The Road to Parliament: Ebi Bright shares story on how she was accepted by constituents

Newly elected Member of Parliament for Tema Central, Ebi Bright, has shared the processes she went through to be accepted by her constituents in the just-ended 2024 general election.

In an interview on 3FM on December 17, 2024, the actress-turned-politician noted that her journey to Parliament wasn't on an easy note.

She explained that the members of her constituency accepted her after they understood the ideas she wanted to implement when voted into power.

"The political scene is a whole different conversation. It wasn't easy and simple to be accepted from the beginning. But at some point, people would request to meet and listen to you. Unlike previous times when they would call me and get disappointed because they thought I was going to share money with them because that is the culture.

"I tell them that is not what I am about. So I decided to stick it through and not take the easy way out; people would ask to see me and say we have a few things we would want to discuss with you. And that was when I knew it was the time," she said.

Ebi Bright added that her decision to become a politician was solely by accident.

"It was totally by accident. I didn't believe the political riot was the way to go. I had a very unhealthy suspicion of politicians and the whole political space. I thought that there was a lot of posturing. People will go and donate two packs of water, and a whole media would be there... So, I fought against that part of it. I was also media shy," she added.

She added that her mother, who is an active member of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), pressured her into contesting for the political party.

"Over the years I have done a lot of communication consultancy for the socialist align party; I have worked with the CPP... but my family is an active NDC. But I wasn't interested in active politics, so when the CPP approached me to stand in for them, it was exciting to think about, but the party wasn't a strong structure that could sustain a meaningful campaign.

"But somehow, through pressure from my mother, who is an active NDC member, I had to take it seriously. We went through the process of standing for the NDC, and fortunately no one was interested in the Tema Central seat at that time, so at the close of nomination we didn't have a candidate, so I stepped in," she said.

Background

Ebi Bright ran for the Tema Central Parliamentary seat on the ticket of the National Democratic Congress.

Bright received a total of 18,539 votes, narrowly defeating her opponent, Charles Forson of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), who garnered 18,421 votes.

This is the second time the MP-elect has run for the seat in the constituency.

Watch the latest Talkertainment on GhanaWeb TV below:



JHM/OGB