Manya Krobo NPP finds a ?David? to deal with NDC

The New Patriotic Party (NPP) has declared that, after the chains of electoral losses it has suffered in the Lower Manya Krobo constituency in the Eastern Region, it has now found a ?David? who has what it takes to floor any ?Goliath? that would come its way in this year?s general election. The party, therefore, gave every assurance that the political myth surrounding it in the three constituencies in the Kroboland (Upper Manya, Lower Manya and Yilo), would be broken, come December, this year, and that the people would, for once, be ?liberated? and given Danquah/Busia representation in Parliament.

Nana Adi Ankamah, the party?s Eastern Regional Chairman, made the declaration at Kpong on Sunday, when he addressed a mammoth crowd of supporters that converged to catch a glimpse of their newfound parliamentary candidate, Mrs. Difie Dedo Agyarko Kusi.

According to Nana Ankamah, the rather smallish stature of the candidate, coupled with her rich credentials and work experience on the international scene, automatically fixed her into the battle dress of the biblical David, who proved the bookmakers of his time wrong and defeated the much dreaded Goliath, thereby changing the course of history for the people of Israel.

He debunked the traditional rumours peddled in the area by the National Democratic Congress (NDC) that an NPP-led government would take away Krobo lands and give them to adjacent Akan-speaking tribes.

Instead, he said the Kufuor government had done a lot to honour the people in the area in terms of appointments to key positions. The regional chairman, at that juncture, called out from the seated audience, His Excellency Col. (Rtd.) Lawrence Kpabitey Kudjiku, Ghana?s Ambassador to Israel, to greet the teeming crowd, many of who had not seen him since his appointment.

Nana set the arena ablaze when he asked rhetorically, if the NDC-led government claimed its financial legacy was what this government inherited to finance the numerous projects being undertaken in the country, ?then why did we go into HIPC??

Ambassador Kudjiku told the party supporters that he had prayed for the constituency before he emplaned from Tel Aviv for Ghana, and stressed he was sure that God would answer that prayer and give the party a resounding victory in the constituency this year.

The outdooring ceremony, which eventually turned into a mass rally, attracted a cr?me of the NPP hierarchy to Kpong last Sunday.

Miss Gloria Afua Ayongo Akuffo, deputy Attorney General and parliamentary aspirant in the Shai/Osudoku constituency, in her address, said creation was incomplete without woman, and as God found it expedient to include woman to perfect creation, so was politics incomplete without a woman, whom she described as ?the milk of nature and shade to all mankind.?

The firebrand politician asked the people to rally behind their brand new candidate, Dedo, by bringing more NDC converts into the fold.

According to her, the NDC is now a dead party, and its members, who have naturally become orphans, must be adopted into the NPP family and given the necessary parental care befitting orphans.

Candidate Dedo (the ?David? of Manya Krobo) is a 54-year old lawyer, who hails from Otrokper in the middle belt of the district. She attended Wesley Girls College and read French at the University of Ghana, where she had a B.A (Hons.).

Then in France, she obtained her Masters Degree in Law.

Being a multi-linguist who could read and write French, Spanish and Russian, Dedo became deputy Ghana?s Ambassador to France and, also along the line, worked with the International Court of Justice.

She is married and has three children. The first, (30), is with the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), the second (27), is a software engineer while the youngest (23,) had just finished law school.

As part of her CV, Dedo and her husband, also a lawyer, run a consultancy firm known as Law and Law International. She is currently a member of the Ghana Education Service (GES) Council.

Responding to cheers after her long CV was read, the candidate hinted that she joined active politics because she thought the many women in her area roaming the streets did not deserve to be there, and needed to be helped out. ?They do not belong there. There is a way out,? she told the crowd before jumping into her sleek metallic wine Nissan Patrol. There was drumming and dancing for the rest of the night.

Meanwhile, the NDC in the constituency is battling with itself over who should carry the party?s flag for the ?battle? ahead, and is torn between asking Mr. Michael Teye Nyaunu to go for the third time, and injecting Mr. Agmor, an industrialist, into the system in the form of what observers call ?new blood?.

While the NPP was shaking the Kpong town with its new message and slogan of pairing Dedo and the elephant, Angmor was also busy that same hour, explaining to some residents of Manyakpongunor, why he was a better option than the incumbent MP.

But whoever the NDC presents after what many see as a long overdue primary elections, Dedo said she was prepared to face any ?Goliath?, anytime, anywhere.

Also present at the historic gathering were Dr. Osafo Mensah, the Eastern Regional Minister, Gustave Dometey, his deputy, Kofi Dafour, Special Assistant to the Minister, Mr. Andrews Teye, Manya Krobo DCE, Padi Asime, constituency chairman and Juliana Baah, the women organizer.