A calculated move by NDC communicators in the Shama constituency of Western Region to make Samuel Erickson Abakah, Member of Parliament for the area, unpopular has backfired.
The opposition party’s communicators have accordingly been advised to go back to their propaganda machinery to review their tactics. Hardly a day passes by without some of them going on local radio stations to lambast the MP for what they say is his failure to visit his constituency.
According to them, Mr Abakah has never set foot on Shama soil since he entered Parliament on January 7, this year. They claim the legislator stays outside the constituency and always directs party executives to act on his behalf when there is an issue to be addressed. The NDC communicators say what even beat their imagination is that although Parliament is on recess, the MP has not taken advantage of this period to visit his constituency. They also accuse him of failing to honour a single campaign promise to the constituents.
Rejection
But some residents in the constituency have come out strongly to debunk the allegations. In an interview with a cross-section of the people this week, they dismissed the allegations as pure lies and propaganda. They urged members of the public to treat the allegations with contempt. They described their MP as a hardworking gentleman. Contrary to claims by the NDC that Mr Abakah had never visited the constituency, his constituents said he is always in their midst. They said the MP comes around almost every weekend and had, from August 11, been in the constituency.
“Sometimes, he even comes down twice within a week,” they added. The constituents said they are keenly monitoring activities and movements of their MP, and can testify that he has visited about 53 out of the 58 communities in the area after the election. Wondering why the NDC should peddle such lies about their MP, they said these lies will always be countered. The angry constituents said it is also not true that the MP had not honoured a single campaign promise to them.
They said all projects executed by Mr Abakah in the last eight months, particularly provision of potable water for over eighty percent of the constituents, are evident, and urged the NDC communicators, who are also beneficiaries of these projects, to stop their lies and propaganda.
