NPP polls: My defeat was down to tribalism; Kotoku chiefs conspired against me – Quaitoo

The MP for Oda, Mr William Quaitoo, who lost his bid to run on the ticket of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the just-ended parliamentary primaries, has blamed his defeat on some Kotoku chiefs in the area.

The Chairman of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Education, told journalists on Tuesday, 23 June 2020 that the chiefs wanted one of their tribesmen to occupy the seat.

“There are several factors that come into play when you are looking for a candidate to represent a group”, he said, explaining: “One key factor is the tribal sentiments and it played in my area and I thought that candidates will rise above that”.

“I came from a very small area called Gyedem, only three polling stations, and it is the only Abuakwa town within the constituency".

“Since 1992, nobody from the Kotoku land has been an MP before and they [chiefs] said now they want their own to represent them, they want a Kotoku person to be an MP”, he narrated.

“I know a number of chiefs called some big men and said: ‘Since 1992, we have not had our own son representing us and we want somebody to represent us’, “so they won the seat.”