Four (4) of the five aspirants who picked nomination forms to contest the parliamentary seat for Ellembelle Constituency in the upcoming primaries of the NDC, have peacefully bowed out of the race to pave way for Hon. Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah’s re-election to represent them in the 2020 Parliamentary polls.

Their decision of opting out to back Hon. Armah-Kofi Buah, comes after the legislator’s acceptance to lead the constituency, following a mounted pressure exerted on him by the branch executives of the NDC to seek re-election and to represent the people of Ellembelle in Parliament in the next general elections.

One of the aspirants Mr. Kofi Anaman, reiterated that they pulled out of the race because they promised the branch executives that if Armah Kofi-Buah, picked forms to seek re-election, they would not contest him.

“we have declared our total support for him and we are going round to fill his forms for him and also support him to retain the Ellembelle parliamentary seat in 2020”. He added

The Constituency Communications Officer, Mr Kwesi Hanson, also disclosed that four of the Aspirants had donated their filing fees to the party to support its activities.

Earlier this year, Hon. Buah had informed the branch executives of his decision not to contest the parliamentary seat for a fourth time.

Mr Buah’s decision however, gave five members of the party the opportunity to pick nomination forms to contest the primaries, but some branch executives earlier also picked forms on behalf of Mr Buah bringing the number to six.

The five contestants are Mr. Mieza Alleah, Mr. Kofi Anaman, Mr. Obed Carl Buah, Mr. Joseph Meneabe Akpoh and Mr. Slyvester Enumi Cudjoe.

In this regard, some branch executives last Friday, organized a brass band music procession to storm the party’s office at Aiyinasi to pick nomination forms for Mr Buah to contest the primaries without his consent and later visited him at his residence to present the forms to him and assured the MP of their desire to support his campaign to win the 2020 Parliamentary polls.

Mr John Jerry Amoseh-Kwofie, Spokesperson for the branch executives of the party who joined a team of enthusiastic youth to pick the nomination forms for Mr Buah, described the timing of his decision to exit Parliament as premature.

According to him, three reasons have been assigned by the branch executives for their action to get the MP to contest the seat, win convincingly and get back to parliament to continue to represent them.

Among the reasons, he said, were that, the lawmaker had been acknowledged as one of the best performing stalwarts of the NDC, and consequently was recently declared best MP in the Western Region and one of the best in the country, and therefore ought to continue his good works in Parliament and in the Constituency.

In addition, he said, it would be in the interest of the NDC to present a winnable candidate to retain the seat won in 2008, and the incumbent who guaranteed that victory when no one expected it, best fits in that capacity to win the seat.

Mr. Amoseh-Kwofie further explained that series of recognition gained locally, nationally, and internationally through awards, citations, and acknowledgements that the MP was performing better ought to be rewarded by the NDC and Constituents of Ellembelle who will vote in December next year.

Hon. Armah Kofi-Buah, in an interview confirmed his decision to run but explained that he could not have turned down the pressure from the constituents despite declining initially.

His performance in government as Minister of Energy and Petroleum all contributed to uplifting his credentials, authority, and popularity in the Constituency, Regional level and at the National level.

Source: Blessing Roselyn Boateng/Editor/www.newslinegh.com

 

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