Navrongo Central Member of Parliament (MP) and Aviation Minister, Joseph Kofi Adda has revealed that there was a time in his life when he had to choose between a juicy two-million-dollar contract from the World Bank and heeding to calls by his people to contest a by-election in 2003.

After he had achieved successes in previous contracts with a consultancy firm he was working within the United States of America, Mr Adda was gearing up for another juicy four-year contract in Mauritius from the World Bank when calls came knocking on his door to return home to start a political journey.

The people wanted him, saying he was the best replacement for the late John Setuni Achuliwor, who was Member of Parliament for the area at the time until his sudden demise.

There was the search by the New Patriotic Party (NPP) for a candidate who would best represent the party and the people.

For keeping touch with the people back home despite his work nature, that mostly took him outside of Ghana for longer periods, and his relentless commitment in contributing to the development of Navrongo, the people settled on him as their preferred candidate, made efforts in convincing him to come back home, knowing the good he would bring.

Speaking exclusively on “Day Break Upper East” on Bolgatanga based A1 Radio Monday morning, Mr Adda who took listeners down the journey of how he got into mainstream politics revealed it was a difficult time for him as he was torn between making himself rich and returning home to help in the development process of his beloved hometown- Navrongo and the Upper East Region.

He said even though he could have paid deaf ears to the calls and concentrate on his consultancy work that was making him millions of dollars, he ditched his personal interests and opted to return home because he wanted to bring the area and his people the needed development and transformation.

“I had successfully finished consulting for some companies and preparing for another job in Mauritius for the World Bank when the pressure came for me to return home for my political journey. It was a difficult moment and a choice between my personal interest and the development of Navrongo and the Upper East Region. But I chose and I put the development of Navrongo and the Upper East Region over an amount which could have made me the richest man in the region. I knew I could bring development to the area”.

Mr. Adda who is grateful to the party and people of Navrongo for seeing the best in him and giving him the opportunity to represent them in Parliament for all the years, noted some challenging times in his political journey but said discipline has been key to his success story since he joined the race and have no regrets choosing to serve his people.

“I have been active in politics since the 60s and 70s when I would usually go to rallies and other party events and activities. Even though I wasn’t always at home, I gave my contribution for the development of the party and I must add that being discipline has been very key in my life and in politics. My father stood for discipline”.

The MP expressed his disappointment in past governments for the manner in which the upper East region airport was handled, assuring that this government is working around the clock to make it soon operational to make travelling to the region easier.

He commended the current government under the leadership of President Akufo Addo for the several life-changing projects in the region such as the construction of the Pwalugu Multipurpose dam, adding that “everything for that particular project was actually done in 2008 under then Kufuor NPP government and if we (NPP) had won the election that year, the project would have been completed by now but the NDC which won that election prioritized the Kwame Nkrumah interchange and used the funding for that project”.

He urged the people of the Upper East Region to continuously keep faith with the NPP government for more of its unmatched development projects.

Brief history

Joseph Kofi Adda became MP for the Navrongo Central constituency in 2003 after winning a by-election. He replaced the then MP john Setuni Achuliwor in Parliament after his death.

He was re-elected to Parliament in 2004 and 2008 but lost to fierce contender Mark Owen Woyongo in the 2012 general elections. He came back strong four years later to unseat Mark Owen Woyongo in the 2016 elections.

Mr. Adda who has made his intentions to contest in the upcoming NPP parliamentary in April 2020 and subsequently retain the Navrongo seat for the NPP urges delegates to make him the best choice.