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The ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC), the government of President John Dramani Mahama and the people of Ghana in general, should gird their loins for a possible re-enactment of the violent incidents that calamitously happened in Yendi in 2002 leading to the death of Ya-Na, and the on-going state of insecurity in Bawku, if urgent steps are not taken to remedy the rising ethnic tension in the Upper West Region. A press statement from a concern Waala Youth Association on the conduct of the just-ended NDC regional executive elections and corroborated by some elders of the party in the municipality summed up the brewing tension between the majority Dagaabas and the Waalas who are the influential groups of the region, despite their numerical disadvantage. Follow up investigations by The aL-hAJJ suggest that all is not well with the two major ethnic groups in the Upper West Region, a bastion of the ruling NDC since the coming into being of the 1992 democratic dispensation. While the Waalas have over the years dominated the political control of the region, the jinx was broken in the last regional elections of the ruling party in which the 22 year reign of a Wala-born regional Chairman, Alhaji Malik Issahak was ended by a 59 year old Dagarti farmer and businessman, Mathew Song Aabo. Alhaji Malik Issahak�s excruciating defeat, according to the Waalas, was orchestrated by some influential Dagaabas in the Mahama government led by Cabinet Secretary, in order to relegate Walas to the background, a charge Mr. Roger Ansonmwini has vehemently denied. Alhaji Malik has even gone to the extent of accusing the President of being the main mastermind behind his defeat simply because the President believes that he supported Mrs Betty Mould Iddrisu to be the running mate of former President Mills in the run up to the 2008 elections. �Me personally I would say President Mahama does not like me. Yes, I can say he does not like me, because in his last visit to Wa, he refused to meet me as chairman of the party in the region. He met everybody who matters in the region, yet when it came to my turn he said he is sorry he is in a hurry so we should meet in Accra. I can say he does not like me,� Alhaji Malik told this paper in an interview. Aside Mr Roger Ansonmwini, the Concern Wala Youth Association is also accusing two former Deputy Upper West Regional Ministers, Abu Kabiabata Kasangbata (aka KK), Kale Caesar and Dr Edward Dery of the PNC, as those behind the Dagaaba supremacy agenda. But, in a sharp riposte, Mr Ansonmwini, the Secretary to Cabinet in an interview with The aL-hAJJ rebuffed all the allegations, saying he never plotted with any person or group of persons to work against the Waalas. He said he had also heard all kinds of wild allegations against his person in particular among which is that, he and other senior Dagaaba NDC members distributed plasma TVs to the delegates on the eve of the Upper West regional elections of the ruling party two weeks ago. According to Roger, as he is popularly called; �If I have those kinds of resources�, and now that am due to go on pension; I�ll rather use them in my retirement. I am a public servant, am not a politician to be meddling in any party�s internal politics,� he stated. But, according to sources familiar with the ethnic and political crisis in the region, if the current tensed situation is allowed to fester without immediate remedy, the youth of the two ethic groups may resorts to the use of arms and violence to address the underlying ethnic and political problems in the region. �Yes, is true the Dagaabas are in the majority controlling between 60-65 per cent of the region�s population, but the Waalas are the most affluent and the most influential group in the region having taken control of the region�s commerce and business since time immemorial. �They had dominated all the facets of the structures of the ruling NDC in the region since 1992 when the party was formed and have worked very hard using their resources to fund campaigns of the party leading to all the resounding victories the NDC had chalked in the region in the past. �But the Dagaabas, who also have the numbers and have also been loyal to the NDC by actually doing the voting and ensuring that the NDC gets the numbers is also now saying they have to take over the structures of the party in the region from the Waalas since they have the numbers. �They do not understand why the key party positions in the region were going to the Waalas who are the minority while they the majority are sidelined. �So, in the just-ended regional NDC executive elections, the Dagaabas, to the consternation of the Walas worked and actually succeeded in taking over almost all the important positions in the party within the region and relegated the Waalas to just two deputy positions,� the source revealed. However, the Waalas are pointing accusing fingers at President Mahama and his Cabinet Secretary Roger Ansomnwini for working to re-direct the political arithmetic in the