Fiifi Buckman tells Effia-KwesimintsimI will never be a dumb MP...Parliament is for people who can talk

THE only independent aspiring Member of Parliament (MP) for Effia-Kwesimintsim constituency in the Western Region, Mr. Philip Fiifi Buckman, has stated that he would not be a dumb Member of Parliament if elected by the constituents, but would be one of the loudest members in parliament, to articulate the views and concerns of the people of Efiia-Kwesimintsim.

The law student told The Chronicle in an interview, after filing his nomination papers at the district office of the Electoral Commission (EC) in Takoradi, that his reason for joining the race, stemmed from one thing, why the views of the constituency had, over the years, not been articulated by the sitting MP, Mr. Joe Baidoe Ansah.

“Our constituency has not been heard in the august House of Parliament, while the constituency is being confronted with a lot of challenges, and its people continue to battle with numerous challenges that could have easily been dealt with by government, if efforts were put in by the sitting MP,” he noted.

Consequently, he explained to the paper how he was going to confront the major problems facing the constituency. Instead of being silent and watch over these challenges, he pledged to first of all, be a good lobbyist to get government attention to the constituency.

Mr. Buckman also indicated his readiness to constantly share his thoughts, on debates in the house of parliament on national issues, and would also speak about the constituency and the Western Region.

This is the only way he said, the constituency and the region could be sold to government, investors and donor agencies, for their support.

Touching on the problems facing the constituency, he revealed that there was not a single library and training school, for skills acquisition in the constituency at the moment. Therefore, he stated, among his plans for the education sector, he would build community libraries in the constituency, and top it up with a vocational training village at Whindo, where the youth and the unemployed in the constituency, could be trained.

Continuing, he told this reporter that his desire, as an educationist to impact knowledge on pupils, would further be enhanced and given a push, if he is elected by the people of Effia-Kwesimitsim, because it was part of his agenda to get other teachers involved in the promotion of education in the constituency.

Buckman said he would create an education fund, to take care of the needy but brilliant students, an idea he said, he gained knowledge of, from the publisher of The Chronicle, who has over the years been helping poor and needy students in the constituency.

To this end, he said, he would continue the work of the ace journalist.

Inter schools quiz and debate competitions among students, to examine them in preparation for their final examination papers, he said, would be conducted.

This, he noted, would be conducted annually under his reign as MP for the constituency, to adequately prepare students to take their examinations with confidence.

Touching on health, the aspiring MP promised to build a health post at Effiakuma, one of the densely populated areas in the constituency, which has not got a single health centre. Though the publisher of The Chronicle Nana Kofi Coomson had started lobbying for a health post in the area, Buckman told this reporter that he would continue with that effort, to ensure that Effiakuma got a health post for good healthcare delivery.

He revealed how he would craft what he called “An MP's communal labour days”, a new initiative to that he intended to use to fight sanitation, to eradicate malaria in the constituency.

He noted that it would involve all the communities in the constituency, on specific days in a month, to clean up their environments.

Mr. Fiifi Buckman also outlined his plans and vision for traders in the constituency. According to him, he would lobby for soft loans for market women and small scale businessmen, to help them to revive the Apremdo Market, which is currently a white elephant.

This, he believed, would streamline the activities of traders in the constituency, and eventually transform the lives of the people.

For the youth in the constituency, Mr. Buckman said, they should think about the future and not the present.

This is because, many of the political parties that are campaigning, would want to get their attention with material wealth during this period of the campaign season.

But he advised against that should they fail themselves and heed to these evil tactics, they would sell their conscience and future to wicked politicians.