There are signs that the embattled National Democratic Congress (NDC) incumbent Member of Parliament (MP) for Klottey Korle Constituency in Accra is going to contest for the seat as an independent candidate.
There had been speculations over whether or not Nii Armah Ashitey would go solo after he lost his parliamentary bid to Dr. Zanetor Agyeman-Rawlings in the party’s primaries. Already, posters of the MP are all over the constituency indicating that he was going independent.
Dr. Zanetor polled 2,403 votes, representing 62.22 percent as a against the incumbent Nii Armah’s 1,348 votes, representing 34.90 percent of the total votes cast.
A statement issued in Accra yesterday by the ward coordinators and branch executives in the constituency had announced the call on the MP to contest for the seat. It stated, “It has been very difficult for us to reach this conclusion, a full spoon of a good drug cures wholly and we do not want to take chances in putting our support behind a candidate who simply won’t be available for meetings, let alone organize and lead the party in the constituency to victory.”
It said the sign of the party losing the seat is eminent, stressing that “This will be a great punch in our faces since we have already seen the sign on the walls. Our party’s candidate cannot endear herself to the ordinary people in the constituency, which is becoming known to the voters.”
In the view of the signatories to the statement – Joseph Ayitey Yarnie for North Adabraka, Chief Alhassan Malik for Official Town, among others – the current candidate had refused to praise President Mahama for “the many achievements chalked.”
Nii Armah Ashitey dragged Ms Zanetor to court challenging her eligibility as the party’s nominee for the constituency when she was not a registered voter.
After several months of legal battle, Nii Armah Ashitey last month instructed his lawyers to discontinue the case after the Supreme Court in a four-one majority decision, had ruled that Dr. Zanetor did not breach any law by contesting for the seat.
DAILY GUIDE learnt that the embattled MP may be offered an appointment to calm him down and allow the dust to settle in the constituency.