Some residents and supporters of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the East Ada Constituency have vented their anger on their DCE, for allegedly working against the party’s parliamentary candidate.
The anger of the residents and supporters of the NPP followed Sarah Dugbakie Pobee’s radio interview on Radio Ada, that she would not disclose where she is keeping the DRIP equipment which the Assembly had taken delivery of.
East Ada, like most of the assemblies in the country, has several unmotorable roads, most of which need reshaping to make them better for commuters.
In the light of this, the NPP’s parliamentary candidate for the Constituency, Naa Dornuki Nortey, during her house-to-house campaign in parts of the 27 electoral areas, was not spared with complaints about the bad roads and what government is doing.
For the two to work together to win the East Ada seat for the NPP for the first time in this year’s parliamentary elections, some party members told The Chronicle that they contacted the DCE to release the DRIP equipment to reshape the bad roads in parts of the electoral areas where the complaints were received during the campaign tour by Naa Nortey.
The DCE, according to the party members, was emphatic that she cannot release the equipment until she receives instructions from the national executives of the party.
“Sarah refused to tell the party where the equipment were, because the DRIP equipment is not at the District Assembly. Is she [Sarah] working against her own parliamentary candidate and the party or what?” the party members queried.
Two attempts by The Chronicle to reach Sarah Dugbakie Pobee on her MTN mobile phone line on Friday were unsuccessful.
In an interview on Radio Ada’s ‘Mortu Kwala’ morning show hosted by Emmanuel Kwabla Akwesi on Saturday, Sarah Pobee confirmed the allegations by the party members.
Answering to the host’s questions on whether the District had taken delivery of the DRIP equipment and where they were being kept, Sarah Pobee, speaking in the local Ada dialect said, “Yes, the District has taken delivery of two tipper trucks, one backhoe, a grader and a roller but I won’t tell you where I am keeping them, though they [DRIP equipment] are in the District.
“I want to keep them away from miscreants who can go and remove vital parts of the equipment to eventually render them useless. You heard news of how miscreants stole some parts of the equipment in some Districts. I don’t want that to happen to us [East Ada District].
“I am waiting for directives from the highest office before I dispatch the machines to all the 27 electoral areas to reshape their deplorable roads.
“The electorate should be patient… they will see the machines on their bad roads as soon as the directives reach me. My engineers have inspected all the roads that need reshaping and very soon, they will some works being done on them.”
The District Assembly is a stone throw from the District Police Station, but the DCE insisted that the equipment was safe at its undisclosed location than at the assembly.
Sarah’s radio interview infuriated several of the indigenes who wondered why their closest western neighbour, West Ada District, has its DRIP equipment parked in the open at the assembly, which is a distance away from the Sege Police Station, but Sarah would decide to hide theirs.
One caller said, “The machines are for the people of Ada, which were bought with the taxpayers’ money. Sarah must tell you [the host] and the people of Ada where she is keeping the equipment. The citizens can protect the machines if she doesn’t trust the police.”
