Former TMA PM Eyes Tema West Seat

Romeo Elipklim Akahoho, former Presiding Member (PM) of the Tema Metropolitan Assembly (TMA), says he has enough under his sleeves to win the Tema West Constituency parliamentary seat for the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in 2020.

Mr Akahoho, who is also the longest serving Assembly Member for the Adjei Kojo Electoral Area, serving for 12 years now, said it was high time he moves to the level of a Member of Parliament (MP), when the NDC opens nominations.

Based on this, he said he would not contest again as the Assembly Member for his electoral area, “because I need to move up to win the Tema West Constituency parliamentary seat for my darling NDC, for the first time in our political history.”

The media engaged Mr Akahoho at the Nazareth Congregation of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana, Adjei Kojo, when he donated musical instruments to the church on his birthday.

Bill Boglo-Hedo and James Enu contested the Tema West NDC primaries in 2015, in which the former lost to James Enu, who was handed electoral bruises in the 2016 parliamentary elections by the New Patriotic Party (NPP) candidate, Carlos Ahenkorah, now Deputy Trade Minister.

It is not clear whether Carlos Ahenkorah would defend his seat when his party opens nominations, but Bill Boglo-Hedo and James Enu, according to information The Chronicle gathered, have laced their boots to contest again.

However, Romeo Akahoho said none of the three, or any candidate the NPP would field would be a match for him, should he go through the vetting, after nominations are opened.

As a result of his enviable track record in his twelfth year as an Assembly Member, plus his deep understanding of politics in Ghana, Mr Akahoho said that the party stalwarts have reposed confidence in him, as the one to win Tema West for the NDC since 1992.

As a former PM and matured lobbyist, he said he would be able to lobby for infrastructural developments for his constituency, especially, Adjei Kojo, where over 90 percent of the area's roads are unmotorable.

For example, he led in the struggle for the independence of Adjei Kojo, which used to be a subset of Klagon, and with Adjei Kojo now fast developing and expanding, Romeo Akahoho is fronting for the division of the electoral area into three electoral areas.

“I have gone through the mill after serving on all the committees at the assembly, and considering my experience in lobbying, I believe I have the capability of changing the fortunes of the Tema West Constituency when I become the MP,” he noted.