I Paid Money To Get NO VOTE Against Prez Mahama Reduced - Rachel Appoh

Rachel Appoh
Member of Parliament for (MP) Gomoa Central, Florence Rachel Appoh, says had it not been through her tireless efforts, the dissenting votes of NO against President John Dramani Mahama in last weekend's primaries would have been increased in her constituency.

She said on Kasapa FM Monday that she had to pay money to appease some of her constituents to reconsider their decision of voting NO against the President.

She said going into Saturday's Presidential and Parliamentary primaries of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC), a lot of her constituents who are members of the umbrella family were peeved for being denied a share of the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) initiative spearheaded by the Ministry of Gender and Social Protection.

'I worked tirelessly before managing to reduce the NO VOTE against the President. The people wanted to vote against President Mahama because they feel they have been denied the LEAP initiative by the Gender and Social Protection Ministry. If you look at the District LEAP initiative poverty ranking, we are second and so my people do not understand why they should be denied that initiative,' she lamented.

She added 'I have to spend for the NO VOTE against the President to get reduced to 350. Even with this figure, I cried, begged and paid some money to some people before I was able to achieve that.'

The Electoral Commission that supervised the NDC's nationwide polls recorded 61,836 NO votes, representing 4.9% of dissent vote against President Mahama while 1,199,118, representing 95.10% voted YES to maintain his candidature for the 2016 Presidential elections.

Appoh, a former deputy Minister for Gender and Social Protection, further told Banson that the treatment being meted against her people is a clear indication that some people in her party want to get her kicked out from Parliament.

She said the campaign against her second bid to Parliament had been with the constituents for the past one year, noting that the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) and the National Security were even aware of the situation.

She cautioned that any attempt to pursue that cause going into the 2016 general elections will not only affect her but the fortunes of President Mahama as well.

'They should talk to all those wanting my exit from Parliament because if they want to work against me it will definitely affect the President. To be sincere with you, my constituents love me. And if some people will sit somewhere and still manipulate some of people to get me out of Parliament, it is going to affect the votes of the President in the 2016 general elections.'

Appoh was retained as the Parliamentary candidate of the NDC for the 2016 elections after beating her three other contenders with over 1000 votes.

Source: kasapafmonline