SHAMA NPP SUPPORTERS PROTEST AGAINST MP (PAGE 17)

Story: Moses Dotsey Aklorbortu, Shama

Supporters of the New Patriotic Party in the Shama Constituency yesterday took to the streets of Shama, the newly created district in the Western Region, to protest against what they called the imposition of the incumbent Member of Parliament, Madam Angelina Baiden-Amissah, on them.
This followed the disqualification of one of the candidates, Mr Samuel Erickson Abaka, whom the constituents preferred. The demonstrators marched through Shama, Abuasi and other communities in the district for more than four hours.
Mr Abaka presented himself for vetting but was disqualified on the ground of presenting fake membership card to the vetting committee.
They accused the incumbent of bulldozing her way to the top, disregarding the constituency executive to the extent of campaigning long before she was vetted or endorsed by the constituency executive.
The supporters said if the party failed to reverse the proclamation of the incumbent MP, they would encourage Mr Abaka to go solo and if he refused that, they would help vote the opposition to power come December 2008.
In a petition presented to the national executive of the party by the leader of the demonstrators, Mr S.K. Arthur Fosu, through the District Chief Executive, Mr Joseph Amoah, said, “We the undersigned are all NPP polling station Chairmen and Executive members of the Shama Constituency and we have been told about the secret and unconstitutional acclamation of the incumbent as a candidate for the constituency”.
The DCE, appealing to them to be calm, promised to take the issue up to the highest level of the party and communicate the outcome to them shortly.
Mr Arthur Fosu told the Daily Graphic later that party officials did not show them any respect and that he did not understand why the constituency executive members were treated with such contempt.
“We are on the ground and we know who the people are looking for and the era of imposing candidates on constituents are over and even then, it is done with after-effects in mind,” he said.
However, Lawyer Abaka’s camp said they were not aware of what was happening at Shama and that they should not be linked to it.
They said the people of the constituency were defending what was right for them.
When contacted, the Regional Chairman, Nana Owusu-Ankomah, said it was a fact that Mr Abaka was disqualified when he failed to meet the requirement.
“He presented a fake membership card, which was signed by Nana Ohene Ntow at the time when he (Nana Ohene Ntow) was not the General Secretary of the party,” he said.
Nana Owusu-Ankomah said the vetting committee explained to Mr Abaka that his action was fraudulent and constituted criminal offence and that even his standing in the constituency was questionable.
“As far as the party is Concerned, vetting leading to the selection of the candidate for the Shama constituency is over, and Madam Baiden-Amissah has been selected to partner Nana Akuffo-Addo, the presidential candidate for the NPP, to retain the party in power come December 2008,” he said.
He, however, called on the members to follow the necessary channels to ensure that the image of the party was not tarnished.