Honourable Kofi Antwi also known as the Governor an astute member of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) of the Ablekuma North Constituency of the Greater Accra region has declared his support for Sheila Bartels in the party’s April parliamentary Primaries.
Honourable Kofi Antwi who once contested the constituency chairperson portfolio and lost by fewer margin and together with party executives, footsoldiers as well as the grassroots identifies Sheila Bartels to be the one that will unite the rank and file of the constituents and put Ablekuma North Constituency to it glorious past.
Sheila is an emerging and fast rising politician from the Ablekuma North Constituency. Born into a strong NPP tradition with her father being the former NPP MP and minister of state, Hon. Kwamena Essilfie Bartels, Sheila’s biggest contribution to the NPP fraternity is the formation of an independent volunteer campaign organization known as The HOPE Campaign. HOPE was instrumental in ensuring that the electorates, especially the youth, understood and could identify with the NPP campaign message for 2016 and this is indicative in the margin of victory won in 2016.
WHO IS SHEILA BARTELS?
Sheila Bartels is an Entrepreneur since 1998, with business interests in E-commerce, Financial technology, Oil and Gas and Business Development. One of her businesses, InCharge Global Limited manages digital financial service agents nationwide on behalf of banks and other financial institutions like Ecobank and GhiPSS. Another venture she owns is Betorbi.com, an Ecommerce and consulting firm, specializing in developing and promoting Made in Ghana products internationally and supporting business owners to achieve business growth. She also represents a Turkish manufacturer of fuel transportation and storage equipment.
It is expected that when Sheila clinches the mandate of NPP Parliamentary Candidate for the Ablekuma North Constituency, she will bring to bear her strong business network, marketing and HR development skills honed in the corporate world to bear on how the Polling Station Executives can best deliver victory to the Party in 2020.
EMERGENCE OF A TRUE DAUGHTER OF THE LAND
Ablekuma North needs the emergence of someone who stands tall and can bring back the spark that has been lost since we lost power to the NDC in 2008.
Sheila Bartels, born and raised in the constituency by no mean a person, other than Hon. Kwamena Bartels, former MP for Ablekuma North is this spark needed to light this fire. Many voters fondly recall his tenure as MP was filled with prosperity, opportunities, development and a mutual feeling of kinship.
This nostalgia and feeling of kinship is what will serve as a foundation for patriots and constituents to pitch in and support her vision for representing the people of Ablekuma North in 2020. It is already welcome news and known that she is being groomed by 2 past and successful MPs of the area namely Hon. Joe Appiah and her father to succeed where others failed.
WEAK VISIBILITY OF THE PARTY
Revamping the Constituency Party Office
The official party office has remained closed since 2016, while an MPs secretariat, owned and operated as the HQ of the MP and located in an obscure area in the constituency, remains the only go-to place for party members who seek the MP. People who seek to join the party or make inquiries do not have a place to go.
Although it will be a medium term goal for myself to spearhead the acquisition/construction of an ultra modern constituency office, it is important that the party, until such a time, is run from a place which is fit for the purpose. To this end, I intend to undertake a renovation and retooling of the party office, especially in the area of technology so as to enable the party to be abreast in modern ways of providing value to members and constituents in general. This retooling shall also go hand in hand with the relevant training in modern methods of political party management and the various tech tools made available.
GENERALLY DISUNITED PARTY
Breaking The Camps and Barriers:
Our greatest challenge since we won the 2016 election, has been the continuous finger-pointing, sabotage and cherrypicking of perceived supporters of other candidates to the disadvantage of most hardworking party faithful. This has led to a continuously disunited and embittered base, with deepening ‘campism’ to the detriment of the party.
One of the prime focus of my leadership will be to revive and restructure support systems which are critical to the smooth running of the party, providing a mechanism which channel support to ALL party faithful, especially to the PSEs regardless of who supported my win or not. I have begun this by ensuring that members of my campaign team manage relationships with the foresight of ensuring a united ABN ready to hit the ground running towards a resounding Victory 2020 as soon as the Primaries is over.
