The Central Gonja District Manager of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), Mr. Mahama Dauda has been forced out of his office by some officials and supporters of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) in Buipe. His official vehicle has also been impounded by the Buipe District PoIice for safekeeping, due to the position taken by the NDC members to seize or burn it. Speaking in an interview with The Chronicle in Tamale recently, Mr. Dauda said he suspected the incumbent NDC Member of d Parliament (MP) for Yapei/Kusawgu, Hon. Seidu Amadu to be the main architect behind the actions of the party officials and the foot-soldiers. He alleged that the MP on the 21st and 22nd of January, 2009, held separate meetings in his house with the District Coordinating Director of Central Gonja Mr. Peter Maala, the Biupe NDC Chairman Abubakari Torti, the Secretary, Yahaya Musah and Mr. S.s. Bonkpuruso among others. At the said meeting, he noted that pressure was mounted on the Coordinating Director to go and direct the affairs of the assembly. He was also allegedly asked to takeover the collection of revenues in the Buipe and the Yapei Market from the current Revenue Officer, Mr. Dauda Sapporo The NHIS Manager asserted that just after the second meeting, the NDC officials led a mob to eject him from the office. They forcibly demanded all the keys to the 10 offices and the official vehicle. "They told me that the New Patriotic Party (NPP) did the same thing to them in 2001, and now that the NDC is in power, they will also retaliate". According to Mr. Dauda, it took the swift intervention of the Police to save his life. The security officials therefore took the keys away from the NDC officials, locked up the offices, impounded the vehicle and handed the keys over to the Northern Regional Crime Office, for onward transfer to the Regional NHIS Secretariat. He also denied using his official vehicle to campaign for the NPP during the electioneering campaign He said even though the NHIS office in Buipe is now open, he bas been advised by the security not to go there for his own safety. Mr. Dauda is now taking refuge in Tamale. Meanwhile, the Central Gonja National Health Insurance Scheme, he disclosed, had registered close to 30,000 clients between 2007 till date. Out of the number, about 26,000 he indicated have had their ID Cards while the remaining ID Cards are being processed and would be ready in three months. According to him, the Scheme could have hit an all time record if not for the behaviour of the NDC officials, by playing politics with the scheme and misinforming the rural folks about its advantages. Mr. Dauda however appealed to the NDC officials’ including the MP who he said was the number one person misleading and instigating the people to allow peace to prevail in the area for accelerated development. In a telephone chat with The Chronicle, the MP for Yapei/Kusawgu Hon. Seidu Amadu admitted holding meetings with the Coordinating Director and his party officials. He however, explained that the meeting was necessitated by information, he had received from the officials of the NDC in the area who had planned to launch attacks on some departmental heads to reciprocate the ill treatment visited on them by the NPP in 2001. He said the meeting was not to plan any evil but to advise the NDC members to be cautious about what they intended to do by using the right channel or involving the Coordinating Director to remove the Revenue Collectors in the Buipe and Yapei Markets, the Non-Formal Education Coordinator and the National Health Insurance Manager, since the NPP also sacked their members and took away their official motorbikes from them, which they reallocated to NPP activists. "Already, the collectors are not making accounts to the appropriate authorities, but to some individuals including assembly members", he said. Hon Amadu therefore vehemently described as false, all the allegations against him. On the other hand, when The Chronicle contacted the Central Gonja District Coordinator, Peter Maala he confirmed the meeting with the MP, but declined to tell what actually transpired in the meeting with the excuse that he could not grant any interview without permission from the Regional Coordinating Director. Source: Chronicle