When my children were very young, and one asked for something, which was going to favour the speaker, the rest will start screaming “I said it, first, I said it, first!”
An interesting development has sprung out in the Ledzokuku constituency of Teshie in Accra. It is all about the reconstruction of the major road networks within the suburb and, an “I said it, first!”.
With the thirty-two years of the fourth republic, the National Democratic Congress (NDC), has held the Ledzokuku seat fortwenty years and the New Patriotic Party (NPP), for twelve years.
There isa culture in Teshie, that no one should be MP twice, with the slogan, “Ayaaa, shienyo!”resoundingly loud and clear.The only MP who was retained was NDC’s NiiAdjei-BoyeSekan. He was MP, in 1993 and 1997, primarily because the NPP did not contest the 1992 parliamentary elections.
In the 2000 elections, Adjei-Boye contested but lost to Eddie Akita of the NPP. Akita lost the parliamentary primary in 2004, to Dr. Gladys NorleyAshitey who went on to win the seat. She won the party’s primary in 2007, but lost theseat to NDC’s Nii Nortey-Dua.
In the NDC parliamentary primary in Ledzokuku for the 2012 elections, Nortey-Dua lost to Sena Benita Okity-Dua who went on to win the seat. Okity-Duawon the party’s primary for the 2016 elections but lost to NPP’s Dr. Okoe-Boye.
Okoe-Boye was retained by the party for the 2020 Elections, but he lost to NDC’s Benjamin AyikuNartey.
So, clearly apart from Adjei-BoyeSekan, any MP who appeared for the second time, lost the election. Gladys Ashitey lost, Okity-Dua lost and Okoe-Boye lost to fulfil the Teshie indigenes’ culture of “Ayaaa, shienyo!”
Teshie, a very important constituency to the NDC, always saw the most remarkable developments under the NPP’s administration. In fact, way back during the Busia’s administration, storm drains were constructed in Teshie.
During the PNDC/NDC Rawlings’ era, the beach road dual carriage-way was intended to be expanded from the Military Shooting range area through to Nungua, to ease traffic congestions, especially during rush-hours.
Rawlings decided to end the dual carriage-way at the La Scala area. It was said that buildings were ear-marked for demolishing to make way for the road. With the project which was earlier proposed by Kwame Nkrumah, the owners of the buildings ear-marked for demolition were well compensated.
Thirty or so years on, when Rawlings decided to make that dream come true, it was alleged that some elders paid him a visit and told him, that those who had received the compensation were dead and gone, leaving them with nothing. They were compensated. Then they went back to plead that there were some buildings, belonging to some important leaders in town, which needed to be spared.
Rawlings, then decided to just modernise the single carriage-way by constructing curbs and walkways. It was alleged that the Nungua indigenes were against the construction of curbs, believing that one day the dual carriage-way would be constructed.
Road networks in Teshie got worse by the day with lots of potholes making driving very uncomfortable. NPP’s President Kufuor came in, to start the Lekma hospital project and retarred a few roads. Fewer roads also saw asphalting during the Mills/Mahama regime.
Then came NPP’s Okoe-Boye who did lots of lobbying for the La Scala-Spintex Road, dual carriage-way to be started and completed, making plying that road so comfortable and safe. He started putting up street lights for the safety of the people and he developed the landing beach.
MP Okoe-Boye nonetheless was thrown out when he sought to contest in 2020. In came NDC’s Ayiku Narteh in 2021. Apart from constructing a permanent concrete slap over the gutter of the road linking Anumantu to Tebibianor, he did not seem to have any lobbying capabilities and Teshie roads kept deteriorating.
Meanwhile, in 2022, NPP’s Nana Addo came to continue the dual-carriage-way, on the Beach Road, this time from Accra to Tema.
When Okoe-Boye, the former MP, started lobbying for reconstruction and asphalting of Teshie-Inner roads, the NDC got hint of this and decided to embark on a massive demonstration against government for poor roads.
The NDC members hadnever demonstrated during the NDC’s Mills/Mahama regime when the roads were in bad shape. And for them, to demonstrate on the day the contractor moved on site, clearly showed mischief on their part, for government could not have responded positively on the first day of picketing.
Today, work is ongoing and everyone is very pleased and fulfilled, and Okoe-Boye hanged bill boards, expressing gratitude to the people of Teshie, for their support and prayers in the projects he was embarking upon.
Suddenly, MP Ayiku Narteh came out saying, “I said it, first,”with billboards thanking the people of Teshie for putting pressure on government to listen to their demands for good roads.On the billboard were photos of the MP with some NDC officials and supporters in red, around the equipment or demonstrating on roads under construction.
In December 2024, Teshie will go to the polls and be faced with two candidates hoping to be MP, twice. How will “Ayaaa, shienyo,” be made manifest here? Dr. Bernard Okoe-Boye looks set to come back the second time, with his clearly demonstratedpositive works. Meanwhile Ayiku’s campaign message is “I said it, first!”
By Hon Daniel Dugan
Editor’s note: Views expressed in this article do not represent that of The Chronicle
