Having experienced at first hand the debilitating challenges that stifle growth and personal development in Yendi, his birthplace, Manan Jibson left Ghana some years ago to the United States with a promise to change the story of his hometown.
From his base in the United States, the outspoken and social media active native of Yendi has kept in touch with people from his town of birth.
“I am passionate about Yendi and the people in the town. I want to be part of the change that I know will come to the Northern Region in the very near future. All the things I do for the people of Yendi are part of my personal resolve to bring development to this area,” Mr Jibson tells Prime News from the U.S., where he has lived for many years now.
Manan Jibson has been gaining a strong following for his numerous investments in development projects in the area. His following – comprising mainly the youth and some traditional leaders – has grown so strong that he has been contemplating standing as an MP for the area.
Not long ago, he gave a facelift to a dilapidated basic school block in Saboba, a small town in the Saboba District of the Northern Region.
Mana Jibson explained that he chose the school to foster unity between the Dagombas and Komkombas – two acrimonious ethnic groups.
“You see, the children of both Dagamba and Komkomba people attend this school. So, my motivation for giving the Saboba school a facelift was to tell them ‘hey, we are one people despite our differences'. I did that to foster unity among them,” he said.
In the many years that he has been away in the United States, Manan Jibson has initiated and executed many projects including the provision of school supplies for the Savelugu School for the Deaf and pupils of Ti Naa Yakuba JHS in Yendi, the Provision of many wheelchairs for disabled persons at Savelugu, and a complete makeover of the exterior of the Yendi Hospital.
That is not all, Manan Jibson is known to constantly foot the hospital bills and cost of medicine for patients in Saboba and surrounding communities – most of whom he has never seen before.
Last year, he supplied water to the people of Demong after a simple phone call from opinion leaders in the town.
Perhaps his most transformative intervention so far is the creation of the Women Empowerment Free Fashion School at Yendi. Manan Jibson hopes to combat the phenomenon of a huge number of young girls migrating from Yendi to Accra to become head porters or what is commonly called ‘Kayayo’.
“I think the Kayayo phenomenon is a demeaning thing. I don’t think any human, rich or poor, must carry such heavy loads on their heads to be able to get money to eat. I am hoping that this Fashion School will keep our young ladies in Yendi and its environs,” he explains.
The concept of the free Fashion School is simple: Any young girl in Yendi who wants to learn Fashion Design should just enroll free of charge.
“When the numbers increase, we will expand facilities. Now I am paying for everything. The machines and everything. But when the numbers become so huge that we need more facilities, I am sure there are like-minded people out there who would like to help,” he says.
Manan Jibson will most likely contest the upcoming parliamentary contest for Yendi as an independent candidate, after stepping back in the last election.
Many opinion leaders in the various towns in Yendi who know about the quiet but powerful support Mr Jibson is providing feel residents must not lose the opportunity to get him to win as legislator when he stands in 2024.
Manan Jibson has said that when he decides to contest as MP in the next election, he will stand as an independent candidate because both the governing NPP and main opposition NDC have failed the people in the conflict-ravaged Yendi.
One of the key setbacks in his political ambition, Mr Jibson observes, is the political culture of vote-buying – usually with very meagre items. Manan Jibson believes being an impoverished area, many voters are wont to accept rice, cooking oil and other food items from politicians in exchange for their votes.
“People of Yendi must avoid receiving meagre gifts and look for better a future. Insignificant gifts like cash, bags of rice, sugar and many more won’t solve the problem in Yendi. The people of Yendi must instead elect someone who can create a better future for them,” Mr Jibson sounded passionate when he said this.
He has big plans for the people if, given the nod, he says.
“I want to build a lot of industries. I have a plan to bring viable industries – small scale industries but very viable – to the communities if I have the chance to push things in Parliament for the people of Yendi,” he tells Prime News.
He said industries that are specific to the natural resources of Yendi – like a meat processing factory – are key to employment and improving the livelihoods of the people of Yendi.
“There are numerous tourist attractions in Yendi and its environs that people don’t even know about,” he said, adding “I will make this one of my big priorities if I get the chance to lobby at a national level.” One of his tourism-boosting initiatives, he reveals, will be the establishment of a world-class cultural centre.
“We have a lot of good things here in Yendi. Do you know you can process diesel from shea butter? I am in talks with some people who tell me, with the abundance of shea butter in Yendi and the Northern Region in general, we can easily set up a factory that will produce biodiesel from shea butter, and I want to make this one of the key things,” he reveals.
Development experts in Ghana believe a lack of political will – and recurrent conflicts – are among the reasons Yendi and other areas in the north of Ghana are impoverished, but will the people of Yendi give Manan Jibson the chance to transform the rich but deprived land?
Time will tell.