Bawku Splits Over MP�s Jail

The business centre of the Bawku Municipality went almost calm on the afternoon of Friday, July 27, following the news of the sentence of Adamu Daramani Sakande, the Member of Parliament for Bawku Central, to jail by an Accra Fast Track High Court. However, a Daily Guide source in Bawku said, there was some jubilation by some communities at the outskirts and under some National Democratic Congress sitting places in town. The MP was convicted on three counts of false declaration, perjury and deception of a public officer and was expected to serve two years in prison for these offences. According to the source, as he rode his bicycle through, he saw people either standing or sitting in small groups along the streets and other areas of the municipality, including NPP sheds, as they discussed the issue and asked whether there would be a by-election or not. It was a very big blow to the New Patriotic Party in Bawku, because the MP was the parliamentary candidate for the party for the December 2012 parliamentary elections. Adamu Daramani had almost finished serving his four-year term as the representative of the people of the Bawku Central in parliament after he had defeated Mahama Ayariga in the 2008 election. Efforts to get Bawku Central constituency executives of the NPP to talk about the impact of the conviction of the MP on their chances of maintaining the seat for the NPP, proved futile.