region in favour of the Dagaabas. They sounded the alarm bells that should the situation continue, not only would the ruling NDC suffer the irreparable damage in future elections but also the peace of the region cannot be guaranteed. A Dagarti senior member of the Mahama government who spoke to this paper on condition of anonymity appealed to President Mahama and the leadership of the NDC to handle the issue with tact otherwise the problem can degenerate and create serious divisions and crisis not only in the party, but the region as a whole. �It is true that there is tension between the two ethnic groups, and if care is not taken, the party in the region will collapse on our heads,� he said. He also appealed to the newly elected officers of the party to ensure that they work with everyone in the region particularly, the immediate past regional executives if they are to succeed. According to the statement of the Waala Youth copied to The aL-hAJJ, �under normal circumstance, the Waala youth Association would not bother issuing a press statement on the elections of a political party, but certain actions and comments before and after the Upper West regional NDC executive election which took place on Friday 14th November, 2014 at the GNAT hall, Wa, have made circumstances abnormal.� �Before the elections, the Upper West political grapevine was rife with rumor that a grand tribalistic scheme code named the �Dagaaba Agenda� had been nurtured in the comfy offices of the Roger Ansonwini in the flag staff house with the blessing of His Excellency President John Dramani Mahama, to, enable Dagaabas to wrest control of the Upper West NDC from the Waalas. As a discerning group, we chose to treat that rumor with the contempt that we thought it deserved. �During the election, two Waala aspirants won and that naturally set the alarm bell jarring in our collective ears. Immediately after the declaration of the results, jubilant Dagaaba executives, delegates, MPs and part supporters openly proclaimed that they had finally been freed from the shackles of the Waala domination and that it would take at least twenty five years before another Waala could become the regional chairman of the National Democratic Congress. �In the euphoria of what they see as victory, our NDC Dagaaba brothers bragging rights appear to have gone into an override, as details of their tribalistic machination unfold, we are begging to fear for the future of the NDC in the region in particular and the peaceful co-existence of the people of the Upper West region in general. �We are particularly shocked by the sheer ingratitude shown us by Abu Kabiabata Kasangabata who cut his academic, political and social teeth under the care and direction of various prominent Waalas but today conveniently become a cog in the wheel of the Dagaaba Agenda whose avowed goal, it has now emerged, is to sideline the Waalas in every single area regarding the region. Abu K K as he is commonly called has now become brazen in his boastful utterances to the effect that Mr Roger Ansonmwini has promised him an appointment as a presidential staffer. We are, however, not all surprised at Abu K K�s desperation to land another juicy appointment because in his four years as a DCE he was able to build mansion whose sheer magnificence influenced him to name it after Grant Hyatt in Dubai. This unabashed display of plagiarism is not all surprising about a character that has no respect for the basic rules of grammar. �It is alleged by the said Abu KK, Kala Caesar and their cohorts of political leeches that Roger Ansonmwini is planning and executing this highly divisive agenda had and still has the blessing of His Excellency President John Mahama. We wish to make a direct statement to His Excellency John Mahama that any attempts to appoint Abu KK or his ilk into political office would confirm his involvement in the Dagaaba Agenda. It cannot be gainsaid that for the past twenty two years, Alhaji Malik Issahak has been the social glue that has held the NDC together as a formidable party that it is in the Upper West region. In terms of awarding contracts and helping making good appointments, he has never played the tribal card. Sad to say, the new Chairman Mr Mathew Sung-Aabo is taking a first false step by pledging to rotate regional executive meetings among the various constituencies. �Coming on the heels of his riding into office on the wings of unabashed tribalism, this pledge to take executive meetings to other constituencies� smack of an attempt to perpetuate himself in power and further their tribal agenda. �In conclusion, we wish to appeal to those brothers of ours who see us as their common enemy to put the party and the region first and then parochial interest second. �We wish to put this message across that we are not sour losers; we are merely cautioning the party to nip this creeping tribalistic agenda in the bud before it destroys us all. We will not hesitate in our quest to secure and protect our interest in any other party that is prepared to accept us the way we are,� the youth said.