MP Saad addressing supporters at campaign launch
The incumbent Member of Parliament (MP) for Bortianor-Ngleshie-Amanfro Constituency, Habib Saad, last Thursday, filed his nomination to ward off competition from four aspirants who sought to challenge his incumbency in the upcoming New Patriotic Party (NPP) primaries.
The first term MP who broke the jinx of the constituency being an orphan constituency to the party was facing opposition from the former NPP parliamentary candidate for Prampram who happened to be the head of the National Youth Authority (NYA), Sylvester Mathew Tetteh.
Other contenders include the Director of Information Technology (IT) at the Youth Employment Agency, Frederick Abban, a former polling station executive and a teacher by profession, Gifty Mensah and George Osei Wadee.
Speaking at his campaign launch, the MP warned against the dangers of bringing “outsiders” to contest for the seat, especially when the seat had been an orphan seat for the NPP.
“If we are not careful and we go for someone who is not even a delegate here, we may not be able to retain our seat. We need a local person, someone who is a delegate and possibly a polling station executive. It was through this process that I became an MP, as I was then a polling station chairman.” he said.
He enumerated some achievements in his first term of office to include providing educational support by paying of fees, building of three six-classroom blocks at various locations, extending water supply lines and electricity lines to some communities, established a CHP compound for Oshiyie among other initiatives.
In an interview with DAILY GUIDE on Tuesday, Mr Abban expressed his desire of serving his constituency beyond passing legislations, to making available the right networks and connections to pull together the resources to embark on initiatives that would improve lives of constituents.
An aspirant, Mrs. Mensah in an interview on Thursday, believed that politics as a social contract required that leaders were given the nod to lead with the mindset of helping followers.
She therefore expressed worry at the low improvement level of constituents whose lives had not changed over the past years due to lack of data on electorates, ineffective planning and disproportionate distribution of resources.
The Municipal Chief Executive of Ga South Municipal Assembly, Joseph Nyarni who was a former constituency chairman, expressed worry about the level of recklessness in campaigning that had engulfed the party in the constituency.
He called for sanity among all members in order to maintain the love and unity that had been the hallmark of NPP in the Bortianor-Ngleshie-Amanfro Constituency over the years.
By Issah Mohammed