By Newman Dotse

Despite the political machination, insults, ‘neck grabbing’, subterfuge and abuse of power, two political tacticians, Hon. Albert Kingsford Sumana Bagbin, MP for Nadowli West and Minister for Water Resources, Works and Housing, and first Deputy Speaker of Parliament and MP for Ave Avenor, Hon. Doe Adjaho, have scaled through the political hurdle by knocking their opponents out with thunder-bolt punches during the just-ended primaries at Nadowli West and Ave Avenor respectively.

Before the primaries, there were rumours all over the country that the constituents of the above named areas were saying that their MPs had overstayed in parliament; hence they would do everything within their power to get them out, forgetting that parliament is not a place for political novices.

It however emerged later that some bigwigs who were just jealous of the performance of the above named parliamentarians, decided to prop some young men to unseat them. The bigwigs, in their bid to carry out their hidden agenda, misfired by propping up ‘ex- convicts’ who were later on disqualified by the vetting committee, thus paving the way for the two political tacticians to scale through unopposed.

This reminds Ghanaians of the statement Hon. Doe Adjaho made during his campaign that Parliament needs more experienced parliamentarians and that it is not a place for novices in politics; hence the longer one stays in parliament, the better.

At Nadowli West, the entire constituency has 398 delegates. Out of this, 391 came out to declare their support for the incumbent MP, Hon. S.K Bagbin. By The Citizen Newspaper’s investigation, seven people who are sympathizers of Bagbin’s opponent boycotted the programme on the grounds that their candidate had also petitioned the party; hence they are waiting for the outcome of that petition before taking a decision as to whether to rescind their resolve of boycotting activities in the constituency or joining hands with their colleagues.

Hon. Bagbin in his speech said it was quite unfortunate that his opponent was creating the impression he had done nothing for the constituency and that he was incompetent, adding that false accusations cannot run him down. “If I am incompetent, the minority in parliament wouldn’t have asked me to stay in parliament as the majority leader because parliament needs me on the floor most, when I was offered a ministerial appointment. Everybody in Ghana knows my attitude towards work and they can never be misled by anybody,” he explained.

He advised members of the party to move on in unity to enable the party retain the presidential and parliamentary seats for the continuation of projects that are already in motion. He said insult in politics is not the right way to go, adding; it creates disaffection in parties and can eventually affect the entire nation.

He said, all those he had personally supported, who have now joined other forces and are suddenly directing insults at him, are still in his good books and that there is no way he could throw them out for the sake of the electoral fortunes and the growth of the NDC party.

However, the Electoral Commission could not declare Hon. Bagbin unopposed because information available to it indicates that the challenger, Roger Galee Angzagra, had filed a petition and that party executives would meet and review the petition and come out with its final verdict on the matter and right after that, Hon. Bagbin would be declared the parliamentary candidate for Nadowli West Constituency for this year’s elections.

By the Constitution of Ghana, Bagbin’s opponent is not qualified to contest for this year’s elections even if Hon. Bagbin decides to allow him to go unopposed because the minority can also make a case out this.

It is obvious by all indications that Mr. Roger Galee Angzagra is guilty of the allegations levelled against him by the Nadowli West NDC youth because The Citizen Newspaper’s investigations indicate that he was indeed convicted by the Damongo Magistrate court together with four other colleagues.

The ruling of Case No. CCB18/08/2008 clearly pronounced the four accused persons guilty as they were subsequently fined. According to the information available to The Citizen Newspaper, guns used by the ex- convicts in the poaching spree are still intact and in the custody of the above named court, with the names of the ex-convicts boldly embossed on them.

Sourc: The Citizen Newspaper (+233 27 731 4655) thecitizen.news@yahoo.com