Minister hot over ‘lover’

Member of Parliament for La Dadekotopon Nii Amasah-Namoale is hot over mounting accusations from his constituents that he has nominated his alleged secret-lover and personal secretary, Rita Odoley Sowah, for the position of a Municipal Chief Executive for the newly created La Dadekotopon Municipal Assembly in Accra though she does not qualify for the job.

The MP is seeking a third term in office but the Rita Odoley Sowah issue has thrown his campaign off gear to an extent that he has publicly announced that he may step down as a parliamentary candidate.

He admitted that Rita had worked under him for several years but denied they were in an amorous relationship.

Amasah Namoale, a deputy Minister for Agriculture in charge of Fisheries, is accused of having used his position to slight other contenders for the MCE job so as to ensure his personal secretary gets the job.

Daily Guide sources from the constituency said tongues were wagging over the development and that the NDC leadership was unable to calm tempers down until the situation went out of control last Friday when Namoale and the leadership of one of the several groups pushing the allegations clashed on Peace FM, trading accusations and counter accusations.

Namoale confirmed using his position to lobby for his personal secretary to become MCE but however denied having any erotic relationship with the lady.

Sounding peeved, Namoale put on record last Friday during the Peace FM 6pm news bulletin that as far as he was concerned, Rita Sowah was the best person to become MCE because she had served him and the party “so much and so well” by writing letters and monitoring the receipts of scholarship beneficiaries.

On the issue of competence, Namoale said Rita Sowah was “almost a graduate” and therefore the persons questioning her competence did not understand the definition and meaning of the word.

“She is almost a university graduate so why are they saying she is not competent. Do you understand what competence means? That Obodai Sodja or whatever; does he understand what competence means. He should go and check her interview and see whether or not she was able to answer the questions that were asked her.

“Rita is not my lover. When you are working with a female and people want to destroy her, they start to say you are flirting with her. If she was my lover, I would beat my chest and say she is my lover. But she is not my lover. I work with her and she did a lot of work in my office. She has worked so much and so well. She is behind my performance in Dadekotopon. She writes my letters and when I give scholarships, she monitors and follows them for the receipts. She is monitoring my projects and my common fund,” Namoale told Peace FM.

He accused dissatisfied constituents of being puppets for allowing themselves to be manipulated by persons with other motives.

Concerned Youth for Dadekotopon, one of the several groups campaigning against Rita Sowah’s nomination for MCE, has however challenged Namoale over his claims that the lady is the most qualified person to become MCE.

The group’s spokesperson, Obodai Sodja, explained what e they found unacceptable about the development: “Rita is his girlfriend but our concern is not who becomes his lover or not. They are adults and they can do whatever but it is certainly not acceptable that when there are three well-suited and well-qualified persons competing for the position, the incumbent MP would jump in and start to lobby and push his own personal secretary for a job, more so when she simply does not meet the standards and does not qualify.

“We are disappointed and surprised at his behavior and have written to the appropriate quarters. That lady as La MCE cannot bring the development we have been waiting for all these decades. The MP himself has not done much and if God being so good we are now a municipality we want a Chief Executive who has what it takes to do the job but not an incompetent one who is being imposed on us simply because she is the MP’s favorite, his personal secretary and his girlfriend,” Mr. Sodja noted.