Contesting Klottey seat not demotion — Eva Lokko
The 2012 Vice-Presidential Candidate of the Progressive People’s Party (PPP), Ms Eva Naa Merley Lokko, has discounted suggestions by a section of the public that her bid to contest the Klottey Korle parliamentary seat is a demotion.
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According to the former Director-General of the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC), Klottey Korle would be an easy seat to grab for the PPP following the happenings in the NPP and the NDC in the constituency.
“Politics is about development. There is no superiority in politics. My party feels per its new strategy, I could help promote the agenda best in Parliament, hence Klottey Korle. It might look as a demotion when you do not understand politics. There is too much acrimony in those parties, therefore, it cannot be termed as a hot seat. It is rather a cold seat,” she said.
The incumbent MP, Nii Armah Ashittey, has filed a suit challenging the legitimacy of Dr Zanetor Rawlings to contest the parliamentary seat under the 1992 Constitution.
The lawyer for the 2012 election petitioners, Philip Addison, challenged the legality of the NPP primary in Klottey Korle in court, resulting in a re-run which he won subsequently; a win his main opponent, Valentino Nii Noi Nortey, deemed as a fraud hence his decision to contest as an independent candidate in the 2016 polls.
Speaking to Kasapa FM’s Maame Broni, Ms Lokko stated that the needs of the constituents had been neglected due to the supremacy war in both the NPP and the NDC.
This, according to her, influenced her decision to represent the people in Parliament.
She downplayed rumours of her failure to make an impact as a running mate in the 2012 elections, claiming her input had made PPP the second biggest opposition party in the country after it recorded 64,362 votes, representing 0.59 per cent; the third highest in the 2012 general election.
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Surprised Ms Lokko, when informed by Maame Broni of NPP’s Nii Noi Nortey’s decision to contest as an independent candidate, emphasised her preparedness to wrest the seat from the NDC, hence her readiness to battle all the supposed ‘big names’ in the constituency.
“I am not scared of anyone. They are also human. We all have our backgrounds and experience bringing to bear. I am going there full of hope and trust. How can I be scared when the competition is yet to start? The constituents will have to decide who they deem fit for the job. I am not in the contest to talk but to work,” she noted.
She, therefore, urged the media to concentrate on setting an agenda that sought to promote the needs of the people rather than the internal wrangling of some political parties.