Isaac Odamtten
The debate on whether the former Metropolitan Chief Executive (MCE) for Tema, Mr Isaac Ashai Odamtten, should run for MP on the ticket of the NDC in Tema, or not, is raging on, with Tema Central joining in the tug-of-words.
Mr. I.A Koppoe, an activist of the NDC in Tema Central, has suggested that he should rather run for MP in Tema Central.
“I perfectly agree with the point that former Mayor, Kempes Ofosuware, is a fine and winnable Parliamentary candidate for Tema East and so it would be to the disadvantage of the NDC if Mr. Odamtten also goes to run for MP in Tema East.
“However, I am thinking that Tema Central is a very promising place for Mr Odamtten since the NDC does not really have any notable heavyweight here who is winnable enough to take the seat for us,” Mr Koppoe said.
The NDC activist also dismissed the suggestion that Mr Odamtten run for MP in Ekumfi, since his maternal lineage is in Otuam, saying that suggestion does not hold water.
“I totally disagree with that suggestion for the obvious reason that Mr Odamtten has all of his political legacy in Tema, and not Ekumfi,” he said.
The suggestion that Mr Odamtten run in Ekumfi was made by an Executive of the Tema East branch of the NDC, Stephen Ashitey Adjei, alias Moshake.
He reasoned that, because Tema East was already having Mr Kempes Ofosuware and it would be an unnecessary risk for him to run for that same ticket, since Kempes was likely to win and therefore suggested that Mr Odamtten rather run in Ekumfi, where he was popular because of a strong contact with the place.
However, Gilbert Ibrahim, a Special Assistant to Mr Odamtten and a leading activist of the NDC in Tema West, insisted that he should run in Tema East because he had better chances there.
“I absolutely understand Moshake’s reasoning. We want more seats for our party in the upcoming elections and a spread of the seats that we secure will be good for us, but the obvious fact also, is that Mr Odamtten had better footprints in Tema than in Ekumfi.
“His political legacy is in the form of developmental projects he executed as Mayor, and he was a Mayor of Tema, not Ekumfi,” Mr. Ibrahim Gilbert, who is also a lecturer, explained.
Before the dust would settle on the matter, Mr. Koppoe of Tema Central also called for the candidature of Mr Odamtten to be in Tema Central instead.
“I agree that Mr Odamtten does not have political legacy in Ekumfi like he has in Tema, where as MCE he built so many developmental infrastructures.
But while Tema would be a better choice, Tema East is already having Kempes Ofosuware and the NDC is not really that active in Tema Central, so I think he should rather come and run here,” Mr. Koppoe said.
He pointed out that apart from his track record, Mr Odamtten’s paternal lineage as a Ga would make him acceptable to the indigenes in Tema Central.
At the same time, his maternal lineage as a Fanti, would also make him acceptable to the Akans in the Constituency, he said.
