A pressure group aligned to the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC), Democrats for Ashitey, has asked the Member of Parliament for the Klottey Korle constituency, Nii Armah Ashitey, who was defeated in the NDC’s parliamentary primaries in November 2015, to contest in the elections as an independent candidate for parliament.
The group believed that during the primaries, executives of the NDC schemed against Mr Ashitey to give eventual winner Dr Zanetor Agyeman-Rawlings an advantage.
It would be recalled that Mr Ashitey challenged the validity of Dr Agyeman-Rawlings, daughter of party founder and former President Jerry Rawlings, in court, after the results of the primaries were announced, claiming she was not a registered voter in the constituency – a situation he thought should have prevented her from contesting. But the court upheld her election.
At a press conference addressed by Chris Hesse, a member of the Executive Committee of Democrats for Ashitey on Thursday, 11 August, the group said: “We have gathered to call upon Hon Nii Armah Ashitey to contest as an independent parliamentary candidate for the Klottey Korle constituency. This group is a pro-NDC entity in the Klottey Korle constituency. To start with, we members of this group have printed several posters and pasted them around the constituency in an attempt to pressure Honourable Nii Armah Ashitey to contest. Please note, Honourable [Ashitey] is not behind the pasting of the posters, we are forcing [him] to contest. We wish to assure [him] of skirt-and-blouse votes, a vote for JM, a vote for Nii Armah Ashitey.”
The group further indicated: “It is obvious that Madam Zanetor has vowed not to campaign for JM because of her family beef with the party, this is a well-known fact. But, surprisingly, like the ostrich, the NDC party has buried its head in the sand, pretending Madam Zanetor is campaigning for…JM. For this, we Democrats are all out to campaign for JM and Nii Armah Ashitey.”
Source: Ghana/AccraFM.com
