Members of the Dagbon Students Association (DASA) in the Wa campus of the University for Development Studies (UDS) who are National Democratic Congress (NDC) members, have withdrawn from the Tertiary Educational Institutions Network (TEIN) of the party.
In a letter to the Upper West Regional Secretariat of the NDC copied to the Ghana News Agency in Wa on Saturday, the Association cited “slanderous and unsubstantiated” allegations against members of the Association as their main reason for the exit.
Specific allegations like distribution of the Better Ghana lap tops (computers) to only Dagomba students and that TEIN is a Dagomba political organization as well as allegations of incompetence in TEIN as a result of the dominance of Dagombas in the leadership informed their decision to quit the organization.
“The leadership of DASA has taken notice of this recent development and would wish to state that these acts constitute an affront to the progress of Dagombas in the fraternity which is a deliberate act to marginalize Dagombas in the TEIN front”, they stated.
DASA believes that until the “erroneous and unrealistic impressions” about Dagombas were wiped out of the minds of certain personalities who dealt directly with TEIN, their members would continue to suffer persecution and humiliation.
The Association noted that only the current President was a Dagomba among four since 2008 and wondered whether that could constitute a hijack of TEIN, adding that the ballot was about numbers and any tribal group that wanted to dominate in the TEIN executive must do well to convince its members to join the organization.
They condemned activities on campus that sought to indict the current leadership allegedly dominated by Dagombas, warning that they would employ every means including diplomacy and every weapon of defence to ensure that the image and integrity of Dagbon was sustained.
“We wish to state emphatically that Dagbon existed long before the emergence of partisan politics in Ghana, for this reason the interest of Dagbon is paramount and would always be first before our partisan interests”, DASA stated.
