*Madam Catherine Ablema Afeku, the New Patriotic Party’s (NPP) Member of Parliament for Evalue-Ajomoro-Gwira Constituency in the Western region is poised to officially launch her campaign ahead of the December 2012 Parliamentary elections in Axim on Saturday 29th September, 2012.*
According to her campaign team, the people of Evalue- Ajomoro-Gwira are ready to retain their greatest pride despite several attempts to thwart her political career in the area by some of her detractors.
The launch which is meant to officially outdoor her policies and plans for the constituency ahead of the December polls would also be used as the platform to highlight on the numerous achievements chalked as an MP both in the constituency and the country at large; serving as a Member of the Communication Committee in Ghana’s Parliament and as Member of the ECOWAS Parliament.
A close source from the office of the MP told this reporter that the team is well prepared for Saturday’s Campaign launch since it serves as the ‘tonic’ for Madam Afeku to hit the ground running and canvass for votes both for herself and Nana Addo Dankwah Akuffo Addo.
The source added that the NPP in Evalue-Ajomoro-Gwira Constituency is upbeat about her chances in this year’s election owing to the plethora of developments she has brought the way of her constituents.
On the part of a member of the constituency’s women’s wing of the party-name withheld-maintained that their unanimous decision to back Madam Afeku for victory was due to the MP's enviable track record over the past three years which she posits has earned her the accolade “a promising legislator.”
Many were those in the Nzema area that were of particular praise of the MP for being a ‘source of hope’ to the youth in the constituency.
“Despite being a fresher in the political environment of the country, it is evident that the work that her outfit has embarked upon within her three years is overwhelming,” a key party executive whispered to this reporter.
Hon. Afeku’s vision is centred on youth empowerment, equal access to education and gender mainstreaming. She has instituted a scholarship programme in the constituency that has 30 girls in Axim Girls Senior High School and 50 other both boys and girls in various schools across the nation; all in an effort to help bright and needy children within her constituency to further their education. She primarily uses her common fund and other support from well-wishers to support the education project.
In 2006, she launched the Philomena Yalley Education Foundation to support girl child education in the constituency to honour the memory of her late mother who was an educationist. She has also worked in the major communities within the constituency.
Born on June 27,1967 and hailing from Axim in the Western region, she had her Secondary education in Nsein Secondary School where she later continued in Kenya and later to the United States of America for her MBA at the Keller Graduate School of Management of Devy University, Atlanta, Georgia in 2000.
Madam Afeku who is married with three children and a Christian (Catholic) previously worked as a marketer and government spokesperson for infrastructure during the erstwhile Kufour administration before contesting for the Evalue-Gwira seat; which she won with 11,641 votes out of the 20,179 valid votes cast, equaling 57.7% in the last elections against then incumbent MP Evans James Kojo Armah.
