NPP Primaries: Parliamentary Seats not for Sale – Aspirant delares

An aspiring Member of Parliament on the ticket of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), for the Anyaa Sowutuom Constituency in the Greater Accra Region, Nana Ama Asefo-Boakye, has stated that the Parliamentary seats of the party are not meant for sale.

She has therefore appealed to delegates of the party, to eschew “selling their conscience” to vote-buying candidates in the up-coming parliamentary primaries of the party scheduled for April 25, this year. She said these elections and subsequent ones should not be for the highest bidder as if they were on auction sales.

Instead, party delegates should vote for tried and tested candidates, who have toiled and moiled for the party through thick and thin all these years, she urged. 

Nana Ama made this appeal last Saturday, February 15, 2020 at the Party’s Constituency Head Office at Sowutuom where she went to file her forms to contest that seat.

She maintained that whereas some of them had followed the party, right from those days when it was even seen as abominable mentioning its name, let alone joining it, others were cooling it off somewhere.

Strangely enough, now that the party’s status quo then has changed, people are trooping in from nowhere to join in singing the chorus with the sole aim of buying votes with money they obtained when away, whilst some of them; the faithful ones, back home were struggling to whether the storm in those turbulent days.

While opining that “He who pays the piper calls the tune”, Nana Ama wondered why people should sit on the fence in a wait-and-see attitude, only to jump onto the band wagon, when things have been normalized. “This must stop!” She declared.

CONTAGEOUS SLOGAN

Her slogan “Nana Ama Nie, Ayaa Sowutuom NIe, I dey for you” seemed to have caught up well with the people, as it was heard being shouted loudest during the float to hand over her forms at the constituency headquarters at Sowutuom last Saturday, 15th February, 2020, a day after Valentine’s day. “Nana, the seat is your valentine gift. It is meant for you for grabs!” was heard being shouted by some participants during the float.

Also, “The New face / phase of Anyaa Sowutuom, your personal person have been her auxiliary” slogans. According to her, this shows how affable she would be to her constituents when voted into power. 

SUBMISSION AND RECEIPT OF FORMS

Amidst drumming, singing and dancing, a teaming crowd followed the aspiring MP from quite a distance from “Chop Bar Junction” to the party head office at Sowutuom to submit her forms.

Receiving the forms, the party’s constituency chairman, Mr. Albert Ekow Sam, declared that the candidate had fulfilled all requirements and was therefore qualified to contest the seat.

Mr. Sam indicated that her records themselves spoke for her. He pointed out that the candidate had been a polling agent, an Assembly woman for Awoshie, a polling station executive (Delegate), as well as a staunch, long standing member of the party. While wishing her all the best, the chairman noted that, that seat had virtually been one for women.

ACADEMIC AND WORK BACK GROUND

Nana Ama Asafo – Boakye holds a Bachelor of Law from Mountcrest University, Bachelor of Arts in Communication Studies (Public Relations), from the Ghana Institute of Journalism [GIJ] as well as Diploma in Journalism from GIJ. Nana Ama has been the Managing Editor “Tourch News Paper”, Head of Public Affairs for Inter-City Coach Ltd (STC), Managing Director of Atinka Media Village, a media mongole and currently Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of PR & More Consult in Accra.

POLITICAL BACKGROUND

Nana Ama Asafo – Boakye; a staunch member of the NPP has been an elected Assembly woman for Awoshie from 2010 – 2014. Also she has been a polling agent for the NPP, as well as a polling station executive, mostly referred to as Delegate. Having been a die-hard member of the Party, Nana, as she is affectionately called, has followed the Party since 1992, and like a chip of the old block, she is the daughter of NPP Stalwart Iron’ Lady, Rosemary Ekwam, who once dragged an NPP 1992 Presidential aspirant [Candidate Kwame Pianim to court, challenging his legitimacy and capacity to contest in that position. The party was then led by Prof. Albert Adu Boahen of blessed memory. This case has become a case study in the Ghana Law Report as one of the locus classicus in Ghana Conditional Law over coup d’état. 

Source: S. O. Ankamah