There are some deep suspicions— and bold claims— that the new District Chief Executive (DCE) of Talensi, John Millim Nabwomya, is in bed with some key individuals who are politically opposed to his governing party, the National Democratic Congress (NDC).
He is also said to be among some indigenous allies of a Chinese gold-mining company operating in the district.
A subset that comprises those key individuals and the Chinese company’s indigenous allies reportedly undertook a do-or-die lobbying mission that lasted about four months.
The mission was to get him nominated at any price at the central government level— and endorsed at the local government level at all costs— as the DCE of Talensi.
The Chinese firm, on whose behalf the subset executed the mission, has been responsible for all kinds of human rights atrocities since its arrival in the district. While the company carries tonnes of gold away from Talensi to Asia on a regular basis and stuff the pockets of its indigenous allies with cash to sustain the local support, the district remains destitute.
Many families, most of them deprived, are still in grief today, having lost their relatives, their livelihoods and their homes through the operations of the Chinese company.
Those heartbroken families are longing for justice. They want fairness. They want freedom. They want dignity. They want their dead sons and their departed husbands back.
Some native human rights activists and groups have become targets for threats and litigations for echoing the concerns and grief of these families, and for advocating what is due the district from its gold-hosting land. The litigations are said to be financed by the Chinese company.
Some of the activists had been put behind bars a number of times and hauled through the burning coals of defamation lawsuits just to have them gagged. Some have been lured with money and favours into the Chinese camp while some have refused to be enticed and silenced to this day.
Of the 16 or 17 people who applied for the DCE position, it is said that John Millim Nabwomya was the aspirant the Chinese firm and its allies preferred and lobbied for. Among the other applicants were individuals who had been openly critical of the foreign company and the local authorities who have been backing its presence and have remained silent on its reckless operations.
The announcement of Nabwomya as the nominee for the DCE position on the night of Friday, 4 April 2025, was met with venom by several natives of the district.
A few hours after the announcement, a rare midnight engulfed the NDC’s party office block in Tongo, the district’s capital. Some residents said the building was set ablaze by a large number of young men around 2:30 a.m. on Saturday, 5 April 2025.
While many suspected the fire was linked to the nomination, some NDC supporters publicly voiced their anger against the nomination at a news conference held in the district on Thursday, 10 April 2025.
They cited in a written statement some reasons Nabwomya was not fit for the position and urged President John Dramani Mahama to call for a report said to have been compiled by some state security agencies on the nominee’s background during the vetting phase. They also asked the president to withdraw the nomination and declared their plans to resort to “all necessary” legal actions if their demand was not met.
Another aggrieved NDC group had, prior to that press conference, vowed to repeat the 2012 history if President Mahama failed to revoke the nomination. In 2012, some NDC supporters aided the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) to win the Talensi parliamentary seat for the first time since 1992 owing to an unresolved internal conflict.
As the protests built up amid reports of a looming demonstration against the nomination, it was reportedly advised that the required confirmation of the nomination by the 31 assembly members in the district, which was slated for next week, be held today, 16 April 2025. Doing so earlier than the original date, according to sources, was considered a measure to curtail a swelling tension.
The nominee needed two-thirds of the votes to be confirmed as a DCE. In other words, he needed 20 of the 31 votes, representing 64.5%, to sail through. After the count by Electoral Commission (EC) officials, he got 100% amid suspicions from a section of the public that the assembly members were compromised.
Regardless of whatever may have happened behind the scenes, the reasons several natives of the district are against the Chinese company, the alleged sponsor of the pro-Nabwomya lobbying mission, remain. So do the reasons mentioned by the aggrieved NDC supporters in the constituency.
The new DCE is not new to the assembly. He once served as a presiding member at the assembly. He is not new to defeat, too. He was voted out in 2023 as the assembly member for Gaare-Gban, an electoral area in east Talensi, for some reasons well known particularly to the residents the district.
The grieving families and the protesting party folks want a DCE who will do the will of the district and not the will of the notorious Chinese company or fulfill the desires of the self-seeking local allies of any foreign looters.
The well-meaning people of the district need a diligent and an intelligent DCE who will not protect the interests of foreign exploiters disguised as foreign investors and join hands with any self-seeking local authorities to enslave and rob the district.
Would the new DCE prove his concerned critics wrong by holding the Chinese companies in the district to strict account? Would he fight for the rights of the people and not the interests of the oppressive network?
Would he be his own man in the midst of the intense controversy surrounding his appointment? If, indeed, the Chinese company and the local allies lobbied for him, would he be faithful to his alleged power brokers or loyal to the long-oppressed people of the district?
In a district where many people see the Chinese company and its local allies as the ‘demons’ responsible for their setbacks and woes, they strongly believe their plight would only worsen without a liberator DCE.
But would a DCE, who is alleged to have been supported by the perceived ‘demons’ to be in charge of the district, be a demon-friendly priest or pastor, claiming to be doing God’s work, or an uncompromising reformist, determined to challenge and change the status quo?
If some wrongdoers were alleged to have said they are comfortable with a particular police officer, it is up to that law enforcer to demonstrate that he and the wrongdoers share nothing in common. If some forces of darkness were reported to have said they are comfortable around a preacher, it is up to that preacher to demonstrate that he is a messenger of light.
Source: Edward Adeti/Media Without Borders/mwbonline.org/Ghana
