Unsuccessful aspirants in last Saturday’s parliamentary primaries of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) are yet to come to terms with what could possibly have contributed to their defeat, two days after the exercise.
Gifty Klenam, Rosemond Abrah and Francis Addai Nimo
Yesterday, a number of these disappointed aspirants shared their experiences publicly, with some lamenting bitterly about the outcome of the elections which saw not less than 24 sitting NPP Members of Parliament (MPs) crashing out in their bids for re-election.
Key among them was incumbent MP for Mampong, Francis Addai Nimo, who is tasting his second defeat in a political contest after trying without success to become flagbearer of the NPP last year.
The man could still not tell what exactly accounted for his loss since he was certain victory would smile at him by the close of polls Saturday; but he lost to Ghana’s former Deputy High Commissioner to India, Kwaku Ampratwum Sarpong who had 232 votes.
Addai Nimo, who spoke on Accra-based Citi FM said, “I was surprised by the outcome of Saturday’s election in Mampong. I was hopeful of winning to retain my seat for the next Parliament so it was surprising for me.”
He however promised to continue to work to deliver victory for the NPP in 2016.
Grumblings
MP for Bantama, Henry Kwabena Kokofu, blamed his loss on the alleged sharing of cars by his opponent, Daniel Aboagye.
Kokofu polled 225, while Aboagye got 289 votes; but the former said the decision of the latter to offer cars to all electoral areas in the constituency influenced the delegates.
He therefore decided to wage war against what he termed ‘moneycracy’ in Ghana’s politics.
For Kokofu, who is a former constituency chairman of Bantama, he thought it was a done deal until his main challenger lined up cars for each electoral area in the constituency, swinging the votes in his favour.
In the case of Lower West Akim MP, Gifty Klenam, she was of the view that she lost because of the affirmative action which the NPP wanted to introduce in the parliamentary primaries to allow only women to contest sitting female MPs, a proposal which was later dropped.
She believed it might have influenced some delegates, especially the males among them, to vote against not only her, but her other colleague female MPs who lost in Saturday’s primaries, since they did not like the idea.
According to her, the proposal created a perception that the party was imposing female MPs on the people and therefore it backfired.
Defeated MP for Weija-Gbawe, Rosemond Comfort Abrah, who lost to former Deputy National Women’s Organiser, Tina Mensah, would not let the defeat go without a fight.
She indicated her readiness to challenge the results of the party’s parliamentary primary.
Speaking on Citi FM, she claimed the voters’ album which was used for the election was tampered with in favour of her opponent.
Tina Mensah was declared winner with 309 votes as against her 175 votes.
Interestingly, one Dr Dickson Adomako Kissi, who contested but lost in the Anyaa-Sowutuom primary to incumbent Shirley Ayorkor Botchway, is contemplating contesting the 2016 elections as an independent candidate in the area.
Dr Adomako Kissi, who lost by just 41 votes, fears the NPP will lose the seat to the NDC under the watch of Ayorkor Botchway, hence his decision.
But incumbent MP for Nhyiaeso, Dr Richard Anane, who lost to former Ashanti Regional Organiser of the NPP, Kennedy Kankam, said he had put the defeat behind him and pledged to support the winning candidate.
“When the people in their collective resolve have taken a decision, who am I to say I do not understand,” he told Accra based Radio Gold Monday morning while dismissing suggestions that there was a clandestine move to get all persons deemed to be ‘Kufuor boys’ out of Parliament and replace them with ‘Akufo-Addo’ confidants.
Fresh Girl
Meanwhile, the freshest darling girl on the block, 22-year-old Francisca Oteng-Mensah, who beat incumbent Kofi Frimpong to become the parliamentary candidate for the NPP in Kwabre East, has brushed aside claims she won because of money.
According to her, her well thought-out message did the magic.
Her critics have sought to dismiss her efforts in winning the seat, claiming that she had a huge cash backing from her father, CEO of Angel Group of Companies.
Francisca admitted in an interview that even though she had support from her father’s company, the Angel Group, her victory had more to do with her message.
“The other thing was about scholarships. I am still a student and so education is something that I’m very serious with,” she added.
“The last thing was about my salary,” she noted, adding that “I want to give out three months of my salary to the party…This is to cater for the welfare of the party, especially delegates.”
Newly elected NPP parliamentary candidate for Ewutu Senya West, Nenyi George Andah indicated that he nearly gave up on his desire to contest the seat.
According to him, the decision to quit the race crossed his mind several times in the heat of the campaign.
“It did cross my mind a couple of times especially when Abam Quaye (his competitor) was going around telling all those lies about me.
“I think there was a time that I called Uncle Kwamena Bartels and told him that: ‘You know something, I don’t think I am going to continue this thing,’ and he gave me a serious blasting but it’s all good. I think it has strengthened me,” he told Bola Ray on Starr Drive Monday.
Source: Daily Guide
Disclaimer: Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. |