Kperisi condemns Pelpuo for criticing Bawumia over desk promise

Bagilinye John, the Landlord of the Kperisi community School at Wa in the Upper West Region, has condemned the Member of Parliament for Wa Central, Rashid Pelpuo, for criticizing Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia’s decision to provide desks for pupils of the Kperisi Basic School, who were hitherto learning on the bare floor. Dr. Bawumia, Vice Presidential Candidate of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), promised to deliver 500 desks to the school after he visited the school while on a tour of the region. The government however supplied some desks, three days after Dr. Bawumia’s pledge. Rashid Pelpuo chastised the NPP Vice Presidential Candidate and insisted that he should have sought to find out the reason behind the lack of desks in the school, rather than seeking to score some political points from the situation.

But speaking on behalf of the Landlord of the Kperisi community, after Dr. Bawumia fulfilled his promise by presenting 250 dual desks to the school, one Salifu Ciita, described Rashid Pelpuo’s remarks as distasteful and stated that the Wa Central MP ought to have instead commended Dr. Bawumia’s intervention.

According to Salifu Ciita, the people of Kperisi were offended by their MP’s attack on Dr. Bawumia. “We therefore felt insulted and neglected for not commending Dr. Bawumia but rather chastising him for such a kind gesture.” They noted that Dr. Bawumia viewed development as a collaborative effort hence his decision to take that initiative. “Unlike Dr. Pelpuo, Dr. Bawumia sees development as collaborative effort and that the development of a child is everybody’s responsibility.”

Salifu Ciita also highlighted government’s rather late intervention saying, “The state institutions that Dr. Bawumia didn’t consult suddenly woke up from their slumber to assemble and provide furniture midnight here in the school.” On a rather sarcastic note, Salifu Ciita indicated that the people of Kperisi wanted President John Mahama to add the images of the school kids without furniture to his ‘State of the Nation’ in reference to his evidence-based State of the Nation Address on February 25. “We therefore humbly appeal to the President to add images of the school kids lying on the ground to study to his gallery presented to Ghanaians as the state of the Nation.”