Regional News of Thursday, 29 April 2004

Source: GNA

Hackman wins Gomoa West NPP primaries

Gomoa Dago (C/R), April 29, GNA - Mr. Joe Kingsley Hackman, a 48-year-old lecturer in Building Technology at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and technology, won the hotly contested slot for the New Patriotic Party (NPP) parliamentary candidature for the Gomoa West constituency.

Mr Fred Oscar Abban, a tutor of Gomoa secondary technical school at Dawurampong had 31 votes, Miss Sarah Nana Arthur a former staff of the commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) had 30 votes.

Mr. John Tawiah Manful of Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) polled 11 votes while Mr. Alexander Kodwo Abban a final year law student at Legon had eight votes.

The National Organiser of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Mr. Lord Commey, who witnessed the contest, cautioned aspiring parliamentarians who want to use the name of President J.A. Kufuor to achieve their ambition to stop.

Mr. Commey said the President believed in democracy and the rule of law that was why he himself went through the laid down procedure when he wanted to contest the position of the party's flag bearer. He would therefore not do anything to impose a candidate on the people, he said.

Mr. Commey gave the warning at Gomoa West NPP primaries at Gomoa Dago on Wednesday.

He expressed concern about infighting among some members of the party over positions and said such behaviour portrayed the party in the eyes of its opponents as divided.

He noted that the party was greater than any single person and advised members to refrain from activities, which could make people see them as undisciplined.

Mr. Hackman in acceptance speech said he had offered himself to serve the party and the people of the constituency. He said his priority would be to woo investors into the district to help transform their standard of living.

He said farming and fishing activities would also be transformed to enable farmers and fishermen to derive handsome incomes from their activities.