NDC MP Goes Mad

•Alfred Abayateye

The Member of Parliament (MP) for Sege in the Greater Accra region, Alfred Abayateye, has thrown caution to the wind, lambasting some disgruntled members of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in the area.

The NDC members claimed that they were leaving the party because of the MP's alleged incompetence and the attitude of the party's constituency executive.

But the MP, who was said to have developed the attitude of waving at them anytime they see him, will not take any such accusation.

Suspecting the so-called resignation and charges against him as having been orchestrated by his predecessor who is said to be eyeing the seat, Mr Abayateye said, 'I am ready for him. He cannot compare himself to me.

He is a Maths tutor, I am an accountant and a banker. I have served the Bank of Ghana for 27 years. My own [child] has got a First Class, what class has he got which he is using to teach the Maths?'

He added: 'An MP is not development person. The water he is fetching and drinking, does he know how the water came about? If I am incompetent, he must know I can speak better than he is doing.

I don't want to take him on personally but if he wants to play to the bull, I will play to the horse,' he told Joy FM.

About 50 members of the NDC in the Sege Constituency said they have resigned from the party.

According to them, they were disappointed in Alfred Abayateye and the party's constituency executives.

In a letter addressed to President Mills and National Chairman of the NDC Dr Kwabena Adjei, the aggrieved supporters also expressed disappointment at government's failure to create jobs in the area.

The disgruntled NDC supporters accused the MP and constituency executives of greed and working against the party.

'As the party is in power now, we expect them to take care of some of the members who are unemployed,' a supporter said.

Another said the MP had kept his distance from them and responded to their greetings by waving from afar.

Philip Tetteh-Fio, reputed as a strong supporter of the NDC in the constituency, told Joy Fm that he had remained unemployed though his party was in power.

He threatened to vote for the New Patriotic Party (NPP) parliamentary candidate come election 2012. The MP doubted that those behind the letter were genuine NDC members.

Unemployment has been the hallmark of the Mills administration, with NDC foot-soldiers taking over public facilities like toilets and lorry parks in the name of 'our party is in office.'

President Atta Mills, reacting to the orgy of seizure of public properties and other lawless activities, said the foot-soldiers had resorted to that action because there were no jobs for them, rubbishing the assertion by Minister of Information John Akologo Tia, recently on a television programme that over 2 million jobs had allegedly been created by the government in the last two years.