‘2020 election was gerrymandering gone bad for the NPP’ in Bon Region – Asiedu Nketia
General Secretary of the opposition National Democratic Congress, Johnson Asiedu Nketia has described results from the 2020 elections in the Bono Region as gerrymandering which has gone bad.
The chief scribe of the NDC made this description during an interview on Moon Lite FM in the Bono region as part of the party’s “Thank You” tour in the region.
When asked about his assessment of the NDC’s performance in the region, Mr Aseidu Nketia said the NDC’s performance was very impressive and a blow to the NPP as their plans to gerrymander the then Bono-Ahafo region for political capital did not work. He said, “the 2020 election was gerrymandering gone bad for the NPP.”
Explaining further, General Mosquito as he is affectionately called indicated that the NPP government in dividing the Bono-Ahafo region pushed all the strongholds of the NDC into the Bono region to sway them to vote for the NPP since it had given them a region.
“They pushed all our strongholds to Bono East region so that they will think the government gave them a region and will in turn vote for them. But that did not work as we retained all our seats in the Bono region and increased the margin of votes for our presidential candidate,” he said.
Regarding the Bono Region, Mr Aseidu Nketia said that the region had 12 seats with one outstanding for the NDC which made analysts describe it as a stronghold of the NPP but with the hard work of the regional chairman whom he described as a strategic chairman, the NDC gained 5 additional seats given them six equal seats with the NPP.
On the strategy the NDC used to win the 5 additional seats, General Mosquito said, “The NPP made it an Agenda to tell lies against H.E Mahama and his wife Lordinan in the run-up to the 2016 election. Most people in the region bought into the lies against the NDC. So, in 2020 we exposed the lies of the NPP used in 2016 which most people had become aware of. We promised to claim back Busia’s Wenchi seat. We told them even Busia would have voted for the NPP considering the level of corruption in the government.”
The General Secretary of the NDC added that the party won the Sunyani west seat but it was snatched from them. He alleged that “the candidate of the NPP had his bodyguard roaming about with guns. It would have been a disaster if we had retaliated”. He also cautioned the candidate to prepare for a run-off.
He also made claims of bribery on the eve of December 7th 2020 by the NPP which he claims recipients who voted for the NPP because the NDC did not meet their demands of similar bribes have regrated. He concluded by saying that the NPP will get rid of the idea that Bono is their stronghold after the outcome of the 2024 elections.
On the issue of the delay in the appointment of MMDCEs by the Nana-Addo government, he argued that there is virtually no money in the Common Fund to undertake developmental projects at the local government level hence the delay to buy some time.
Source: Heizel Joshua | myactiveonline.com
