Polling station execs pick form for Baidoe Ansah

Member of Parliament (MP) for the Kwesimintsim constituency in the Western Region, Hon. Joe Baidoe-Ansah has caved in to the demand by a supposed group of polling station executives in the constituency to contest the seat for the fourth consecutive time.

This follows the decision by the group to pick nomination form on behalf of the MP and marched to his house to deliver it to him.

The group, led by Chris Larbi-Boateng, who is also the special Assistant to the MP, told newsmen why they had settled on the incumbent MP to contest for the fourth time.

According to Larbi, in choosing the candidate, a greater number of the party folks considered the fact that Nana Akufo-Addo had already been marketed and so there was no need for the party to bring new person. In the nutshell the party was not ready for experiment. The principle, according to Chris Larbi, holds sway in the Kwesimintsim constituency.

To Chris, selecting a new candidate for the constituency would be costly and cumbersome in terms of marketing. “We are not ready for this. So many resources have been dissipated already to market Hon. Joe Baidoe-Ansah who does not need re-introduction”

Consequently, the group appealed to the MP to accept their plea to contest the seat. In accepting the plea, MP Badu-Ansah stressed that it was through the instrumentality of the constituents that he had been able to serve as an MP in the last 12 years he had represented them.

For this reason, if the same people wanted him to contest again, he had no objection than to cave in to their demand. “I am grateful you have realized the good service I have rendered as your MP and I will continue to serve you and I believe what you have demonstrated here will translate into votes,” he said.

For now, MP Baidoe-Ansah, who has lost popularity among many of the delegates and constituents in the constituency would have a tough time to convince the over 400 delegates as to why they should not endorse the candidature of Mr. Joseph Mensah, a local indigene of Kwesimintsim and who has the support of the delegates.

Joseph Mensah, a Human Resource Expert and first to pick his nomination form, is seen by delegates as a real son of the land.

Badu-Ansah has over the years had a safe passage during primaries as no strong candidate had ever battled him. But for now, it would have to take a miracle for the delegates to change their mind to retain him, as majority of them have vowed to vote for a change of parliamentary candidate.

Information available to The Chronicle indicates that the presence of Joseph Mensah in the race has sent shivers down the spine of the MP and his few executives. As a result, there is now a grand plot hatched to disown the candidature of Joseph Mensah as non-member of the party.

It is as a result of this plot that the constituency executives claim, they do not know the name Joseph Mensah as a member of the party, let alone qualify to contest the primary.

The constituency Chairman, Mr. Ransford Odame, a known supporter of the incumbent MP surprisingly confirmed the position of the executives of the constituency to news men.

According to Odame, “I am the chairman and I do not know him as a member of our party in the constituency. I only got to know him when he picked his form to contest the seat”.

So why did you give him the nomination form when you knew he was not a party member, asked this reporter. “We were only asked to sell the nomination form to anyone who comes to pick, but the vetting day will declare whether he is a member of our party or not”, Odame replied.

According to him, since becoming Chairman of the party, he had never come across Baidoe-Ansah’s contender neither has he contributed anything worthwhile to the growth of the party in the constituency.

Meanwhile, party Insiders have described the supposed polling station executives move to pick nomination forms on behalf of the sitting MP to contest the seat as a charade.

According to party insiders, Baidoe-Ansah had himself sponsored the supposed group led by his Personal Assistant to embark on what they described as ‘mischievous’ assignment.

“It is never true that the supposed polling station executives picked the nomination form on behalf of the MP. It was Baidoe-Ansah’s own agenda led by his personal Assistant’, one delegate told this reporter.