NDC's Essikado-Ketan nominee Dr. Grace Ayensu Danquah blocked me on Facebook when I asked her a question

Joe Ghartey’s 16 years service as MP for Essikado-Ketan has been very poor despite his first term looking very promising.

But Dr. Grace Ayensu Danquah, the NDC candidate, touted as the most likely to unseat Joe Ghartey, also does not look ready for prime time: she often tends to use social media the wrong way.

Dr. Danquah has a Facebook fan page created in her name by some youth who believe Joe Ghartey has failed his constituents for the better part of the 16 years he has walked the corridors of power, not only as MP but as minister including being a cabinet minister.

These youth are lobbying their contemporaries to prevent Joe Ghartey from being in Parliament for another four years. The idea of “20 years is too much”, is their battle cry.

Even if Ghartey never promised anything, there was a mutual understanding among his constituents that once he always got a ministerial appointment when NPP was in power, Esikado-Ketan would and should see development.

Many have, however, been sorely disappointed.

And this is where the NDC’s Dr. Grace Ayensu Danquah comes in, but can she do electoral politics, especially against the experienced Ghartey?

Dr. Grace Ayensu Danquah, when she won the primary as the NDC parliamentary nominee, immediately started moving from house to house engaging constituents, providing health care for the aged, and even helping some communities with electricity, wherever she got the funds from.

The youth of Kojokrom, an important town within the Sekondi-Takoradi metropolis where Esikado-Ketan is located, appealed to Dr. Grace Danquah to help clear their football field and put it in a better shape.

She responded immediately and mobilized a bulldozer to the field.

But after some minutes of work having started, some elders of Kojokrom stopped the work. And need I say she was too slow in understanding who was behind this?

Interestingly, after every round of activity, whether she succeeds or not, whether it wins the hearts of the youth or not, Grace Danquah quickly gets to her personal Facebook page and shares photos, which are then repeated on the Facebook page managed by her fans.

She then announces more goodies soon, etc, etc.

But do these win the hearts of the youth? Again please note the repeated emphasis on youth.

The elderly are set in their ways, and the NPP and NDC have their core support base among them.

Therefore who wins the youth and first time voters wins the Essikado-Ketan seat.

The youth of Essikado-Ketan have nothing to expect after the election, frankly. They have 16 years of “no show”, “abontua abontua, akaraka chi akaraka chow” poliTRIKs as self-evident testimony.

Esikado-Ketan was created out of the Sekondi constituency and Joe Ghartey has been the only MP since 2004.

In all these, we have not read anything concrete - clear-cut policies or issues within the communities of the Essikado-Ketan constituency - and how when given the nod, Dr. Grace Ayensu Danquah will handle things differently.

All told, Grace Danquah is not measuring her campaign effort.

As a journalist/constituent who monitor’s Dr. Grace Danquah’s campaign, and how the youth who will vote in December, I wanted to read Dr. Grace Danquah’s policies for the constituency, but I found none anywhere, not even on Facebook where she posts regularly.

I then sent her this question on Facebook: “Dr Grace Ayensu Danquah, I wish you’ll win this year’s election to represent the good people of Essikado-Ketan. Now, can you tell us (constituents) what you have identified within the constituency especially Kojokrom, Ketan, Eshiem, Anoe, Mpintsin (that’s a place of interest to me) that you’ll be tackling first when you get our vote?”.

An opportunity that has been given to Dr. Grace Danquah to sell her ideas to the people of Essikado-Ketan, right?

But, no, Dr. Grace Danquah blocked me, without answering the question!

Does this suggest that she wants us to still do that base politics of sharing clothes, TV sets, standing fans, refrigerators, cash and bontua (yes, enema for obstructed defecation and egestion) so that she can be voted for?

Ok?

Bring it on!

The author is a journalist, communications and media analyst and a writer. The views expressed are solely his and do not represent the organisation he works for.

Email: paanyan7@gmail.com

Blog: ekowrites.blogspot.com

Twitter: @3ArthurAidoo