Bismark Tetteh poised to reclaim Upper Manya seat for NDC despite ‘defections’

NDC’s parliamentary candidate for the 2020 parliamentary elections, Bismark Tetteh Nyarko said on Saturday he was confident of beating incumbent Joseph Tetteh to reclaim the seat his party lost to the New Patriotic Party in the 2016 parliamentary elections, despite the apparent disloyalty of some party members.

Shrugging off suggestions of a possible effect of the actions of the former executives of his party to switch camp to his opponents on his chances, Bismark Tetteh Nyarko, a first time contender for the seat said the true members of the NDC will always live with the party, adding that people who walk out of the party cannot claim to be true members.

“NDC in Upper Manya Krobo is the party for the people and anybody who really belongs to the NDC will never jump to another party. Those who claim they are for another party are actually for another party and not for us,” he said.

The NDC surprisingly lost the Upper Manya Krobo seat which it had held since 1992 by over 3000 votes to the NPP in the last general elections due largely to disgruntled members of the party failing to vote for the then incumbent MP for the area, Jeff Kavienu.

Some former executive members of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in Upper Manya Krobo in June, 2020 announced their decision to join forces with the New Patriotic Party (NPP) to ensure victory for its parliamentary candidate and incumbent Member of Parliament (MP) for the area, Joseph Tetteh.

The NDC members including former assembly members, branch and constituency executives announced their move at the MP’s acclamation as the NPP’s parliamentary candidate in the December polls on Saturday, 20th June 2020 at Asesewa.

They cited the “good works” of Mr Tetteh as having inspired and encouraged them to rally behind him for a successful second term bid.

The decision, according to the members, was influenced by the MP’s impeccable performance as a legislator in his short stint as the people’s representative in the august house of parliament which were all evidence of good governance.

The NDC members who maintained that they were still members of the party and had not defected to the NPP however reiterated their unflinching resolve to ensure victory for the NPP’s parliamentary candidate.

But reacting to this apparent disloyalty shown him and the NDC, the aspiring legislator labelled some of the defectors who have thrown their weight behind the current MP as devotees of the former NDC Member of Parliament for the area, Jeff Kavienu, adding that the doors of the party were always open to anybody who want to walk in or out of the party.

“If honourable Jeff Kavienu who is an NDC MP will allow his boys to go campaign for the NPP then his boys are telling the whole world that he himself is for the NPP. If that’s what they want, then they have to go.

“Nobody writes an application to join a party, we all walk in willingly so the same way you walk in, the same way you can walk out,” the NDC MP emphasized.

According to the parliamentary candidate, some elders of the party intervened to try and address any concerns of the “defectors” but they were met with extraneous demands from them before pledging their allegiance to the party, a demand he refused to honour and hence the actions of the individuals in question.

The doors of the party, he said, were always opened for the return of the disloyal members though he said, “the party can’t build a house for them to return to.”

He said it was time for the youth of the NDC to take up the party in their hands for the development of Upper Manya Krobo.

Accusations against NPP of bussing non-residents to registration centers

He accused the sitting Member of Parliament, Joseph Tetteh of using the official vehicle of the District Chief Executive for the area in transporting non-residents from Okere, New Juaben, Lower Manya Krobo and Fanteakwa to the house of the NPP chairman to register in the constituency.

Mr. Tetteh Nyarko questioned the legislator’s actions if he believed he had served the people well and was thus confident of victory once again.

To him, the current lawmaker on the ticket of the NPP was not qualified to continue in his role as MP after resigning his position as a Deputy Eastern Regional Minister.

“This is the position [Deputy Eastern Regional Minister] that the people want to help our people, you have gotten it and just ran away and you want another four years for what, what else would you do?” he quizzed.