Too late to step down for Dumelo —Fred Nuamah

WHEN Entrepreneur and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Ghana Movie Awards (GMA) Fred Nuamah announced his bid to contest the National Democratic Congress (NDC) primaries for the Ayawaso West Wuogon parliamentary seat a few weeks ago, he didn’t only raise eyebrows but also set tongues wagging for ‘stealing’ his very good friend John Dumelo’s spot.

At the last elections, Dumelo, who contested the Ayawaso West Wuogon parliamentary seat on the ticket of NDC polled 37,778 votes against the incumbent, New Patriotic Party’s (NPP) Lydia Seyram Alhassan’s 39,851 votes, offering hope for a good chance to probably win the slot at the next general elections in 2024.

As a result, many are calling on him to step down for Dumelo, but Fred tells Graphic Showbiz it is a tad too late.

“Frankly, it's late to step down. My brother informed me and a lot of people that he was not going to contest the Ayawaso West Wuogon Constituency again. He gave me his blessings when I made up my mind to contest.

“Truthfully, I am surprised about his u-turn because it was evident and crystal clear that he was not going for the Ayawaso seat anymore and rather invested in Guan/SALL,” he said.

He noted that it was an erroneous impression that he was bent on contesting against Dumelo to disrupt the latter’s chances when he had confided in him he was not going for the seat anymore.

Fred disclosed that that was the key that unlocked his vim to declare his political ambitions and was not a ploy as had been the position of his critics to derail the chances of his very good friend who even accompanied him to seek his (Phred’s) ex-partner’s hand in marriage.

Fred said he has been nursing his political career on the quiet in the last decade and knows what he is about and he is ready for the NDC’s presidential and parliamentary primaries scheduled for Saturday, May 13, 2023.

But while the founder of GMA, who is campaigning on the message, “Uniting and Resourcing the Branches for Victory 2024”, seems very prepared like a horse for battle, there are many who are calling him to step down for John Dumelo.

Their reason? John did quite well in the last general elections for the opposition NDC by giving a tough competition to the incumbent ruling NPP’s Lydia Seyram Alhassan.

However, Fred Nuamah said that was the last thing on his mind at the moment.

“I would have rather expected him to honour his word when he said he won't contest the seat and, therefore, throw his support behind me. Besides, the argument that my brother made history for the NDC doesn’t hold for me. Our party has been performing quite well in that constituency in previous elections before he contested the last elections.

“We have even won the presidential votes in Ayawaso before. We always come close to winning the parliamentary; we only lose it by some small margins. So, all the previous candidates, including John Dumelo, did well, but the ultimate is to win and not close a gap or place second,” he noted.