The grassroots members of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in the Komenda-Edina-Eguafo-Abrem (KEEA) Constituency, on Tuesday threatened to boycott the parliamentary election in the December polls if Dr. Ato Quarshie, the former Member of Parliament (MP) failed to heed to their calls to contest as an independent candidate.
According to them, the incumbent MP, Dr. Joseph Samuel Annan, who won the primaries to contest again on the Party’s ticket, will lose the election if the Regional Executives of the Party did not listen to their calls to disqualify him.
At a press conference to express their dissatisfaction, Mr. George Bentum Asamoah, constituency chairman of Abrehyia, described Dr. Annan as arrogant, disrespectful and an autocratic leader who since his election into office in 2009, had refused to work with the constitutionally mandated executives but rather worked with his own members who aspired for various positions but lost.
The press conference which was held in Elmina was attended by some past and present constituency executives and members from Komenda, Kissi, Brenu Akyenmu, Simiw, Eguafo, Abrehyia and Elmina who wore red wrist and head bands with some around their necks to register their displeasure.
The statement further stated that the Member of parliament (MP) had poor interpersonal relations, narrating a particular event at Kwesi Edum, a town in the constituency where the people requested that their school building be painted, to which the MP responded that they should look for soap, sponge and water to wash the building.
It recounted that in 2008 ,when Mr. Annan was not then known to the electorate, he appealed to them to test his capabilities but they tried him and realized that he is not worth representing them in parliament, hence the call for his removal.
It noted that countless efforts had been made to persuade the MP to change his style of divide and rule leadership but all had proved futile, and that the high ranking members of the party whom they called upon to intervene had also not taken any action.
The statement said if the MP was not changed they were ready to sponsor Dr. Ato Quarshie, a former NDC MP of the constituency and second runner up in the constituency’s primaries to stand as an independent candidate.
It described Dr. Quarshie as someone who spearheaded a lot of development projects in the constituency during his tenure of office and the only one who could defeat the New Patriotic Party’s parliamentary aspirant.
The group therefore called on Dr. Quarshie to respond to their demand within three days or else he will no more be considered as the ‘godfather’ of KEEA .
Meanwhile the Regional Secretary of the NDC, Mr. Samuel Adu Yeboah, in an interview said Mr. Annan won the primaries and therefore he will contest the elections for the KEEA constituency.
Source: GhanaWeb
