As the internal regional elections of the largest opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) gather momentum, and interested candidates are getting ready to go to battle, come November 13, some incumbent executives are sitting on tenterhooks.
The Greater Accra Region, where Mr Joseph Kobina Ade Coker, presides, is one of the regions, which will attract a lot of attention as the former Ningo-Prampram Constituency Chairman of the party, Mr. Michael Tetteh Kwetey, is currently enjoying massive support by majority of the party’s delegates.
According to some of the delegates, who chose to remain anonymous , they have no doubt has paid his dues and deserve to be given the nod.
Whiles the incumbent Chairman had abandoned them and was cooling off in Europe, Mr Kwetey was quietly working for the party within the region as well as at the national level and preparing the party to the 2024 crucial general elections”, a delegate said.
Another delegate was of the view that Mr Kwetey, through his selflessness has won the hearts of members of the NDC in the region, especially the delegates, and they are only waiting to endorse him in the upcoming regional conference.
“Our incumbent Regional Chairman, Mr. Ade Coker, abandoned the region and all of us immediately after the 2020 general elections. He was outside; I think somewhere in America or London enjoying himself for a long time. He never bothered about the welfare or the state of the party especially being in opposition”, he added .
“He only came back to the country just few months ago when he got the hint that the regional elections were closer. And you expect us to continue voting for such a man as our regional chairman? No! We won’t do that this time around. We are going to vote for the person who was and has always been with us and that person is Mr. Michael Tetteh Kwetey”, an angry delegate from the Ashaiman constituency noted.
Mr Kwetey, who adopted and supported about twenty two (22) NDC’s parliamentary candidates across the country in the 2020 general elections with thirteen of them winning their parliamentary seats , is highly tipped to win the regional chairmanship position hands down and with a wider margin.
According to information available, the decision of the politician cum businessman to contest the chairmanship position is as a result of calls on him from party’s faithful including bigwigs within the region and from the national level.
These calls, backed by some topmost NDC men and women in the region who believed that continuously leaving the party in the hands of Mr Ade Coker is dwindling the chances of the party in region, said Mr Kwetey will be an effective and efficient Chairman who can also mobilize resources as well as logistics for the in region to prepare adequately for the 2024 general elections.
According to the information, Mr. Ade Coker who has been the regional chairman since 2010 has fallen out of favour with both the NDC family and electorate in the region, hence his inability to deliver Greater Accra decisively since 2016 to help the party win the national elections.
The incumbent chairman has also been accused by many constituency executives of always diverting resources and logistics meant for them in the effective running of the various constituencies for his personal use.
“Resources and logistics including money that are always donated to the region for the smooth running of the constituencies always remain at the region under the instruction of the incumbent. And we are even told that apart from the Chairman and few executives around him, the entire regional executive is not always briefed about many donations. So where do such donations go? We at the constituency level are always left to struggle on our own to run the constituencies with no resources or support from the region and it has become so difficult for us,” a constituency secretary lamented.
Speaking in separate interviews with the paper, some of the delegates in the various constituencies in the region confirmed that the young and effective politician is the man they are going with this time round, because they have found in him, a man who can deliver the region decisively for the party come 2024.
The seemingly fed-up delegates have therefore vowed to show the Greater Accra NDC Methuselah the exit, saying “this time round, there should be a change. Enough of this wheel-chair Chairman. It’s time for him go and let the party work again in the region”.
They noted that while the incumbent chairman only come to tell them to vote for him to help the region and the party members, Mr Kwetey, even long before he nursed the ambition of becoming the regional Chairman, has always offered various kinds of help to them.
“He does not discriminate when offering assistance to us. He has always helped us and the region in terms of finances and resources and we think he will do more when given the opportunity,” one of the key opinion leaders in the region who pleaded anonymity told the paper.
For the youth in the region, Mr Kwetey, has been an inspiration to them, and therefore accepting to become the regional chairman of the party was good news and that is why they have pledged to leave no stone unturned to make sure he represents the constituency in the next parliament of Ghana.
According to them, aside the fact that he is inspirational to them, he has also created employment opportunities for many of them, adding “This is a mark of a good leader and we know will do more for us when he becomes our next chairman”.
