Politics of Sunday, 29 March 2015

Source: Kofi Banzana

Odotobiri NDC members not happy with constituency chairman

Five concerned members of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in the Odotobiri Constituency are brooding over the election of Mr. Joseph Nimo as the Odotobiri Constituency Chairman nine months after.
They are still not happy with the chairmanship of Mr. Nimoh accused of being a jailbird and might spell doom for the NDC in the 2016 general elections.
Mr. Yaw Nimo pulled 311 votes followed by the then incumbent Mr. F. O. Ankrah who had 141 votes Mr. Degraft Kwa while trailed with 43 votes in an election supervised by the Electoral Commission on Monday August 25, 2014.
But Frank Odeshie Ankrah, Kwadwo Gu, Ohene Ababio, Kumah-Gyekye Bright and James Mensah have raised concerns in a petition to Mr. Johnson Asiedu Nketia and Yaw Obempeh, the NDC General Secretary and the Ashanti Regional Chairman respectively.
The petitioners in a reminder to an earlier petition last year said they are not happy Mr. Nimo emerged as the Chairman because his personality would spell doom for NDC.
They contended that the Odotobiri Constituency is a strong hold of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the votes of the NDC will reduce drastically because of the past criminal record of Chairman Nimo.
They blamed the District Chief Executive Mr. Emmanuel Dede Appiah for openly supporting the candidature of the jailbird during the primaries.
The petitioners argued that Ashanti NDC and Odotobiri NDC deserve better caliber of people to spearhead the activities of the party and attract more votes during elections.
The aggrieved group of five questioned the whereabouts of Mr. Nimo during the 2000 and 2004 elections and called on the National Executives Committee (NEC) of the NDC to cause independent investigations into background of the chairman in order to sanction
those who abuse the system.
Meanwhile, Mr. Nimo has said his conviction was 25 years ago and that he has since been granted bail. He said there was nothing wrong with his contesting and winning the elections after party executives had endorsed him.
Mr. Nimoh said his accusers are envious and maintained that even if another election is held today, he will beat all contestants.
According to him, the Odotobiri NDC constituency under his chairmanship would soon embark on the construction of a party office and that the situation is under control.