Some branch Executives of the Tema East Constituency branch of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) are threatening to vote skirt and blouse in the 2024 elections if the party does not repeat sitting MP, Isaac Ashai Odamtten, as the party’s Parliamentary candidate.
On behalf of the executives, Joseph Sappor, of Tema East, warned that if that happens, the executives will also never forgive the current national executives of the party.
“Nobody fixes something that is not broken; our MP has not disappointed and because of him, NDC is back in the warm graces of the people of Tema East, what usefulness could therefore ever come out of a Parliamentary primary to elect an MP?
“All we are saying is that, we want our MP back on the ticket as our Parliamentary candidate for 2024 because he is the most winsome person we have had in decades,” explained Mr. Sappor.
The NDC is expected to hold primaries to elect Parliamentary and presidential candidates for the 2024 elections in May 2023.
Ahead of the primaries, there is some jostling going on in the various constituencies for the parliamentary ticket of the party because of the ruling NPP’s monumental failure in government and wide expectations that the NDC will massively win the next elections.
However, in Tema East, even with all the odds favouring the NDC, the party must play its card tactfully because for over a decade, the NPP had dominated that constituency until Isaac Ashai Odamtten burst onto the scene in 2020 and yanked the seat from the NPP’s Titus Glover.
“We know what it feels like to remain on the fringes of power as the NPP dominates our constituency. We tried many different candidates to wrest the seat from the NPP but it did not work until Ashai Odamtten came on the scene. The question is what will make anybody want to even contest him?” Joseph Sappor asked.
According to him, “all delegates in the constituency have resolved not to come to any parliamentary primary that the party will hold for Tema East, not because anybody will vote against the sitting MP but because we think it’s a waste of time and resources that can be reserved for the national elections.
“But if we do not turn up and the party tries to impose anybody on us, we will vote skirt and blouse; for our presidential candidate and against our parliamentary candidate,” he said.
Meanwhile, the executives have said that they have absolutely agreed to the earlier suggestion by a powerful man of God, Dr. Apostle Eric Emefa Agbogedenu, that Hon. Isaac Asahai Odamtten is the most winsome person that the NDC can offer voters in Tema East.
Dr. Apostle Agbogedenu reportedly said this in an interview with journalists in Accra, explaining, Odamtten’s vote appeal stems from his sterling performance both as a former MCE and now as an MP.
Source: ghanaweb.com / Kofi Asante, Contributor
