By Abdul RazakBawa
What was Carlos Ahenkorah, thinking, or should I say, drinking when he said Ghanaians who do not want to pay the 1.75 percent e-levy not to patronize electronic transaction services.
Carlos Ahenkorah, has a flair for sabotaging the people of Tema West, he was the poster child of the chaos that took place in parliament in January, during the voting for the Speaker of the August House.
So his brigandage did not start today, he is fast gaining notoriety for uncouth behavior unbecoming of a Member of Parliament (MP).
Correct me, if I am right, can someone point to one thing Carlos Ahenkorah has done since going to parliament that is worthy of commendation?
He was a spoilt child of fortune, who benefited from the non performance, as well as the neglect by the former Member of Parliament for Tema West, Naa Torshie, who herself got into parliament through controversial means when she defeated the then Majority leader, Abraham Ossei-Aidooh.
Believe me, when I say, we can take the insults, if it was coming from a party foot soldier, or someone who is not high up the political ladder, but for a representative of the people, who in the first place, has not found it necessary to organize a town hall meeting to ask his constituents what they think about the E-levy before going ahead to tell them, if they do not want to pay, then they should not patronize electronic transaction services.
Human beings are rational actors, so of course, if any policy is inimical to their survival or business interest, they won’t patronize it, but that is why we elect leaders, who will put the interest of the people above their own and fashion policies and programmes that, will benefit every member of the society.
Watching a man eat dinner is not how you know his mantle. It is in watching him lose his temper, and more than once, we have watched Carlos do the unthinkable.
This is a man, who was appointed deputy Trade and Industry minister. So happy was his constituents that, he was recognized among the plethora of people and given a high profile appointment, yet how did he lose it?
During the voters registration exercise last year, Carlos Ahenkorah, who has tested positive for Covid-19 and was told by doctors to isolate, which is one of the protocols for infected people, decided against wisdom to visit registration centers in his Constituency and went on air to admit doing that, with a flimsy excuse that, he stayed a distant away.
He was fired by the president after the embarrassing fiasco. Many people thought that was a big lesson enough for him and after struggling to win parliamentary Seat again, he will turn a new leaf, but as they say, bath a pig, cloth a pig and it will still be a pig.
The greatest of his blunders, was the show of shame he put up in parliament during the election of the Speaker, Alban Kingsford SumaniBagbin.
The following narrative is how some media houses reported the incident.
The Member of Parliament for Tema West, Carlos Ahenkorah did the unexpected on Thursday morning in Parliament when he snatched uncounted ballot papers in the Speaker of Parliament elections and attempted to bolt with it.
This was after the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Members of Parliament began celebrating what they expected to be a victory in their favour.
The former deputy Trade and Industry Minister who was not previously sighted, ran to the table during counting and snatched the ballots of Prof. Aaron Mike Oquaye and attempted to bolt with it.
Below is how BBC News Pidgin reported it
Ghana lawmaker wey snatch ballot papers during de voting for Speaker of parliament say he try snatch de ballot papers sake of he dey want rerun of de elections.
According to Mr. Ahenkorah, “like I want create situation for rerun. Just like how my colleagues from de other side take de ballot box away on 3 occasions.”
“So I also grab some ballot papers before dem go count am so say we go do another rerun… I make heartbroken and sad” Carlos Ahenkorah explain.
MrAhenkorah during de voting process to determine who go become speaker of parliament snatch ballot papers during de collation process.
De NDC MPs mount hot chase for Carlos Ahenkorah wey de mctach am, retrieve de ballot papers.
As part of en explanation for what happen, Mr Ahenkorah apologize for en actions but explain say de NPP inside him push am to snatch de ballot papers.
Carlos Ahenkorah, had made headlines both in Ghana and abroad for all the wrong reasons. I Google his name and the result, must be enough to keep him and his loved-ones awake at night.
His nightmare must be very serious;he has not been a good representative of the people of Tema West. A Constituency, which is very cosmopolitan, requires someone with finesse, experience and one who will make a good impression of himself or herself and the Constituency.
So far, Carlos Ahenkorah, has made poor showing. He has brought the name of the Constituency to public ridicule and people are questioning whether, the Constituency, which used to accommodate Members of Parliament, cannot come up with a better candidate than him.
Ghanaians, will agree with me that Carlos has turned into a relic. He is suffering from the disease of every critic- be seen but don’t make any impact.
The pedigree of Carlos is troubling enough that a descent society would not hang its hopes on his type.
We need to stop this comedy of errors that is demeaning and ridiculing the people of Tema West.
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