Two new female contenders have emerged from the National Democratic Congress (NDC) to contest the Ablekuma West Constituency primary.
They are Mrs Dina Twum, a 57-year-old proprietress and a teacher of the Kiddyland School, Dansoman SSNIT Flats, and Ms Marian Korkor Ayertey, a businesswoman. Strong contenders Other strong contenders in the race are Mr Prince-Derek Adjei, a former Deputy Co-ordinator of the National Youth Employment Programme, and Ms Jacqueline Akweley Mantey-Amoo, the 2011 second runner-up of TV3’s Ghana Most Beautiful Contest.
Whoever is successful in his or her bid will face a stiff opposition from the New Patriotic Party (NPP). The seat is currently occupied by Mrs Ursula Owusu Akuful, who won it in 2012. Speaking in separate interviews with the Daily Graphic, both Mrs Twum and Ms Ayertey stated that they could win the Ablekuma West seat for the National Democratic Congress (NDC) if their candidature was endorsed by delegates in the upcoming primary.
Mrs Twum Mrs Twum told the Daily Graphic that given her experience, background and humility, she could garner enough support to wrest the seat from the NPP. She said the people in the area had now realised that they needed a personality of her calibre and age to work to satisfy their demands and aspirations. She said she would empower the youth and women in the area by providing the needed assistance for self-employment to enable women to participate in governance.
According to her, she has since 1992 served the NDC in several capacities in the Ablekuma South Constituency as a cell chairperson, constituency treasurer, SWAG Branch ‘B’ Ward (Mampong Okai) treasurer and Constituency Vice Chairperson before she contested the position of the National Deputy General Secretary in the 2012 national congress of the party but lost. She said she also served on the conflict resolution committee of the National Executive Committee of the party. She added that as a teacher and a daughter of a chief and a queenmother, she had the acumen to unite and lead the people of the area and lobby for the needed infrastructure for the development of the area.
Mrs Twum said she would lobby for the construction of drainage to curb the persistent flooding of the area during the rainy season. Ms Ayertey For her part, Ms Ayertey said she was also confident of snatching the seat from the NPP and she would lobby for the establishment of a market and lorry park at Dansoman and assist the fisher folk in Shaibu and other fishing communities in the constituency to secure loans to expand their businesses.
Ms Ayertey said she would ensure that the Ebenezer Senior High School, the only secondary school in the constituency, which is currently a day school, would become a boarding school and be provided with the necessary infrastructure.
<<Print>>