PAPA OWUSU ANKOMAN GETS NPP NOD FOR THIRD TIME (PAGE 16)

Story: Moses Dotsey Aklorbortu, Sekondi

THE incumbent New Patriotic Party (NPP) Member of Parliament (MP) for Sekondi, Papa Owusu Ankomah, has been re-elected for the third time to lead the party in the next general elections.
The slot was contested by the incumbent and two others, Mr Gad Cobbina and Mr Kweku Amoah, both legal practitioners.
Before voting, Mr Kweku Amoah stepped down, threw his weight behind Mr Cobbina and urged his supporters to vote for Mr Cobbina to unseat the incumbent, but in the end, Papa had 45 out of the 63 votes cast while the Messrs Cobbina-Amoah alliance had 18 votes.
The incumbent called on the party faithful to defend the track record of the party and make Ghanaians aware of them.
He said the pending elections were going to be issues-based, which would lead to victory for the NPP and enable it to transform the country after the strong foundation it had laid.
The NPP, he said, had achieved enough to warrant a third term without fear or difficulty.
The whole of Sekondi was awash with NPP colours and portraits of the incumbent MP, after the announcement of his victory.
Speaking to the Daily Graphic at his residence after the election, Papa Ankomah assured the constituents that he would do his best but added that they also had a role to play in ensuring that the party emerged victorious in the December elections.
“The current president has laid the strong foundation for the country; we have all the building blocks in place, and what we have to do next is to ensure that we strongly defend our track record so that come January 7, 2009, the Nana Addo Dankwah Akufo-Addo-led government will lead the complete transformation of the country”, he said.
“What we need now is an industrial revolution, a complete transformation of the country and more jobs for the people. I want to urge you the constituents and supporters not to listen to the detractors that there has not been any development in Sekondi. I can assure you that if you look around we have more, compared to others,” the MP added.
Papa Owusu-Ankoma, whose talk was constantly interrupted by the shouting of his nickname, “Home Boy, Home Boy”, reminded the constituents that as an MP, he had three constituencies to serve: the nation, the constituency and the party.
“I am aware of this and I can assure you that you will not be neglected; I have never neglected you and will do everything to continue to serve you even more.”
He said apart from numerous development projects in the constituency, he managed to improve the lot of the constituency in areas such as job creation, education, social infrastructure and lobbying for the construction of the Essipon-Sekondi highway and added that “there will be more as long as I remain the Member of Parliament for this constituency. Fear not, I am with you all”.