Thousands of supporters of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in the Chiana-Paga constituency have clamoured for the immediate removal of the District Chief Executive (DCE) for Kassena-Nankana West, George Nonterah.

The agitators have threatened to unleash their wrath on government if the DCE is not sacked from office within one week. Their demand comes after the Member of Parliament for the area, Abuga Pele, suffered what many have described as a “shocking defeat” at the party’s parliamentary primary last Saturday.

A number of factors, including an alleged conspiracy involving Mr. Nonterah against the former GYEEDA boss, are being blamed for the MP’s downfall.

The Electoral Commission (EC) declared legal practitioner Rudolf Amenga-Etego winner with 4,337 votes in a chaos-rocked election that saw Abuga Pele poll 4,177 votes and Jonathan Nyaaba 825 votes. This is the first time the veteran legislator has tasted defeat at the party’s primaries since 1996.

“The DCE was spotted conveying and instructing people to vote for Lawyer Rudolf. The DCE has not been helpful to the NDC party because he does not attend youth and community-based organised programmes. He attends funerals alone and commissions projects alone. He waded into electoral controversy.

“Above all, his incompetence is [seen] by the NDC’s national office and all constituents. We, therefore, call on government to strip him of his post within one week or face our wrath,” the angry-looking supporters said in a statement read out by their spokesperson, Michael Gantera, at a news conference held Tuesday at Paga.

Deafening chorus for Pele’s independent candidature
The pro-Pele group, said to be more than 10,000 in their numbers across the constituency, openly agitated on Tuesday for the MP to go as an independent candidate at the upcoming general elections.

The news conference came off after a number of the supporters had, during separate interviews with Starr News last Sunday, mounted pressure on the MP to go solo, saying his defeat was an outcome of unfair treatment from government, the machinations of some national executives of the party and the conspiracies of a number of notable figures within and outside the constituency.

Echoes of those allegations boomed in the statement presented by the group at the news conference. The angry supporters cited the months-long delay and the last-hour postponement that preceded the primary as well as alleged failure to inform the EC early enough about the election as some of the schemes employed by the party’s national executives to crush Mr. Pele at the primary.

“Indeed, the constituents are bruised to the heart, and wish to state in unequivocal terms that Honourable Abuga Pele will retain the seat in the 2016 general elections as an independent candidate to continue to pursue the interest of the people regardless of whichever party wins the presidential election.

“All committed and dedicated constituents have endeavoured to follow legitimate procedures to compel Honourable Abuga Pele to contest as an independent candidate and to campaign vigorously for him to ensure that he wins overwhelmingly in the 2016 general elections,” the statement affirmed.

Supporters hold rally for Pele

The supporters, a great number of whom were women, shook up Paga to the core Tuesday with a rally held outside the venue for the news conference, chanting: “No Pele, no vote! No Pele, no vote!”

They claimed Rudolf Amenga-Etego rode in the ‘cavalry of electoral fraud and violence’ to elbow his way through the primary to emerge winner.

Mr. Amenga-Etego, according to the supporters, joined forces with members of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), with several NPP members alleged to have infiltrated the NDC’s voter register in Mr. Amenga-Etego’s east zone to oust Mr. Pele at the primary.

The legal practitioner is also said have on two occasions incited his people at Kandiga, his hometown, before and during the primary to beat and hoot at Mr. Pele in what reportedly came to be unsuccessful attempts on the MP because his campaign coordinators were around to defend him.

“He is there for the people. We put him there and we are now asking to go there. And we believe he has a listening ear and he will listen to us. The majority of us are asking him to go independent,” said a young man in the crowd.

“What we the women in this constituency are saying is that without Abuga, no NDC in this constituency. Without Abuga, no vote! And wherever Abuga is going, we are following him,” Patricia Kubajei, a prominent supporter of the MP in the west zone, stressed passionately as voices of middle-aged and elderly businesswomen spluttered in protest in the overcrowded background.

Pele to go independent

Meanwhile, Mr. Pele has pointed out that he would go independent to satisfy his supporters. But he said he would not do so until some consultations had been done.

“I haven’t seen their statement. I will go for the statement. The essence of what they are saying is I should go independent. First of all, I will speak with their leadership and, then, sit with the community.

