Speaker of Parliament Edward Doe Adjaho and a number of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) stalwarts in the Volta Region have descended on Akatsi South constituency to campaign for the party’s candidate Bernard Ahiafor.
Reports from the Volta Region indicated that they had sensed that the party was going to lose the seat to Lawyer Evans Gadetor Djikunu who broke ranks with the NDC to contest as an independent candidate after accusing the party of shortchanging him hence the last minute push to convince voters to change their mind.
They were allegedly spreading cash and other goodies to voters in the constituency to enable the NDC retain the seat.
Apart from the Speaker, the NDC gurus who were campaigning in the constituency included former Roads Minister Joe Gidisu, former Regional Minister Modestus Ahiable and Henry Ametefe, the Regional Organizer.
They were said to be moving from villages and towns urging opinion leaders and chiefs to impress on their people to retain the NDC in the interest of the party even though they conceded the NDC had not done enough for the people of the region.
According to a DAILY GUIDE source, the NDC gurus had shared GH¢20 among all motorbike riders in Akatsi and its environs with the task to impress on their passengers to vote for the ruling party.
It was also alleged that a prominent chief in the area was going round sharing money to his colleague chiefs and other opinion leaders to retain the NDC.
In spite of all the maneuverings, the independent candidate says he will shock the NDC on Wednesday.
“The people have read in between the lines,” he told DAILY GUIDE via telephone and added “they cannot be fooled all the time. Every voter is becoming discerning.”
He said the people had become disenchanted because for many years the NDC had taken them for granted saying, “There are no jobs for the youth and the poverty gap continues to widen. They wait for elections and come to the constituency to distribute freebies. We can’t continue this way.”
He said the work the NDC had done for the people could not be enough judging from the unalloyed support the ruling party had received from the people over the years.
Mr. Djikunu said he had outlined what he called a ‘comprehensive plan’ for the constituency and promised to make agriculture, health, education, roads and water and sanitation a priority when given the nod to represent the people of Akatsi South in Parliament.
He said “the NDC launched their campaign on September 25 and made me their target, heaping insults on my person but I am not going to engage them on a platform of insults. I want us to debate bread and butter issues that are affecting the daily lives of our people.”
Mr. Djikunu said “I am not promising heaven for the people but I will do my best as a lawmaker to get their grievances addressed so that together we shall create wealth for the benefit of all.”
By William Yaw Owusu