Month: June 2015

The Majority Leader in Parliament,  Mr Alban S.K. Bagbin, has described as false media reports that he visited the Suame Constituency in the Ashanti Region to campaign for the Minority Leader, Mr Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu,  prior to the New Patriotic Party (NPP) parliamentary primaries last Saturday.

“I was not in the Minority Leader’s constituency to campaign for him. It is a complete concoction. It is not everything you hear that is factual,” he told the Daily Graphic in an interview.

Funeral

He said he was not in that constituency before, during or after the election and added that on the day the election was held,  he was in Lawra in the Upper West Region to attend the funeral of the mother-in-law of the Minister of Defence, Dr Benjamin Kunbuor.

“The Minority Leader would have lost the election if I had campaigned for him because it would have given the impression that we wanted him to remain there to do the bidding of the majority,” he opined.

He would have been seen as someone we wanted to plant there to serve the interest of our side,” he stated.

Mr Bagbin wondered what the source of the false information was and said the media could have contacted him to establish the truth before putting it out.

It was reported in the media recently that Mr Bagbin and some members of the leadership of the Majority were in Suame to bolster the campaign of Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, who was facing stiff competition from three other contestants.

The Minority Leader won the election by a relatively wide margin.

Source: Graphic.com.gh

Member of Parliament (MP) for Wenchi in the Brong Ahafo Region, Professor George Gyan-Baffour, has donated an ambulance to the Subinso No.1 Health Centre to aid the facility in their health delivery.

The ambulance which was donated at the forecourt of the health facility attracted many residents who have been crying for an ambulance to save lives, particularly pregnant women who need immediate attention anytime they are referred to bigger hospitals.

Speaking at the ceremony, Krontihene of Subinso No. 1, Odeeneho Osei Yaw III, thanked the MP for coming to the aid of the health centre.

He decried how patients have to be transported in taxis and in ‘trotros’ during emergency moments due to the absence of ambulance in the community, adding that the situation was the underlining cause of many avoidable deaths.

Nana Osei Yaw also seized the opportunity to appeal to the MP to help them get a day senior high school (SHS) in the community to reduce the burden of students travelling to all the way to Wenchi to access SHS education.

He commended the MP for his excellent performance in Parliament and his contribution to the general welfare of his constituents.

On his part, Prof Gyan- Baffour disclosed that he saw the urgent need to donate the ambulance following several appeals made to him, reiterating that “health is wealth.”

The MP appealed to the authorities at the health centre to make good use of the ambulance and cultivate the culture of maintenance so that the vehicle could withstand the test of time.

Defeated NPP Member of Parliament for Manso Nkwanta in the Ashanti Region, Grace Addo, has petitioned the party for a recount of last Saturday’s parliamentary results.

“I petitioned the regional chairman. I was expecting that they will call me but he told me he was going to Accra yesterday, when he comes he will get back to me, but he has not gotten back to me” Grace Addo told Joy News Wednesday.

Ms. Addo lost in the primaries by one vote. She polled 215 votes as against 216 by the winner Joseph Quarm.

She claims one delegate voted twice against her, compromising the integrity of the outcome. She told Joy News a recount will put to rest her suspicions.

“If somebody did something that is illegal is means there was some connection” she told Joy News Wednesday.

She said following the elections, a delegate has gone on radio to claim that an EC official told him, the defeated MP actually won by 7 votes.

She said the EC official has since denied telling this to any delegate. According to her, the EC official maintained that elections are won on paper not hearsay.

Meanwhile, the eventual winner Joseph Quarm has declined to comment on the allegations, but the district electoral commissioner is not available for comment.

NPP Ashanti Regional Secretary Sam Pyne acknowledged receipt of the petition.

“We are yet to sit on it,” he said.

Nonetheless the party has written to the EC to preserve all electoral materials if a recount becomes necessary, he added.

He revealed that a regional representative to the constituency’s primaries also reported that a recount was done three times.

Boniface Gambila, the NPP Parliamentary candidate elect for the Nabdam constituency has said that the party’s leadership is becoming almost senseless, citing its recent decision to allow first-time MPs to be contested.

