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The Paramount Chief of the Gonja Traditional Area, Yagbonwura Tuntunba Boresa I, has denied directing his subjects to vote for President John Dramani Mahama, a Gonja during the December polls. In a press release dated September 13, 2012, and signed by Sayawura Abukari Atchilo, his spokesperson, the chief stated he could not have been part of such a scheme. According to the release, the chief has received information that some individuals had were informing unsuspecting electorate in Gonjaland that all Gonjas should vote for the NDC presidential candidate during the upcoming December 2012, general elections. He cautioned those politicians as well as individuals and the general public that he was not a party to that directive and warned Gonjas to be wary of such misinformation making rounds, as it tended to bring his high office into disrepute. He pointed out to all political divides that the chief of Gonjaland, like any chief in Ghana, was above partisan politics and so people, for their clandestine agenda, should not bring his office into disrepute. The paramount chief explained that all Gonjas seeking political office at various levels were his grandsons and daughters and should be judged by their own merits by the electorate. He warned that any politician or individual found using the name of the chief or his palace to spread such lies would be given the highest traditional sanction in Gonjaland. This also came in the wake of concerns of members of the Gonjaland Youth Association using the association for their political interests. This has resulted in deep cracks within the rank and file of the association, as some executives were allegedly hiding behind the group to pursue their political agenda in the interest of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC). The move, which was said to have infuriated some members of the association and a number of executives, was currently culminating into personal hatred among the leadership. Sources have disclosed to DAILY GUIDE that some leaders were trying to drag others and the entire membership of the group into supporting the bid of President Mahama ahead of the December polls. The argument the group was allegedly putting up was that the President was a Gonja and must be supported to advance the cause of Gonjas if he emerged victorious in the 2012 polls. But some members, sources revealed, have petitioned the president of the association to put a check on this habit of the self-seeking members who were trying to drag the name of the association in the mud. A copy of another petition written and signed by the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Northern Regional Scribe, Dr. Clifford Braimah warned of deepening internal wrangling within the association if the leadership failed to act immediately. It stated: �This, when not tackled immediately, has the tendency to drag the whole association into a political minefield which will not benefit the association or Gonjaland in anyway.� According to the petition, if this was allowed, it would smack of discrimination in the highest order in Gonjaland, where the association was proud to belong and have worked in diverse ways to promote, knowing its membership was made up of personalities belonging to different political persuasions. According to Dr. Braimah, a Gonja, he would ensure that the association did not allow itself to be used in making statements that suggested everybody should support one political party. �We need to be reminded that for now we have one of our own Dr. Abu Foster Sakara leading the CPP, whilst others such as my good self, are in the leadership of other political parties and if the association does not consider any Gonja as a super Gonja above the others, our humble appeal is, your office should remind all branches of the association to stay off the political arena,� he remarked.