On Comments Made By Mr Mayor Agbleze President Of The Anlo Youth Council

On Sunday 31ST July 2011, the media carried a statement purported to be made by Mayor Agbleze the self appointed President of Anlo Youth Council to the effect that the Council will not tolerate the imposition of any Member of Parliament on the Anlo constituency in the forth coming 2012 Parliamentary primaries and general elections. He claimed in his statement that in the past the constituency executives imposed parliamentary candidates on the electorate.

Speaking for the NDC which is currently the dominant party in the constituency, we wish to state categorically that it has never imposed any candidate on the electorate in the past and neither does it intend to do so in the future. Anlo constituency since 1992 has enjoyed political pluralism just as any constituency in Ghana. At general elections since 1992, political parties in Ghana presented Parliamentary candidates as well as Independent candidates to the people of the constituency and the people of Anlo always made their free choice. Preceding elections, Parliamentary candidates are made to present their manifestoes to the electorate during town hall meetings organised by IDEG and other NGOs. In 2004 and 2008 this was organised at the E.P Church premises in Anloga.
It is recalled that in the year 2000, from the several Parliamentary and Independent candidates presented, the people of Anlo constituency elected an Independent candidate Hon Victor Gbeho as their parliamentarian. In 2004 and 2008 among the several political and independent candidates presented, the people of Anlo elected the NDC parliamentary candidate. So where lies the claim of imposition of candidates. To claim that candidates are imposed on the people of Anlo constituency is to belittle the minds of the electorate in the constituency.
However, if the writer reduces his argument to the holding of primaries within the NDC party in the constituency, then he must know that during the 2008 Parliamentary Primaries, only two candidates filed their nomination forms for primaries in Anlo constituency. These were Mr Mayor Agbleze and Hon Clement Kofi Humado. These two candidates were vetted by the party executives in Anlo constituency but noted the following against the Mr Mayor Agbleze’s nomination forms:
1. The membership card number 11301 was used for two endorsers and so was card number 11530 also used for other two endorsers
2. One endorser from Fiaxor lodged a verbal complaint to the vetting committee that he was not contacted by Mr Mayor Agbleze or any of his agents. He denied ever signing any document for the candidate and therefore challenged Mr Mayor Agbleze for forging his signature.
3. Endorsement from party members for Mr Mayor came from only 3 Wards namely Woe, Dzita-Anyanui and Kome out of the 9 Wards in the constituency. This does not even meet 50% of the wards and branches in the constituency
4. There was one case of endorsement by proxy without any authority note attached

Despite these anomalies, the constituency executives forwarded the nominations forms of the two candidates to the Regional Vetting Committee at Ho for their approval. At Ho, a written petition was now received from the petitioner against Mr Mayor Agbleze for impersonation and forgery of his signature. Upon interrogation Mr Mayor admitted the forgery but claimed that it might have been done by his agents. The Regional Vetting Committee therefore disqualified him from holding himself for Parliamentary Primaries for the 2008 elections.
It is therefore unfortunate that having been disqualified, he is now turning round to misuse the Anlo Youth Council for his own selfish ends. His claim that the current Member of Parliament was imposed on the electorate is without foundation since in the 2008 Parliamentary elections, the NDC candidate Hon Clement Kofi Humado chalked 91.87% of the total valid votes cast at the parliamentary elections in the constituency. The question is how could the electorate have voted 91.87% for the NDC candidate if he was imposed on them? Why didn’t the electorate in Anlo vote for any other candidate from any political party or the Independent candidate? The arguments of Mr Mayor Agbleze appear to be borne out of malice and desperation and the earlier he is called to order the better.
Article 43 of the updated NDC party constitution is very clear on how parliamentary primaries should be held. There is no place for organisations such as the Anlo Youth Council to seek to interfere in such party primaries. They can only influence the electorate after the party has presented its candidate to the people but not before.
The Anlo NDC Executives wish to let the general public know that it is very transparent in its conduct of Parliamentary Primaries. As has always been the case, for the 2012 Parliamentary primaries, the executives are ready to register any number of candidates for its Parliamentary Primaries in line with the party’s constitution provision for eligibility.
No person should therefore seek to cast the constituency executives or the electorate in a bad light. It is also unfortunate that some disgruntled people should seek to work against the current Member of Parliament who was the choice of the people. The current MP should be allowed to do his work and bring development to the people until the next elections when he will submit himself to the will of the people.
We therefore caution Mr Mayor Agbleze to desist from such unwarranted comments on the constituency executives and the electorate of Anlo. If he wishes to stand for primaries again, he should be ready to do the right thing as stipulated by the party’s constitution.


Samuel Ekuadzi
NDC Constituency Secretary, Anlo