediately after the former MP was endorsed by ECOWAS to complete the tenure of Dr Mohammed Ibn Chambers as the secretary general of Africa Pacific Caribbean Group of states, nine aspirants came out and started jostling for the Kumbungu seat. This angered most of the party members, especially the grassroots supporters who were of the view that some people wanted to reep when they have not sowed. At the congress ground, some delegates and party members were heard castigating the natives of Kumbungu who according to them, after their basic education left the area without a return visit. They told this reporter that, it is time for them to show the ’’KARACHES’’ (educated people) who have been consumed by their educational qualifications that, under no circumstances should you turn your back at a place where your umbilical cord is and only come back when there is an opportunity.