A coalition of New Patriotic Party executives within the Ashaiman Constituency have petitioned President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo over the lack of development in the area.
According to the executives of the ruling party, the benefits obtained by the people of the Ashaiman Constituency under the Akufo-Addo administration have largely been indirect and not through direct means.
“Your Excellency, the lacuna in our program implementation as a government in power is that the majority of the over 208,060 inhabitants in Ashaiman are merely indirect beneficiaries of most of our flagship programs. Many have not benefitted directly from free SHS, PFJ, 1D1F, amongst others,” they stated.
This, according to the group, has led to “genuine concerns and suspicions of deliberate neglect of the people of Ashaiman (for being an NDC ‘stronghold’) from government” projects, including the “Year of Roads.”
The executives pointed out what they say is an irony in some constituencies benefiting immensely from road projects while their constituency is yet to benefit from a major road project under the administration.
“Mr. President, we find it ironical that a district such as Hohoe, that only gave us 6, 462 votes in 2016 and 26,952 votes in 2020 has a superb layout of modern road network; whereas Ashaiman, a city adjacent the Tema Metropolis, that contributed 36,630 votes in 2016 and 41,506 votes in 2020 is left at the mercy of dust and rain,” they said.
Adducing data from previous elections, the NPP executives said Ashaiman, over the years, has contributed well to the presidential votes of the NPP and shows the potential of being annexed by the party if the government directs development to the area.
The executives, therefore, demanded of the president some infrastructure projects for Ashaiman, including fixing deplorable roads, construction of an AstroTurf, the opening of municipal offices for agencies such as the National Youth Authority, as well as the inclusion of Asahiaman constituents in MASLOC benefits.
Read the full petition below:
PETITION TO HIS EXCELLENCY NANA ADDO DANQUAH AKUFFO-ADDO.
PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF GHANA
We the undersigned coalition of Constituency executives, Electoral Area Coordinators and Polling
Station Executives of the New Patriotic Party within the Ashaiman constituency humbly wish to
bring to your notice some grievances and expectations of the inhabitants (especially party
grassroot members) of the Ashaiman constituency which have not been adequately met by your
industrious administration; and which if not treated with a sense of urgency would have dire
consequences on our future electoral fortunes.
We however wish to begin by expressing our profound gratitude to you for the numerous
projects that your government has undertaken within the municipality since assuming the reign
of governance; especially, your recent commissioning of Dredge Masters in Ashaiman to help
curb the perennial flooding in the nation’s capital. In as much as we cannot deny benefitting from
our beloved party’s flagship programs(i.e. “Free SHS”, “PFJ, “one million per constituency”, etc.),
we are yet to benefit from other as well.
Your Excellency, the lacuna in our program implementation as a government in power is that the
majority of the over 208,060 inhabitants in Ashaiman are merely indirect beneficiaries of most
of our flagship programs. Many have not benefitted directly from free SHS, PFJ, 1D1F, amongst
others.
There are genuine concerns and suspicion of deliberate neglect of the people of Ashaiman (for
being an NDC ‘stronghold’) from government’s “Year of roads” project which saw a boom in the
road sector since its inception in 2020. 2021 and 2022 all have been declared the second and
third years of roads, yet, apart from the Ashaiman Pink Lady and Jericho roads constructed under
the “One Million Dollar per Constituency” program, and a few other IGF projects, not a single
road in Ashaiman has seen an inch of asphaltic overlay in the past three years. The town is really
dusty in the dry season and muddy in the wet season. The health implications of air pollution due
to dust, coupled with the socioeconomic impact of bad roads on the local economy have
conspired to rid our beloved city of the development it needs.
Mr. President, we find it ironical that a district such as Hohoe, that only gave us 6, 462 votes in
2016 and 26,952 votes in 2020 has a superb layout of modern road network; whereas Ashaiman,
a city adjacent the Tema Metropolis, that contributed 36,630 votes in 2016 and 41,506 votes in
2020 is left at the mercy of dust and rain.
Our historical election performance as a constituency over the years shows that the NPP has what
it takes to annex the Ashaiman seat from the NDC. If cabinet becomes intentional with its
interventions in Ashaiman (the second largest constituency in the country) by targeting the
removal of the major bottleneck bedeviling our municipality (namely, poor road network), and
not only wait till election seasons to pump cash and kind into the system for vote buying. It is our
firm conviction that if Ashaiman roads are fixed, our government’s records will resonate better
with our people, and will arouse enthusiasm in the party within the area towards agenda 2024.
Presidential election results from 2008, 2012 and 2016 showed an appreciation in the number of
votes obtained by the NPP and a nosedive in corresponding NDC votes: Table A gives a summary
of the presidential election results from 2008 to 2020.
Table A: Presidential results for Ashaiman Constituency from 2008 -2020
PARTY YEAR VOTES VOTE DIFFERENCE PERCENT PERCENTAGE DIFFERENCE
NDC
NPP
2008 59,519
31,753
27,766 65.21
34.79
30.79
NDC
NPP
2012 60,178
33,725
26,453 63.73
35.72
28.01
NDC
NPP
2016 51,756
36,630
15,126 58.16
41.16
17.00
NDC
NPP
2020 76,327
41, 506
34,821 64.17
34.89
29.28
A litany of factors (both internal and external) caused our abysmal performance in 2020. A survey
carried out in October, 2020 by our five-member 2020 election research committee (led by the
former Constituency Chairman, Mr. Joseph Kwesi Brown) prior to the 2020 elections reveals that
over 76% of NPP members developed cold feet towards home-visits and outdoor campaigns
going into the 2020 elections due to apathy and resentment. The survey was conducted by using
a multistage sampling technique to sample about 100 NPP voters from each of the 32 stratified
electoral areas within the constituency. About 53% of them blamed the apathy on lack of
infrastructural achievement of the party at the local (constituency) level. About 28% blamed it
on the national party’s inability to attend to the needs of the grassroot. About 7% were aggrieved
about MASLOC benefits that had stalled. An alarming 23% of respondents who are aggrieved
polling station executives were unwilling to take up any role assigned to them before, during and
after the elections without monetary payments.
Based on the findings, the survey anticipated a decline in NPP votes and an upward surge in NDC
votes; which sadly was the case and even worse after the 2020 elections.
As a long-term recommendation, the research proposed that going into election 2024, Ashaiman
be critically looked at in the annual distribution of road projects, political appointments, job slots
and other social intervention policies to revamp the morale of the grassroot for effective
campaign.
Your excellency, we humbly implore you to expedite action in dealing with the following under-
listed development constraints:
- Deplorable nature of Ashaiman inner-city roads.
- A city in dying need of an Astro Turf
- No municipal offices for some government agencies such as NYA, etc.
- Exclusion from Masloc benefits.
It is our firm conviction that when these requests are treated with the needed sense of urgency
within the next two years, the party within the constituency can achieve the target of 85,000
votes that we have set for ourselves to enable us wrestle power from the NDC within the
constituency.
Disclaimer.
