Widows chase Jaman North MP

Member of Parliament for Jaman North and Deputy Bono regional minister, Hon. Siaka Stevens, has incurred the wrath of many in the constituency, particularly widows who have vowed to lead a campaign to unseat him in the upcoming elections.

The aggrieved residents, who are eager to vote out Mr Stevens, have said the MP’s campaign message in the run up to the 2012 elections was hinged on lies and deception.

One of the lies, according to the residents, was a pledge to set up a fund that would support widows in the constituency when voted into power. However that promise was never fulfilled.

In an interview on Power 97.9 FM, the deputy NDC communication officer for Bono, Eric Agyei, who confirmed the growing anger, disclosed that some groups of persons including the aggrieved widows had decided to lead a campaign to unseat the minister for nonperformance.

He explained that prior to the 2012 general elections, Mr Stevens had alleged that the then MP who also doubled as the Minister for Chieftaincy and Culture, Alexander Asum-Ahensah, refused to disburse funds meant to support widows in the area and pledged to release those funds when voted into power.

“The people of Jaman North are tired of his dishonesty and nonperformance. He lied that his predecessor was embezzling funds meant for widows yet when the people got angry and voted him out because of the lies he Siaka hasn’t been able to distribute funds for the widows. Go and check, the widows are chasing him for their money,” Eric Adjei told Inside Politics host Mugabe Maase.

He said apart from the “lies” the MP has not been able to lobby for the roads in the area to be tarred, stressing that Sampa which is the district capital of the Jaman North has terrible roads. He added that roads linking Sampa and other communities like Duadaso, Jamera and Kokoa have not been trarred despite numerous promises from Mr Stevens that such feeder roads would be constructed under the Akufo-Addo government.

“He [Siaka Stevens] is hot and he knows he will lose the elections.His failure to fulfill his promises is what is hunting him,” Adjei added.

To him, the NDC candidate Frederick Ahenkwa has earned the admiration of many in the constituency because of the consistency in his message.

Re-election bid

Mr Siaka Stevens, who is seeking to be re-elected for the third term, picked nomination forms last month to contest in the NPP parliamentary primary.

He first snatched the seat from the then Chieftaincy Minister, Alexander Asum-Ahensah with a slim margin in 2012.

Although the seat was described as a ‘traditional NDC seat’, Mr Stevens overwhelmingly won with 14,715 votes to retain his seat in 2016 while the NDC candidate, Frederick Ahenkwah polled 13,216.

But Eric Adjei, a native of the district, believes the people of Jaman North are fed up with Mr Stevens because he has not delivered as he promised, saying that is why he is facing stiff opposition in his party.

Three persons have picked nomination forms to contest Mr Stevens in the NPP’s upcoming primary in the constituency. They are Daniel Atta Fordjour who is a son of the former DCE and leading member of the party, Tachie Richmond and Eric Yeboah.