"But you can rest assured that whatever the people say is what I will do because they have made me who I am. There are several options we need to look at first. I’m sure they will insist on my going independent. And will rather obey my people than anybody else,” Mr. Pele told Starr News hours after the Tuesday’s news conference at Paga.

DCE, Rudolf’s camp deny allegations

Whilst the grief over the MP’s defeat continues to fan flames of accusations everywhere, the DCE maintains he has no hands in Mr. Pele’s loss.

“Where did they see me conveying people and which polling station did I send them to? Which polling station? Let them tell you the polling station. And they say I go to funerals alone. They should ask the Paga Zonal Chairman, Alhaji Seidu Adda, if I have not been going to funerals with party people. And they say I commission projects alone. I don’t commission projects. I have never commissioned a project. I repeat, I have never commissioned a project,” the DCE retorted.

The DCE, who was also said to have rejoiced at the MP's defeat, reportedly told a radio station based in Accra last Saturday that Pele "should now concentrate on his court matter". But he denied he spoke to any radio station at the weekend.

Gilbert Atanga, spokespersons to Lawyer Rudolf Amenga-Etego, equally dismissed the allegations leveled against his boss, describing them as “a fallacy of hasty conclusion”.

“I’m an experienced politician who will not endorse violence. Lawyer equally has been preaching 'no violence' in our campaign. So, who is that personality who attacked him (Pele) with the security personnel available? Out of the 800 people at Kurugu, less than 50% cast their votes. This was simply because of Abuga Pele and his cronies. They did it to us. We are the people to be complaining. We are not really perturbed if he decides to go independent. But it would be unfortunate.

"He should remember that he knelt down before lawyer in 2012 and begged. And lawyer came down with three of his vehicles, campaigned vigorously against the interest of a lot of constituents who didn’t want to hear about Abuga Pele. I personally was his campaign manager for the Nankana area and he won 95%. So what is he telling us now? He is ungrateful to Lawyer Rudolf,” Mr. Atanga responded, adding that the MP was only booed at Sirigu because he refused to answer some questions posed at him by members of that community and that the voters said to be NPP members on the NDC's voter register were NDC supporters once maltreated by Pele's camp.

Supporters threaten to reclaim party office

In what perhaps describes best the depth of anger in the camp of the MP, his supporters have also declared their intention to reclaim the constituency office he is said to have built for the party in 2012.

“Nobody is defecting from NDC to a different party. What we want everybody to know and have in mind is that we want Abuga Pele and that is who we stand for. Period. The constituency office was built by Honourable Abuga Pele, not the NDC party. The land on which the office is built is owned by Abuga Pele. Once the NDC does not want Abuga Pele amongst them, do we have a choice? There is nothing we can do than to change it to our own colours to support Honourable Abuga Pele,” the spokesperson for the supporters announced at the news conference.

The fallout from the Saturday’s primary jogs memories of 2008 when Mr. Amenga-Etego stood independent at the general elections after losing the primary to Mr. Pele in 2007. Rudolf had cited unexplained disappearance of names of 27 delegates believed to be his supporters from Mirigu, one of his electoral strongholds in the east zone of the constituency, from the delegates’ list before that primary.

He lost the primary amid unresolved protests from his camp, and went on to lose the main election as did Abuga. Had he not stood independent, the NDC would have maintained the seat that year in its stronghold of Chiana-Paga. With Pele attracting 7,380 votes and Rudolf 6,567 votes, the split paved way for the NPP to win the seat for the first time since 1992, with Leo Alowe Kaba obtaining 8,323 votes.

Many have concluded that 2016 will be an exact repeat of 2008 in Chiana-Paga, but with Pele’s supporters confident that, unlike the end result of the 2008 elections in the area, an independent candidate will capture the seat for the first time this time around. This is because the NPP, the NDC’s main opponent there, is said to be no longer united as it was eight years ago and it reportedly also has a camp sympathetic towards Pele. Local observers also have inferred that as long as Pele’s campaign team remains united and the NPP remains torn apart, Pele has the bright chances it takes to return to Parliament in 2017 as an independent candidate.