December Polls: 'Retire Joe Ghartey' - NDC MP aspirant to constituents

An aspiring Member of Parliament for Essikado-Ketan Constituency in Western Region, Dr. Grace Ayensu-Danquah has asked electorates in the area to retire Joe Ghartey, the incumbent Member of Parliament (MP) following his 16 years of service in Parliament.

The advocacy to retire the astute lawmaker, appears to gain currency in the constituency even among members of the governing new Patriotic Party (NPP).

But, on Sunday afternoon, the parliamentary candidate of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in the Essikado-Ketan Constituency, further hyped the retirement campaign when she engaged journalists in Sekondi-Takoradi to outline her vision for the chiefs and people of Essikado when she takes over as the next Member of Parliament for the Constituency.

She explained that her campaign to wrestle the seat, only aimed at rescuing Essikado-Ketan.

To this end, dethroning the incumbent Member of Parliament in order to save Essikado-Ketan Constituency from years of embarrassing performance should be the prime concern of all constituents irrespective of party and political affiliation.

"We can not continue this way, something has to change. Nothing has happened in the last 16 years", she lamented.

According to the NDC firebrand, the constituency which under normal circumstance, should be doing better, is currently at the bottom of development when one uses any development yardstick or indices to measure the performance of the constituency.

Explaining what motivated her to step foward and offer her self as an alternative leader to represent the people of Essikado-Ketan Constituency in Parliament, the outspoken iron lady noted "We have had one person who has been in charge of us for 16 solid years, who is asking for another four years, who can't even account for what he has done in the last 16 years"

Under the circumstance, she challenged the incumbent Member of Parliament to account for his stewardship following the number of years he has been in charge of the constituency.

"So if you can't tell me what you have done in 16 years and you are coming to stand in front of me and tell me I should give you another four years, tell me, what you can do in four years that you didn't do in 16 years " she questioned.

For the medical doctor, one person cannot prescribe the required solution capable of curing the numerous challenges confronting the Constituency, and therefore, it is time for the lawyer to exit, to make way for the her (doctor) to come in and offer an alternative solution to the problems facing Essikado-Ketan.

Displaying her knowledge of dexterity on local issues, interlaced with national politics at the admiration of journalists, she humbly quoted an Akan proverb "Nyansa wohoyi, wcnyi, nipa kur ni tirimu" to wit, wisdom does not reside in the head of one person".

Realizing how polarized the media landscape in the Region has become, and the loyalty connection with the ruling government, the university lecturer minced no words in drawing attention of journalists present at the press conference, to the development lacuna that has virtually been created in Western Region following the blind support being offered by the electorates to the NPP, and being hyped by the media at the expense of development and welfare of the people.

Consequently, she called for a paradigm shift among media practitioners who are professionally willing to offer an invigorated education required to change the mindset of electorates so they can select good leaders to represent their interest and serve constituencies and the region with distinction and humility.

She said doing so, would not only cast futuristic light on the professional acumen of journalists, but would ultimately deny incompetent characters using partisanship as their bait to power.