CPP woos Dr. Aubynn

? to contest for Prestea Huni-Valley MP seat

Information intercepted by The Chronicle indicates that the Convention People?s Party (CPP), desirous of making an impact in this year?s elections, has approached the Corporate Affairs Manager of the Goldfields Ghana Limited (GGL), Dr. Toni Aubynn to contest the Prestea Huni-Valley constituency seat on the ticket of the party.

Apart from the CPP, The Chronicle has learnt from reliable sources that a number of prominent people in the constituency, especially from the Huni-Valley and Prestea, were also persuading Dr. Aubynn to contest the seat as an independent candidate.

The Chronicle gathered that the Goldfields corporate affairs manager who holds three Masters degrees apart from his PhD, had become a hot cake for the CPP and those calling on him to contest as an independent candidate, due to his popularity in the constituency, especially among the mining communities who constitute about half of the voters in the constituency.

A source which also spoke to this reporter during his rounds in the constituency, that could boast of three mining companies and an avalanche of galamsey operators, said Dr. Aubynn who was also a former Ph.D. fellow of the United Nations University in Tokyo, Japan appeared to have become an instant hero in the area because of the way he dealt with the Abosso Goldfields (AGL) and the communities surrounding the mine.

Dr. Aubynn was reported to have exploited his position as a royal from the Daman divisional stool, which hitherto was occupied by his late father, to cement a cordial relationship with AGL, which is now a subsidiary of GGL and the Daman community, which move led to a successful resettlement of the later.

Chronicle also learnt from sources within those calling for the candidature of the corporate affairs manager that one of the problems confronting the Prestea Huni-Valley constituency was the mining activities, therefore they needed someone like Dr. Aubynn who had in-depth knowledge about the mining industry to lead them in parliament.

All attempts to contact Dr. Aubynn, an alumnus of the University of Ghana to either deny or confirm the alleged approach by the CPP and some elders in the constituency, proved futile. Unconfirmed reports indicate he had traveled outside the country on a business trip.

Madam Stella Ankomah, a leading member of the CPP in the Western Region and a former Member of Parliament for Mporho Wassa, however, confirmed the move to The Chronicle when the later met her at Bogoso recently.

According to Madam Ankomah who was in parliament on the ticket of the defunct National Convention Party (NCP), Dr. Aubynn had officially not consented or rejected their call. She said they were nevertheless talking to him still and hoped he would accept their proposal.

?He will surely win the seat for us if he accepts to contest because he is a popular man in the area,? she added.

Dr. Aubynn, a Wassa, was formerly working at the AGL mines site at Daman before he was sent to Accra to head the corporate affairs department after Goldfields Ghana Limited had annexed AGL as one of its subsidiaries in Ghana.

He had since been living in Accra but occasionally came down when the need arose.

The Chronicle is doing everything possible to contact him immediately he is available.