Amidst strong sentiment within the National Democratic Congress (NDC) that the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) is preparing the grounds to rig the 2020 election, many delegates within the Greater Accra region are poised to retain the incumbent Greater Accra regional Chairman.
Joseph Kobina Ade Coker, is likely to be retained with a landslide victory if he runs for re-election and the chief reason informing the desire to retain him is that, the party needs a strongman to stand up to the NPP’s alleged rigging agenda.
“Some of us have spoken to Ade Coker and told him that we will never forgive him if he abandons us now that we are in opposition, especially when there are clear signs that Ghanaians are poised to vote out the NPP and the NPP has began making moves to rig the election in 2020,” Mr. Philip Yankey said.
An executive member of the NDC in the Ga Central Constituency, Mr. Philip Yankey added that Ade Coker’s experience in the position he has held for two terms counts.
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“As Greater Accra regional Chairman for the past two terms, Chairman Ade has very important experience that we need very much for 2020. Aside the experience, as Greater Accra Chairman, we have seen what he is made up of. Ade Coker has it in him to lead a revolution if necessary.”
Mr. Yankey added that the incumbent Chairman is a resourceful person who spends a lot of his own money to sponsor party activities and that now that the NDC is in opposition, his help is needed even the more.
He claimed that following the NDC’s loss in the 2016 election which had been won by the NPP with grandiloquent promises, Chairman Ade Coker started working on strategies for a comeback for the NDC. “Those efforts will waste if he is not retained.”
It is not clear if the incumbent Greater Accra regional Chairman will run for retention but some delegates told this reporter that he has been impressed on to run again and that Ade Coker has agreed to pick up his forms on Monday when nominations open.
Mr. Clement Ababio, a delegate of the NDC in the Tema East Constituency, on his part said many delegates are gearing up to vote for Ade Coker simply because the people who are stepping up to contest him just do not have enough quality.
“I have heard that his prospective opponents include Daniel Amartey Mensah, former boss of LEKMA, Yahaya Kondo, our current National Treasurer and Emmanuel Nii Ashie Moore, former MCE for Adenta. With all due respect, none of them matches up to Ade.”
According to Mr. Ababio, of the three, only Amartey has some amount of noticeable clout but even that is not good enough for him to rally the whole region for victory. “Amartey will not be able to organize and strategize like Ade Coker. He doesn’t have the eloquence and personality we need, especially now that we are in opposition,” He said.
Within the party, Daniel Amartey Mensah is also seen as too tribalistic with Ga supremacist vibe. In addition to that, he is perceived to be a social climber within the party who does not know what exactly he wants.
A former MCE for LEKMA, he was removed from that position in 2013. following from there, he started a campaign to become Greater Accra regional Chairman, joining forces with the likes of Danny Annang, a national executive who is also a Ga-centric, to trump up the point that only Gas deserve to lead Greater Accra.
Amartey Mensah lost against Ade Coker in the regional Chairmanship race of 2014. After this, he quickly lined up to contest to become a national executive of the party and won. But just when everybody thought the former LEKMA boss had settled, he lined up again to contest the Parliamentary primary for Ledzokuku against then incumbent MP, Benita Sena Okity Duah.
A campaign of Ga-centric tribalism against Sena, who is an Ewe, put off many who voted massively against Amartey. The tribalism also messed up relations between Sena and Amartey. The former LEKMA boss still carries that bad reputation as a tribal bigot.
As for Emmanuel Nii Ashie Moore, the NPP are said to be readying to start a campaign that he is an ex-convict and a signature expect if the NDC makes the mistake and elect him as Greater Accra Chairman. He is alleged to have been jailed in Belgium for Child trafficking. According to the claims, he is an Ashanti whose real name is Justice Nana Kofi Owusu, but that he dumped that name and assumed Emmanuel Nii Ashie Moore, a Ga name, in order to hide his alleged criminal past.
Yahaya Kondo, the NDC’s current National Treasurer, on the other hand is seen to be too low profile to lead the Greater Accra region. According to one delegate who wants to remain anonymous, “Yahaya Kondo is only known within the NDC, nobody will take us serious if he becomes regional Chairman.”
