How Boniface unsettled Asaga

Boniface Gambilla, a former Upper East Regional Minister, is among the fresh Members of Ghana’s Parliament, who have made it to the august House through the hard way and though absolute determination and perseverance.

The affable Gambilla won the Nabdam seat on the ticket of the New Patriotic Party with 7097 votes against the incumbent National Democratic Congress candidate, Moses Asaga, who was seeking to go to Parliament for another term, after representing the people in the Legislature for 16 years.

Mr Asaga secured 6545 votes, having experienced the law of diminishing returns in his votes since 2000 when Mr Gambilla began to challenge him for the seat.

The ‘blow’ that unsettled Asaga’s ambition to join the club of MPs with 20 years parliamentary experience was the ‘reward’ of Mr Gambilla’s dogged resolve that had seen him challenging his defeated political opponent since 2000.

In his first attempt in 2000, Boniface Gambilla was defeated with a vote margin of 4166, reducing to 3223 in 2004, and finally to 272 in 2008.

“It was clear from the 2008 elections that my perseverance would pay off, hence my resolve to contest him again in 2012, and it worked out for me this time around,” Mr Gambilla told the New Statesman after the first parliamentary sitting on Tuesday.

“I have been blessed with a solid fighting spirit, such that when something is before me, and this is in the positive sense, and I have not got it, I simply can’t allow it to go,” he added.

According to the new Nabdam MP, his motivation to go to Parliament was not just borne out of passion for the job, but mainly because he considers parliamentary duties as “a hobby job”, apart from being an effective vehicle for community development.

Mr Gambilla says he brings to the Legislature effective contribution to legislative work, based on his vast experience from private, public and civil service work.

He also seeks to help his constituents out of their total economic dependency with the Nabdam Economic Empowerment Project.

The MP explained that NEEP seeks “to make interventions that will contribute to livelihood improvement of the people, who have suffered various kinds of exploitations in view of their complete economic dependency.”

The project, according to Mr Gambilla, takes inspiration from the biblical principle of teaching people how to fish instead of providing fish for them all the time.

On what he intends to do better than his predecessor, the new MP simply said: “I don’t think I have any record to break because we only seek to break a good record.”

While conceding that Mr Asaga had contributed a lot to the legislative work of Parliament, he was quick to add that the Nabdam constituency had witnessed 16 years of ‘leaderless existence’ from the point of view of the constituents, and in terms of development.

The new MP expressed gratitude to his constituents for the confidence reposed in him, assuring that that he would always be available to serve their interest.

He expressed his readiness to work in harmony with all stakeholders and interest groups in the constituency to ensure rapid development, and called for the support and prayers of his constituents to enable him serve them well.