A 17-member Zongo Caucus has been inaugurated by the leadership of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) in the Volta Region with the aim to bring Muslim societies closer to the party in the region.

These newly-assigned members are drawn from all the constituencies of the region and led by the Volta Regional Zongo Caucus Coordinator, Hajia Hawa Tahiru.

Briefing the media after a short induction ceremony held at the party headquarters in Ho, the Volta Regional Secretary of the NDC, Mr James Gunu, explained that Muslim communities across the country were recognised under the leadership of former Presidents Jerry John Rawlings and John Mahama.

However, he claimed Zongo communities have been ignored by the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP). 

"When you mention NDC, NDC is Zongo and Zongo is NDC. We [NDC] declared their [Muslim] festivals republic holidays under President Rawlings, and under President Mahama. We worked closely with the Zongos unlike what the NPP is doing today deceiving them," he said.

In 2017, President Nana Akufo-Addo created the Ministry of Inner-cities and Zongo Development as well as the Zongo Development Fund, both aimed at developing Zongo communities but Mr Gunu insists that the interventions by the NPP are just tricks to hoodwink Muslims into voting for the NPP in the next elections.

"The NPP [is] deceiving them [with] a Zongo Development Fund, which, for three years now, there hasn't been anything of the sort. Zongo Ministry has been established which is still hanging in Accra and people are not feeling the impact in the Zongos," he stated. 

The Zongo Caucus Coordinator, Hajia Hawa Tahiru, for her part, charged the Zongo communities to work harder to win back power for the NDC in 2020.

“It is time for the Zongos to come out to vote for the NDC because we have not seen anything [under the current government]. The NPP, our opponents, are saying that they are going to form the Zongo Development Fund but we don't know what they are saying. Since they came to power, almost three years going to four years, we have not seen anything. The Zongos are ready to come out to work for the NDC party to come to power in 2020," she declared. 

The committee members have been tasked to mobilise their communities to join the NDC. They were also assigned duties to inaugurate Zongo Caucus groups at their various constituencies and to spearhead NDC campaign activities in the region.