The Member of Parliament (MP) for Ellembelle, Mr. Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah has finally bowed to mounting pressure being exerted on him by the Ellembelle NDC branch executives to seek re-election in the upcoming primaries of the party.
The move follows a decision to make the incumbent MP rescind his decision earlier this year not to contest the Parliamentary seat for a fourth time.
Mr Buah’s decision however gave five members of the party the opportunity to pick nomination forms to contest the primaries, but some branch executives earlier also picked forms on behalf of Mr Buah bringing the number to six.
The five contestants are Mr. Mieza Alleah, Mr. Kofi Anaman, Mr. Obed Carl Buah, Mr. Joseph Meneabe Akpoh and Mr. Slyvester Enumi Cudjoe.
Following the mounting pressure on Mr Buah to represent the people in Parliament in next year’s general elections, which he had finally consented to, four of the aspirants, excluding Mr. Miezah Alleah had pulled out of the race and declared their support for his candidature.
In this regard, some branch executives last Friday, organized a brass band music procession to storm the party’s office at Aiyinasi to pick nomination forms for Mr Buah to contest the primaries without his consent and later visited him at his residence to present the forms to him and assured the MP of their desire to support his campaign to win the 2020 Parliamentary polls.
Mr John Jerry Amoseh-Kwofie, Spokesperson for the branch executives of the party who joined a team of enthusiastic youth to pick the nomination forms for Mr Buah, described the timing of his decision to exit Parliament as premature.
According to him, three reasons have been assigned by the branch executives for their action to get the MP to contest the seat, win convincingly and get back to parliament to continue to represent them.
Among the reasons, he said, were that, the lawmaker had been acknowledged as one of the best performing stalwarts of the NDC, and consequently was recently declared best MP in the Western Region and one of the best in the country, and therefore ought to continue his good works in Parliament and in the Constituency.
In addition, he said, it would be in the interest of the NDC to present a winnable candidate to retain the seat won in 2008, and the incumbent who guaranteed that victory when no one expected it, best fits in that capacity to win the seat.
Mr. Amoseh-Kwofie further explained that series of recognition gained locally, nationally, and internationally through awards, citations, and acknowledgements that the MP was performing better ought to be rewarded by the NDC and Constituents of Ellembelle who will vote in December next year.
In an interview with the GNA, Mr Kofi-Buah confirmed his decision to run but explained that he could not have turned down the pressure from the constituents despite declining initially.
His performance in government as Minister of Energy and Petroleum all contributed to uplifting his credentials, authority, and popularity in the Constituency, Regional level and at the National level.
On the part of Mr. Kofi Anaman, one of Aspirants, they pulled out of the race because they promised the branch executives that if Armah Kofi-Buah picked forms to seek re-election, they would not contest him.
He added “we have declared our total support for him and we are going round to fill his forms for him and also support him to retain the Ellembelle parliamentary seat in 2020”.
The Constituency Communications Officer, Mr Kwesi Hanson disclosed that four of the Aspirants had donated their filing fees to the party to support its activities.
Historically, this is the first time Emmanuel Armah Kofi-Buah is being contested in the NDC parliamentary primaries scheduled to take place in August 24 2019.
GNA