Michael Ayinne’s crusade against drug dealers in the Tanzui Electoral Area stems from a deeply personal tragedy: the death of his younger brother from drug addiction.
The Assembly Member for Tanzui told Asaase News that his brother, who worked as a regional lead for a roofing company in the Upper East Region, became addicted to drugs and died despite the family’s efforts to save him.
“My own younger brother, who was growing up and could support the family in one way or another, passed on through some things like this. I never knew him to do things like that,” Ayinne said, his voice heavy with emotion. “But immediately those things started getting closer to the houses, and then this guy started.”
Ayinne described his brother as a hard worker who was responsible for managing roofing jobs across the Upper East Region. The family spent significant amounts at the hospital trying to help him recover, but the addiction had taken hold.
“When somebody gets addicted to those things, it’s very difficult,” Ayinne said. “He went off, could even speak out of order. Could get up. ‘Where are you going?’ He doesn’t know where he’s going because of this drug. But at the end of it all, the energies we kept in, we still lost him.”
The personal loss transformed Ayinne’s approach to the drug problem that has plagued the electoral area for decades. He began by identifying drug-selling locations, then meeting dealers one-on-one to explain the dangers their trade posed to youth.
“So for you, this is a personal fight. It’s not somebody that has told me to understand that drugs is a bad thing. It’s a personal experience,” Ayinne said. “And I think that no one should experience it again.”
The Assembly Member said his brother’s death showed him firsthand how drug addiction destroys promising lives and tears families apart. He expressed determination that other families should not suffer the same fate.
“If you knew the pain I feel right now, I don’t think you would like to go in there,” he said. “This guy was going to be somebody that would be of support to the community, and he was trying so hard.”
Ayinne’s campaign has included personal interventions with dealers, including confronting his own relative who was selling drugs in the community. After publicly announcing on the radio that he would arrest the dealer, the man disappeared from his usual selling location.
“I have started a battle against a canker, and this thing is eating into the community and is taking more lives,” Ayinne said.
Recently, the assemblyman led a group of community residents to seize drugs, arrest some individuals and hand them over to the Ghana police service.
Reporting by Mark Kwasi Ahumah Smith in the Upper East Region
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