A leading member of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the Komenda-Edina-Eguafo-Abrem Constituency, Mr. Ebenezer Agyeman Kessie, says he was the surest bet to lead the party as its parliamentary candidate in the 2024 elections.
Mr. Agyeman Kessie has, therefore, called on the delegates of the party in the constituency to vote massively for him during the upcoming parliamentary primary in the constituency.
Speaking to delegates after officially submitting his nomination forms last Friday, he indicated that though the NPP government was in power, the constituents of the KEEA had not benefited fully from Nana Addo’s good governance.
This, he said, was due to the fact that the KEEA Constituency currently did not have a Member of Parliament (MP) on the ticket of the ruling NPP, but an opposition MP whose contribution had not brought the needed development.
“The MP position in KEEA has eluded the NPP for quite a long time and this is why I am fully committed to leading the NPP to break the jinx for the party so that all our polling stations executives could be happy,” he said.
He added that: “This is the time we have to come together as a party to win the seat from the NDC. The NPP is the government in power but we in KEEA are regarded as orphan constituency because the MP is not on our side.”
Vision for the Constituency
Mr. Kessie explained that he would prioritise healthcare, education and agriculture to improve the standard of living among the constituents if eventually gets elected as the MP.
He added that since the constituents were predominantly fishers and farmers, he would focus attention on their needs in parliament to draw the government’s attention to them for quick redress that would improve upon their plights.
No squabbles with other aspirants
Mr. Agyeman Kessie explained to his supporters and other delegates who followed him to the party office to file his nomination forms that he did not have any problem or issues with any of the other aspirants.
His focus, he indicated, was to win the primary to become the party’s candidate, so that he could face off squarely with the current MP, Mr. Samuel Atta Mills, who was also the National Democratic Congress (NDC) candidate for the 2024 elections.
Appeal to supporters
Mr. Agyeman Kessie informed his supporters that the upcoming event was an internal party affair, which required that campaigns were conducted on clean sheets to avoid further divisions after the primary.
“We must, therefore, avoid the use of intemperate words and actions which can break us apart after the internal elections, because we would need the efforts of each and every one to be able to win the seat from the NDC,” he said.
Constituency Secretary’s remarks
The Constituency Secretary, Mr. Francis Ekow Asmah, described the zeal and enthusiasm with which some aspirants had willingly come out to contest as historic and unprecedented.
According to him, a search party was constituted years ago to go round and look for people to come and contest the parliamentary slot on the ticket of the party at the inception of the 4th Republic.
He indicated that unlike the past where it was difficult for the party to find a candidate, about four aspirants have declared their willingness to contest the position.
Secretary Asmah said the level of competition among the aspirants gave him high hopes that the party has gained grounds in the constituency with an impressive stride which has made it more attractive in the constituency.
The Agyingo train and Merrymaking
Prior to the official submission of the nomination forms, scores of his supporters gathered around the Elmina New Market amidst singing, drumming and dancing to brass band music.
Dressed in beautiful white shirts which had the picture of Mr. Ebenezer Agyeman Kessie beautifully embossed, the crowd went through some main streets in Elmina before they finally converged at the party office to support him to file his documents.
After the filing, the crowd in a procession code name “Agyingo train” re-converged at the New Market where the procession begun amidst merrymaking and funfair before they were addressed by Mr. Agyeman Kessie.
