The Amenfi West Parliamentary Candidate for the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Ignatius Kwesi Afrifa, has said this year’s general election is a perfect opportunity for his constituents to vote for a leader that will unite the people for development.
He said even though the constituency had for many years voted for the National Democratic Congress (NDC), development had stagnated because it still lacked a leader who rallied the people.
Mr Afrifa spoke to the Daily Graphic in an interview and said the Amenfi West Constituency was the only area in the country that has two cocoa districts -Samreboi and Asankragwa- and although it has some designated cocoa roads, the roads were yet to be tarred.
He said despite its enormous contribution to cocoa production in the country, the constituency could not also boast of a cocoa clinic.
In that regard, he said, he has decided to offer himself as an aspiring Member of Parliament (MP) on the ticket of the ruling NPP to bring the chiefs and people together to champion the development agenda of the constituency.
“I have lived in the constituency and seen the development stagnate; thus roads, water, hospitals and even drains are in very poor conditions.
“It is all because we have never had the leadership that brought the people under one roof, neither have we had a leadership that lobbies for projects for the area,” Mr Afrifa lamented.
He said his main mission is to work as an MP to get the people to speak with one voice, irrespective of political, ethnic or religious considerations and to pursue the development needs of the area together.
Responding to a question on the assertion that MPs were lawmakers and not development agents, the aspiring Amenfi West NPP Parliamentary Candidate described that thinking as “defeatist” and explained that “cabinet includes more than 50 per cent of MPs in Parliament, whose decisions and plans came to Parliament for legislation, which means MPs are agents of development.”
Sharing his thoughts on the chances of the NPP in the forthcoming elections in December, Mr Afrifa expressed confidence that the NPP would be victorious and said, “I feel that the government has done so much; however, communication of the works has been a problem.”
He said Vice-President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia had, through his lecture last Wednesday (February 7, 2024), set the pace for the dissemination of more information on the government’s achievements and that “we at the grassroots are going to amplify it.”
He said it was time supporters of the party also worked hard to win the trust of all Ghanaians.