Majority of party members of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the WEIJA-GBAWE Constituency in Accra have registered their early displeasure, raising early red alarms ahead of the NPP Parliamentary Primaries.
The group, made up of mostly, NPP WEIJA-GBAWE Constituency Executives, Polling Station Executives, Ward Coordinators, are aggrieved over alleged subtle mischievous attempts by the CEO of the Coastal Development Authority (CODA) Lawyer Jerry Ahmed Shaib to bulldoze his way to take the seat from the incumbent Hon. Tina Gifty Naa Ayeley Mensah.
They are therefore making a strong claim that they will fight and ensure that Lawyer Jerry Ahmed is kicked out of the WEIJA-GBAWE NPP since he does not belong to the constituency.
The group claims that Lawyer Jerry Ahmed is using his appointment as CODA CEO to create confusion which continues to sow disaffection within the party hierarchy in the WEIJA-GBAWE Constituency.
Led by its main Convenor, Teacher Danquah and Co-Convenor Patrick Baidoo the group was addressing a press conference on Wednesday at the Silvia Executive Lodge located at Mendskrom in MacCarthy Hill, Accra.
The group stated without mincing words that the WEIJA-GBAWE constituency, since 2004 has become a stronghold of the New Patriotic Party when it was part of then Weija Constituency and has remained same from 2012 even after the Electoral Commission of Ghana carved out the current Weija-Gbawe Constituency.
Teacher Danquah made it clear that Lawyer Jerry Ahmed has never contributed or committed any resources whatsoever, in any way to the welfare of WEIJA-GBAWE NPP party people.
He pointed out that “Weija-Gbawe is not an orphan Constituency, but a stronghold of the New Patriotic Party with a sitting Member of Parliament in the person of Hon. Tina Gifty Naa Ayeley Mensah, therefore the political strides made in the constituency cannot be toyed with.”
He further accused the CODA CEO of stealing development projects executed by the sitting MP Hon. Tina Naa Ayeley Mensah to make it his own.
He referred Lawyer Jerry Ahmed and his cohorts to the Article 12 of the NPP Party Constitution which he argued is supreme above anybody’s interest.
He lamented that the moves by Jerry Ahmed also undermines the NPP rules and regulations governing Parliamentary Primaries, while at the same time undermines the workings of the sitting Member of Parliament (MP) as nomination has not been opened.
“Lawyer Jerry Ahmed does not belong to NPP WEIJA-GBAWE Constituency and also does not even vote in the constituency. Article 12 of the NPP Constitution states clearly that a person can only be qualified to contest parliamentary elections on NPP Ticket if he has worked in the constituency for at least 2-years and also if the aspiring candidate has a vote in the constituency he is seeking to lead.
Ladies and gentlemen, the Concerned NPP Members in WEIJA-GBAWE constituency wish to call on the regional executives to call Lawyer Jerry Ahmed Shaibu and his cohorts to order since their actions are affront to the dictates of the party as enshrined in the party constitution,” he said.
Teacher Danquah used the platform to also condemn secret meetings by Lawyer Jerry Ahmed Shaib with some party executives, coordinators and polling station executives to clandestinely work against the sitting MP.
“Jerry Ahmed thinks he has amassed enough wealth and has decided to channel it into a wasteful agenda to unseat Hon. Tina but it will never work. Lawyer Jerry Ahmed Shaib is not a registered voter in Weija-Gbawe Constituency and has not contributed in anyway meaningful to aid the course and growth of the party in the said constituency,” he posited.
Touching on the electoral records of the sitting MP Hon. Tina, the group recalled that Tina holds unprecedented electoral records from 2016 to 2020.
They reiterated that Hon. Tina Mensah remains the strong force whose efforts, contributions and electoral results in the constituency even frightens the main opposition NDC.
“Statistically in 2016, through the efforts of then Parliamentary candidate, Tina Gifty Naa Ayeley Mensah, Party Executives and our members, the NPP pulled a total of 36,803 votes representing 61.64% of the valid votes cast at the end of the Presidential Poll for then flagbearer Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, while then President John Dramani Mahama, candidate of the NDC in same election secured 22,398 votes representing 37.51% of the valid votes cast.
On the other hand, our sitting Member of Parliament (MP), Hon. Tina Gifty Naa Ayeley Mensah who was a very formidable candidate then and still, pulled 34,216 votes at the end of polls, representing $7.29%, by flooring her closest contender, Madam Obuobia Darko-Opoku of the National Democratic Congress whose party was in government and had all the state apparatus at her disposal. She secured 25,087 votes representing 42.00% (a clear difference of 9,129 Parliamentary votes not to mention the upsurge in Presidential votes that contributed to the electoral fortunes of the NPP at national level.
He added that the “Diabolical and detrimental political gimmicks being played by Jerry Ahmed Shaib, the CODA CEO within Weija-Gbawe Constituency must cease in the interest and common good of the NPP. This ongoing and unconventional style of politicking, we say is very despicable and breaking the unity, and peace we have enjoyed in Weija-Gbawe Constituency.
