The Kpembe Wura
Three Northern chiefs, one of them a professor, have expressed interest in vying for the membership of the Council of State.
The chiefs are Professor Samuel Yakubu Nantogmah, whose traditional title is Bo-Naa, the Kpembewura Banbagna Ndefeso IV, Paramount and Chief of the Tuluwe Traditional Area of Gonja, Tuluwewura Sulemana Bonyansa.
Professor Samuel Yakubu Nantogmah is an educationist with over 35 years’ experience in Ghana and the United States of America.
He is the chief of Bogu, a village that is about 16 kilometres due west of Savelugu in the Savelugu-Nanton District of the Northern Region.
Bo Naa is keen to share his vast experience in an advisory capacity on issues relating to how society could take care of its members and leaders can organize themselves and social institutions to form better synergies that would encourage people to want to work together rather than proceed along individual/parochial lines, DAILY GUIDE has learnt.
The Paramount Chief of the Kpembe Traditional Area in the East Gonja District of the Northern Region, who made his interest known in an interview, is a highly respected chief in the Northern Region.
He is said to have picked a nomination form and on the verge of completing it.
It is believed that his rich experience would impact positively on the fortunes of the country.
“Representing the Northern Region to serve my country will be another opportunity for me and I know those who have voting rights will give me the opportunity to serve the good people of Ghana,” he added.
He ascended the Kpembe skin in August last year and is a teacher and former District Chief Executive for the East Gonja District during the erstwhile Kufuor administration from 2001-2004.
Paramount Chief of the Tuluwe Traditional Area of Gonjaland, Tuluwewura Sulemana Bonyansa I has expressed interest in contesting as the Northern Regional representative for the Council of State.
In an interview with Bole-based Nkilgi FM, Tuluwewura Bonyansa said he has performed creditably well as an appointed member of the Council of State, pushing for many people from the Northern Region to be employed into many government and private institutions.
He was one of the members of the Council of state who advised former President Mahama based on the realities on the ground.
He said he has an unfinished business, having been appointed only three years. According to the soft spoken Tuluwewura, the election of the council of state is non-partisan and ethnic and so he will serve all in Northern Region, irrespective of political party and ethnic group one belongs.
“I was appointed by President John Dramani Mahama as a Member of the Council of State, representing the Northern Region in February, 2013 based on merit but not because I belong to a political party,” he emphasized.
The Electoral Commission (EC) has set Thursday, February 9, 2017, as the date to hold elections for the regional representatives to the Council of State and to be eligible to contest the election, applicants must be Ghanaian, of sound mind, be eligible to contest and be native to or resident in the regions they seek to represent.