Ampratwum lays claim to Mampong seat..As delegates decide tomorrow

The Deputy Ghana's High Commissioner to India and a leading contender for the Mampong NPP constituency seat, Mr. Ampratwum Sarpong, has expressed the optimism of winning the slot come Tuesday when the party goes for the primary.

Mr. Ampratwum, who is contesting the seat alongside the incumbent MP, Mr. Peter Sarkodie, a civil engineer, says his optimism stems from his commitment and dedicated services to the constituency.

“I have demonstrated enough commitment to the people of Mampong and they know my potential in wanting to help with the development of the constituency.

According to him, he has always been in constant touch with the people and knows the problems of the constituents and believes he has the right connections to surmount the myriad of problems bedevilling the people.

“I'm no stranger to Mampong. I've been in touch with the people and I'm very confident that I will emerge victorious,” he told The Chronicle in an interview.

He said the Mampong constituency incumbent had not done enough to merit a return to parliament indicating that the performance of the MP fell below expectation.
“The Mampong constituency needs to have strong voice and a man with the right connections to attract the needed resources for development.” Mr.Ampratwum said.

He noted that the constituency, which was known for its popularity in the nation's geo-political history and was once compared to Kumasi, had not seen appreciable development.

He said he was going to adopt a more pragmatic approach to manage the constituency by developing the human resource and intellectual capacity of the youth in the constituency when given the nod.

As a founding member of the party and a strong advocate of the Danquah-Busiah tradition, he was going to use the local and the international exposure acquired in his political career to lobby for developmental projects for the constituency.

Meanwhile summary from a survey conducted by an Accra-based group has narrowed the battle down to Mr. Ampratwum and one, Mr.Addai-Nimoh, but the scale tilts in favour of the deputy High Commissioner.

In the over 92 out of 101 polling station chairmen interviewed by the group, most of them opted to vote for either Mr.Ampratwum or Addai-Nimoh but majority of them believed that Mr. Ampratwum possessed the needed qualities and influence to be able to bring the required development to the area.

In a related development, the deputy High Commissioner has presented assorted medical equipment valued at over US$60,000 to the Mampong Government Hospital as part of his aims and objectives of ensuring quality healthcare delivery to the people in the constituency.

The items which comprised Laboratory equipment, Drugs, Rapid Malaria test and Electrical Syringe destroyer, was in response to appeal by the hospital management for medical facilities to help improve upon health services in the area.

Mr. Ampratwum expressed the hope that the equipment would go a long way to facilitate the operations of the hospital.

The Chief Medical Superintendent, Dr. Emmanuel Ahiable commended the aspirant for the kind gesture saying the equipment would help the medical staff in diagnosing certain diseases which hitherto were referred to Kumasi .

He said the Mampong hospital being the biggest health facility in the region apart from the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital, was operating under strenuous conditions due to lack of facility and said the assistance by the aspirant was timely.

Dr. Ahiable appealed to Mr. Ampratwum and other philanthropists to assist the hospital with staff bus and an ambulance to help convey referral patients to Kumasi .