My biggest hurdle becoming a politician was convincing people I wasn’t Nigerian - Sam George

Member of Parliament for Ningo-Prampram, Samuel Nartey George has revealed the biggest hurdle he faced becoming a politician was convincing people he was not a Nigerian.

Sam George as he is widely known said, “It’s a known knowledge that I grew up in Nigeria. Although I was born in Somanya, I had all my primary education in Nigeria.”

The current Ningo-Prampram MP had a fierce battle unseating one of the longest-serving lawmakers in the country, ET Mensah in the National Democratic Congress to get the nod to contest in the Parliamentary race.

He disclosed that his opponent used his background to convince party delegates not to vote for him because he didn’t hail from Ghana in the first primaries.

Sam George stated that he had to prove his nationality to his constituents by speaking the local dialects during campaigns and party functions.

Making the revelations on the Good Morning Show on Metro TV, Sam George said, “When I decided to go into politics, the biggest hurdle I had to cross in my first primaries is that I was not Ghanaian.”

They said, “Look at his name Sam George he doesn’t come from here, so I move my campaign from English to Ga and that thing caught wildfire.”

According to him, people became startled whenever he switched from English into the Dangbe dialect because he wasn’t nurtured in a Ghanaian setting.

Sam George said, “They expected me to speak English because they heard me speak English on TV all the while, then I start greeting them in Ga then I continue the whole interaction in Ga-Dangbe and it kills that thing.”

The MP who credits his abilities to speak both Ga and Dangbe to his parents emphasized that parents like him “owe a responsibility to their kids that they help them learn the language.”