According to him, ahead of last weekend’s primaries, he wrote to the Party’s leadership asking them to rescind the decision but those calls were ignored.

On Anopa Kasapa on Kasapa 102.3 FM Wednesday, Mr. Gambilla argued that the party’s recommendations subsequently implemented by the constituency executives, didn’t make sense.

“I solely financed and built the party since the year 2000. Out of the 4 times of me contesting it was only in 2012 that the Party won here.

“All this periods, I solely financed school fees, funerals, and a whole lot.

“The constituency executives in line with guidelines wrote to the party executives. Recommendations were made and they ignored it; that was stupid behavior. “It is a senseless one.”

The Incumbent MP and former Executive Director of the National Service Scheme, contested with one Yen Sapak and retained his candidature with some 147 votes.

The defeated Member of Parliament for Ablekuma North constituency has expressed shock at the attitude of delegates whose vote against him ensured his loss in the NPP parliamentary primaries over the weekend.

According to him, he now appreciates the caution by a former General Secretary of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) that delegates must be feared.

Lawyer Kwadwo Owusu Afriyie widely known as Sir John declared that, party delegates are the next to be feared apart from death, due to their unpredictable nature when it comes to voting for candidates in an election. Sir John stated “fear delegates, not ghosts,” when he lost his position to current NPP General Secretary Kwabena Adjei Agyepong in the party’s national executives elections last year.

Hon. Justice Joe Appiah who is a two –term MP lost to the Women’s Organiser of the constituency Nana Akua Owusu-Afriyie polling 184 votes as against 315 by the lady in June 13 parliamentary primaries.

In an interview on Adom FM’s Dwaso Nsem morning show Monday, Hon. Joe Appiah stated that the results had given him the real “shock of his life”.

“I think I now understand Sir John’s fear delegate’s statement. Actually, delegates must be feared because I least expected that”.

“If I should tell the amount of money I gave them (delegates), you will be shocked but I won’t say that on air. My constituency has seen a lot of development through my efforts, so I still don’t understand why they decided to vote me out” he grieved.

Hon. Joe Appiah noted that nonetheless, once party delegates have made their choice he is ready to throw his support behind the new candidate in ensuring that the constituency develops further and also help Nana Akufo Addo win the impending 2016 Presidential elections.

Kwadwo Anim/GhanaMPs.gov.gh

Member of Parliament for the Asikuma-Odoben-Brakwa Constituency in the Central Region, Hon. Georgina Nkrumah Aboah has wished BECE candidates in district well in their upcoming examination.

Hon. Aboah advised the candidates to prepare well and adhere to all rules and regulations governing the examination in order to avoid any problem with exam authorities.

She gave the advice when she distributed 2,400 mathematical sets and pens to all the BECE candidates in the districts to equip them well to write their exams.

District Chief Executive for the area, Samuel Adom Botchway said they are hopeful there will be improvement in the previous results because one area they paid much attention was effective supervision to ensure teachers really prepared the students well.

“We went as far as paying all outstanding allowances to circuit supervisors and gave out money so they could repair their motor bikes to improve their movement. We are therefore optimistic that the efficient and effective supervision that went on during the last one year has helped in adequately preparing the students for better results this time, better than last year”, he stated.

This year’s Basic Education Certificate Examination starts on Monday June 15, 2015.

The students have been adequately prepared at their various schools to be able to deal with the task ahead of them.

Dominic Shirimori/Ghanamps.gov.gh

Incumbent NPP Member of Parliament for the Abuakwa South Constituency, Atta Akyea has won the Abuakwa South primaries by 331 votes.

His main competitors, Kingsley Agyemang and Kwame Boateng pulled 48 and 76 votes respectively.

Lawyer Atta Akyea will be in Parliament in January 2017 to begin his third term if he wins the 2016 parliamentary polls.

While some incumbents are retaining their seats, a number of them have lost – new faces including Kojo Oppong Nkrumah and George Andah have now join the NPP parliamentary candidates for the 2016 election.

GhanaMPs.gov.gh