Okudzeto Is Hot

Even though the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) has not finished electing its national and polling station executives, 'Today' can confidently report that internal party politicking has taken centre stage in the part in some constituencies in the country. Sources close to Today can confirm that some stalwarts of the NDC are secretly jostling and positioning themselves to be elected as parliamentary candidates the party�s stronghold in the 2016 General Elections. One constituency, according to plausible sources, that will be keenly contested is the North Tongu constituency seat in the Volta region. The Member of Parliament (MP) position in the area is presently occupied by the deputy Minister of Education in-charge of Tertiary Education, Mr. Samuel Okudzeto-Ablakwa. The parliamentary primaries that saw Mr. Okudzeto elected in 2012 was contested by seven (7) candidates They were Mr. Christopher Kofi Eleblu, Mr. Emmanuel Kwami Alorvi, and Mr. James Cudjoe Agornyra. The rest were Mr. Lawson Kwesi Gakpey, Mr. Cosmos Etse Asem, Mr. Charles Senama Hodogbey and Mr. Christian Akaho Tay. Today�s sources indicated that so far all the seven afore-mentioned former contestants who lost to Mr. Okudzeto Ablakwa have formed an alliance with the aim to select one person to contest the incumbent MP in the coming parliamentary primaries. This paper was reliably informed that the contestants have tipped Mr. Eleblu, the leading contender to Mr. Okudzeto-Ablakwa who polled 111 out of a total of 405 votes cast, while Mr. Okudzeto-Ablakwa polled 157 votes to win the 2012 parliamentary primaries. The highly-schemed move, Today gathered, was to unseat Mr. Okudzeto-Ablakwa in the next parliamentary primaries whom the residents accused of letting the NDC down in the area. The residents argued that lack of proper planning and foresight on the party of Mr. Okudzeto-Ablakwa have accounted for the residents in the area to lose confidence in the ruling government. The residents, according to our sources, lamented Mr. Okudzeto-Ablakwa�s inability to speak the Ewe dialect. That situation, they said, has widened the communication gap between the residents and the MP. �Our MP [Okudzeto-Ablakwa] cannot communicate directly with us; anytime we meet him, he ought to ask for the assistance of someone to translate what we say to him and he has to respond in English which is not our local dialect.� ��but as for Mr. Eleblu he stayed with us all the time and he can also speak the Ewe dialect well, hence our desire to support him to represent us in Parliament in 2016,� some of the residents noted. Meanwhile, when Today contacted the Director of Internal Audit Unit of the Ministry of Communications, Mr. Eleblu, via telephone, he welcomed the decision by his former contestants and residents to choose him to contest the incumbent MP in the next parliamentary primaries in the area. But he was quick to admit that he was not aware of such moves by the residents, noting, �this is good news to me, because I have what it takes to address the hardships of the people as well as promote social and infrastructural development within the constituency.� Speaking in an interview with Today, scores of youth in the North Tongu District also expressed anger over what they described as �failed and empty promises� by Mr. Okudzeto-Ablakwa since he was elected to represent them in Parliament. For instance, the youth recalled the promise the MP made on an Accra-based radio station, Okay FM, in December 2012 that he would ensure that the Juapong-Adidome and Kpong-Aveyime roads are tarred. The North Tongu legislator, according to them, also promised to build Information, Communication and Technology (ICT) centres at Mepe and its adjoining towns to help the youth become technologically inclined. ��But all these were empty promises,� they expressed. Poor road network, lack of ICT centres and poverty, the youth mentioned, were some of the major problems facing the district. Former President John Agyekum Kufuor�s New Patriotic Party (NPP) administration in partnership with the Japanese International Development Agency (JICA,) Today established, started funding the construction of the 55-kilometre road from Sokode-Gbogame-Juapong through Abutia and the 13-kilometre Sokode-Gbogame-Bame road, which shortens the distance between Ho and Hohoe, and Juapong-Adidome and Kpong-Aveyime. The angry youth of Battor, Aglobakpo,Aveyime, Dodikorpe, Abuvienu, Dadome, Woekpui, Mepe, Volo, Dorfu-Adidome, Alabo, Amesiemekorfe and Juapong within the North Tongu constituency expressed disquiet about Mr. Okudzeto-Ablakwa for failing to tar the roads and also improve the livelihood of his constituents. Speaker-after-speaker thought that Okudzeto-Ablakwa was coming to relieve the people in the constituency from the wounds and burden that both the former MPs of the area, Mr. Austin Gamedoagba and Mr. Charles Sename Hodogbey, inflicted on them. �We have to change Okudzeto-Ablakwa immediately in the coming parliamentary primaries of the constituency because maintaining him would be a complete disaster for North Tongu constituency,� the youth told Today. However, according to this paper�s sources, Mr. Okudzeto-Ablakwa who was purported to have gotten wind of the possible move by the people in the constituency to change him, quickly arranged a crunch meeting with some top opinion leaders and chiefs on Sunday, September 28, 2014. The meeting, which was held at the palace of Paramount Chief of Mepe Traditional Area, discussed series of pressing matters including unfulfilled social and infrastructural promises made by Mr. Okudzeto-Ablakwa to the constituents. It also discussed extensively how the vote margin of the NDC was drastically reduced in the 2012 General Elections in the constituency under the watch of Mr. Okudzeto-Ablakwa. Addressing the gathering, the under-fire MP urged the chiefs and opinion leaders to exercise patience, assuring them that he and his newly elected polling station executives would work around the clock to reduce poverty in the area.