Minister Rubbishes Calls For Tamale Mayor�s Dismissal

Mr. Moses Mabengba, the Northern Regional Minister, has rubbished a one-week ultimatum given President Mills by a group of NDC Youth, demanding the dismissal of the Tamale Mayor. Members of the Action Youth Group in Tamale attacked the MCE�s office on Monday May 23, and vandalized property in protest against a decongestion exercise undertaken over the weekend. Items destroyed included computers, furniture, stationery and exhibition stands. The group also attempted to vandalize the MCE�s office but were unsuccessful. According to them, the MCE�s actions are making the NDC unpopular in the region. They have thus vowed to advise themselves if Alhaji Abudulai Harunah Friday is not fired. But the Northern Regional Minister has called the bluff of the youth group. He told Citi News the youth have no legitimate grounds for those demands. �The issue at stake is about demolishing of unauthorised structures. So what wrong has the MCE done in removing unauthorised structures? What the MCE is doing is within the remits of the law so if they have any issue with him, they should come and report to us. They came to my office in a very rowdy manner and if you want somebody to resolve a problem for you and you come in that manner, how am I supposed to countenance that� he asked. The Minister urged the youth to use legitimate means to get their concerns addressed rather than taking the law into their own hands and threatening to leave the party. At a news conference addressed by the Secretary to the Group, Adee Osman, he warned that the MCE�s stay in office could destroy the party�s electoral fortune in the Tamale metropolis in the 2012 general elections. He described the assembly�s decongestion exercise under the supervision of the Mayor as a �Useless venture� and challenged him to provide jobs for the youth whose containers were destroyed. He said any move by the assembly to continue the decongestion exercise will be fiercely resisted by their group which he said has been on a red alert. Adee Osman further accused the Tamale Mayor of not creating jobs for the youth since he assumed office in 2009.