Chiefs Revolt Against E.T. Mensah

The fight to retain his seat in the Ningo/Prampram constituency come 2004, will be a job as difficult as taming a lion, as the sitting Member of Parliament (MP) for the area, Mr. E.T. Mensah, is now faced with the uphill task of convincing the constituents for their votes.

The Chronicle investigations in the constituency have revealed that the chiefs and people of the Ningo traditional area, who form over 60 percent of the electorate who voted for the MP in the last three parliamentary elections, have vowed to cast their votes for someone else.

The Chronicle was told that the MP, in his over 10 years in office, has not undertaken any development project in the Ningo traditional area, thus leaving the people in a state of disappointment, misery and under-development.

The paramount chief of the area, has been holding meetings with the chiefs and elders from all the 63 villages under his paramouncy with the aim of raising a candidate from among his subjects who will be more sympathetic to their cause to contest the seat against E.T. Mensah in the 2004 elections, The Chronicle gathered.

Confirming the story, the paramount chief , Nene Osroagbo Djangmah II, told the paper in an interview in his palace at Old Ningo that he would do everything in his power to ensure that E.T. does not win the election this time round.

“What I am seeking now is an MP who is an indigene from my town ready to help develop the area for me. I don’t care which party he represents, what I care about is for him to represent our interest in parliament,” the chief said.

Nene Djamgba disclosed that he harbours no ill feelings against the MP, but, he was compelled to take the decision as a result of his (E.T. Mensah) total neglect of his area.

“I don’t hate E.T. Mensah but from the way he has operated so far, (10) years into office as MP for the area, he has proved beyond every reasonable doubt that he does not have my people at heart, adding “why should we not think of ourselves and how best we can develop our own area.”

“While he had abandoned us to our fate, he has not relented in marshalling all the resources at his disposal to develop his own town, Prampram to the envy of all the other towns in the constituency,” he bemoaned.

According to the paramount chief, who was enstooled in 1972, the only project the MP attempted to do was a bridge, which is supposed to link Old Ningo to New Ningo. Even that, the project which started some eight years ago, has not been completed.

He continued that Old Ningo has no drainage system or gutters and so when there is a heavy down pour the whole town becomes flooded, sometimes for days with people locked up in their rooms.

“Even the police station, the office of the men who are supposed to maintain law and order in the town is seriously in a dilapidated state yet nothing has been done about it”, he disclosed.

He further stated that the roads leading to the town and those criss-crossing the town leaves much to be desired. Even the electricity which the town is presently enjoying was started by one of the sons of the land, Mr. W.D. Lartey who is a businessman based in Accra before the government took over.

The Ningo Secondary School, the only secondary school in the area, was built by the same man who operated it for sometime until the government took over its administration, he said.

According to the chief, Mr. Lartey has acquired a parcel of land to built low cost housing units in the town for the people and has created jobs for over 150 people in the area.

Nene Djangmah II said he had tried several times to get audience with the MP even to the extent of going to his office to put across his problems but any time he did so, the answer has been “Nene, you wait, I will come and see you”.

Asked whether they have already been able to identify someone for that important position, he answered in the negative, saying even though they have not yet been able to put a finger on anyone, he was optimistic that they will get someone, as the town can boast of prominent sons, some of whom are judges, lawyers, businessmen, among others, residing in Accra.

He disclosed that he will marshal all the people in all the 63 villages under his paramouncy to cast their vote for the candidate they will eventually nominate to represent them in the law making chamber.

The Chronicle gathered that the paramount chief had petitioned President Kufuor during his visit to the area recently as part of his four day working tour, to some selected constituencies in the Greater Accra region to, as a matter of urgency, create a new constituency for his area, ostensibly to detach his area from the seat which E.T. Mensah occupies presently.