Another independent candidate sacked by the National Democratic Congress (NDC) has denied ever being a member of the largest opposition party.
Hours after an independent candidate in Damongo, David Tiki Dange, deflected the NDC membership claim, Dr Bonja Ishmael Anchomese of Krachi Nchumuru also shot down claims that he was on the NDC roll of members.
According to Dr Anchomese, he had been a New Patriotic Party (NPP) card-bearing member since 2011.
The NDC in a statement on November 3, sacked 18 members for breaching the party’s constitution.
The list includes at least two former MPs –Dominic Azumah and Kwasi Gyan-Tutu of Garu and Tain respectively. Some defeated aspirants in the party’s primaries are also on the list.
The sacking follows a similar move by the governing NPP after some of its members broke away to contest as independent candidates.
But Dr Anchomese called the bluff of the NDC, urging the party to provide any evidence of his membership.
Dr Anchomese, who claimed he returned to the country in March after a sojourn abroad for six years, said he did not contest the NPP primaries.
Asked if he had ever flirted with the NDC, he responded in the negative, adding that “the NDC doesn’t know its members. It looks like everyone is their member.”
“I was never part of the NDC and I will never be part of the NDC.
“I decided to go independent but changed my mind. Even the colours of my posters show shades of red, blue and white, which are NPP colours.
“My reason for going independent was because my constituency is a young one and we lack development. I wanted to contest the seat to engineer and push the development of the constituency to help my people as an independent candidate.
“But the elders of the party advised me against the move. They said if my decision is about the development of the area, I should join forces with the NPP candidate so we can progressively work to develop the constituency. It is not about my personal interest so I agreed and rejoined the party,” he explained.
Touting his chances, he said he could have easily won the seat “hands down.”
Krachi Nchurumu is one of the 45 constituencies created in 2012. The NDC has won the seat back-to-back but amidst diminishing votes.
The party’s victory margin slumped from almost 5,300 votes in 2012 to just 977 in 2016.
But the NDC has changed candidates as the incumbent MP, John Majisi, lost the party’s primaries to Solomon Kunyo.
But Anchomese noted that the NPP would snatch the seat as he was joining forces with NPP candidate, Kakateche Innocent Tache, who is taking a second shot at the parliamentary race.
In a country in which party loyalty counts more than personality cults in parliamentary elections, very few independent candidates have been successful.
source: The Ghana Report
