NDC Polls: Freddie Blay accused of sponsoring aspirant to contest Armah Buah

The immediate past Deputy Western Regional Youth Organiser of opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), Abizi Morkeh has accused National Chairman of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP), Freddie Blay of sponsoring Miezah Mea-Alleah to contest Emmanuel Armah Kofi-Buah in the party's parliamentary primaries.

The incumbent MP, Armah Kofi-Buah is being contested for the first time since 2007 by a Branch Chairman of the party (NDC) at Nkroful, Miezah Mea-Alleah.

Miezah Allea in 2015 was disqualified by the then Vetting Committee headed by Mr. Ofosu Ampofo for allegedly forging the signature of the then Constituency Chairman (Mr. Kwasi Bervel).

The beleaguered candidate has vowed to challenge Armah Kofi Buah, and if possible, unseat him.

Miezah Allea and Armah Kofi-Buah were vetted at Ampain in Ellembelle this month to contest in the primaries.

The Vetting Committee then decided to disqualify Miezah Allea over a petition filed against him, but the matter was later referred to the National Executive Committee to investigate all issues raised against him.

But, the Vetting Committee of the party subsequently put on hold the vetting results of the candidate

He was accused of using Branch Executives to endorse him (Miezah Allea) without their consent.

His camp did not find this development fair and filed a counter petition against his disqualification whilst threatening to put an injunction on the party’s primaries in Ellembelle.

This was followed by what they termed as “subtle attempts to disqualify Mieza-Mea Alleah”.

According to them, few minutes before his vetting, a group purported to come from the camp of Mr Kofi Anaman, another aspirant who stepped down for the incumbent Member of Parliament Emmanuel Armah Kofi Buah quickly petitioned the committee against Mr Alleah, indicating that he was not qualified to contest the primaries because of alleged variations in signatures of endorsers and alleged forgery of signatures.

Consequently, the counter petitioners supporting Alleah claimed the issues raised by the Committee were mere attempts to frustrate and disqualify him from contesting the parliamentary primaries which were baseless as per the guidelines issued for the elections of the party’s parliamentary candidates ahead of the 2020 elections.

They claimed, the Constituency Electoral Committee and Executives of the party duly crosschecked details of Mr Alleah’s forms before accepting same at Constituency party office on 18th July, 2019.

They subsequently had their grievances approved after addressing a press conference in Ellembelle.

However, Miezah Mea-Alleah was cleared by the Appeals Committee of the party to contest Emmanuel Armah Kofi-Buah. This was contained in a statement released by the Committee on Wednesday, August 21, 2019.

In response however, the General Secretary of the party, Asiedu Nketia issued a statement to declare Ellembelle parliamentary primaries on hold with no reason.

Addressing the media on Thursday, August 22, 2019 at the party's office, at Aiyinasi, the Communications Officer of the party, Kwesi Hanson descended heavily on the leadership of the party at the national level for putting on hold their primaries without prior notice.

He said the National Executives informed them earlier that no election would be held in Ellembelle on Saturday, August 24, 2019.

He revealed that money was sent to them to hold a popular acclamation for the incumbent MP, Emmanuel Armah Kofi-Buah on Saturday, August 24.

Functional Executive Committee clears Ellembelle constituency

However, in a statement issued by the Functional Executive Committee (FEC) of the party on Wednesday, August 28, it cleared four Constituencies including Ellembelle that were put on hold to have their primaries (elections) on Saturday, August 31, 2019.

The four constituencies are; Assin South, Mfantsiman, Fanteakwa North and Ellembelle.

The opposition party held primaries in 157 constituencies last Saturday with nine sitting Members of Parliament losing their seats.

In Western Region, six Constituencies held their parliamentary primaries on Saturday, August 24, 2019, and they included; Jomoro, Amenfi Central, Amenfi West, Shama, Ahanta West and Sekondi.

Meanwhile over one thousand delegates are expected to go to the polls tomorrow to elect their 2020 parliamentary candidate in these four constituencies.

In Ellembelle, the elections would be held at Kamgbunli Islamic Basic School Park starting from 7:00 am to 5:00 pm.

The Ellembelle parliamentary primaries would host almost all the Western Regional Executives of the party and some former appointees.

Fresh accusation emerging

But, commenting on the primaries of Ellembelle in an interview on West End Radio on Friday, August 30, and monitored by Daniel Kaku, the former Deputy Western Regional Youth Organiser of the party, Abizi Morkeh expressed worries about the reason the incumbent MP, Emmanuel Armah Kofi-Buah was being contested by Miezah Mea-Alleah.

He said Armah Buah had done a lot for the party and might be allowed to run unopposed.

He added that it was Armah Buah who made the NDC so attractive in the area.

He said Armah Buah's competitor (Miezah Mea-Alleah) was given an appointment as one of the Senior Managers by the Ghana National Gas Company when NDC was in power, but he failed to help a single soul in Ellembelle NDC to get even a labour work to do.

He stressed that such a person doesn't deserve to lead the Ellembelle NDC into 2020 parliamentary elections.

Abizi Morkeh again accused the National Chairman of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP), Freddie Blay of sponsoring a weaker candidate to be elected as NDC 2020 parliamentary candidate so that it would be simple for the NPP to win the seat for the first time in the history of Ghana's politics.

Freddie Blay became MP in Ellembelle for good 12 years on the ticket of the Convention People's Party (CPP) from 1996 to 2008 with the visible support of the NPP through an alliance.

Emmanuel Armah Kofi-Buah however managed to beat Freddie Blay in 2008 to capture the seat for the NDC and has since been holding the seat as the MP for the area.

According to Abizi Morkeh, the 2008 defeat, still pains Freddie Blay and he is trying his best to defeat Armah Kofi-Buah as a revenge.

He urged Freddie Blay to use the rest of his money to sponsor the incoming Ellembelle NPP parliamentary candidates than to waste it on Miezah Mea-Alleah of NDC.

"I don't see the reason why Freddie Blay as a National Chairman of NPP will sponsor a weaker candidate like Miezah Mea-Alleah to contest Emmanuel Armah Kofi-Buah" he claimed.

"Freddie Blay and the NPP fear Emmanuel Armah Kofi-Buah, so they are seriously sponsoring Miezah Mea-Alleah to beat Armah Kofi-Buah", he added.

"I will use this medium to urge Freddie Blay and the NPP Western Regional Treasurer to stop wasting their resources on Meizah Alleah of NDC to contest Armah Buah", he advised.

The angry former Deputy Western Regional Youth Organiser of NDC emphasized that there was no way NPP could win the Ellembelle parliamentary seat in 2020.

He, therefore seized the opportunity to predict a landslide victory for Emmanuel Armah Kofi-Buah in tomorrow's contest.

Response

All efforts to get a representative from the office of the NPP's National Chairman to respond has proven futile.

But some of the NPP serial callers who called into the show described the NDC man's claim as baseless and urged listeners not to waste their time on his claims.

They said the NPP members do not have any interest in Ellembelle NDC's parliamentary primaries.