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15.05.2019 Rejoinder

Re: Setting The Records Straight

By Team Irene Mensah
Re: Setting The Records Straight
15.05.2019 LISTEN

A supposed comparison of the track record of Mr. Emmanuel Allotey, current Constituency Treasurer and that of Mrs. Irene Mensah, frontrunner in our party's internal race for the 2020 Parliamentary ticket has emerged on social media and as is very typical of these write-ups, it is a personality attack.

Ordinarily, the style of the Irene Mensah team would be to take the attacks in our stride and just press on to the beckoning victory, since after all, it is a family contest at the end of the day. But we realize that, this write-up borrows too much from the character of previous write-ups and therefore oozes with ignorance and a lot of disjointed logic, even as it is souped in insults.

The subtle attack on the late W.O 1 Edmund Ayitey, father of Mrs. Irene Mensah, will not be responded to, because the memory of that hero of the NDC is too dignified for us to make it a subject of such unfortunate ignorance and disrespect. We leave whoever is behind the attack to his/her own conscience.

However, for crying out loud, a little bit of research on the late former Chairman of the NDC's Apanfo A Branch, would have armed whoever wrote this disrespectful piece with knowledge about the fact that the Apanfo Branch Chairmanship, and Executive membership for Anyaa Sowutuom, were actually the least capacity that he served in.

W.O 1 Edmund Ayitey was not only a foundational member of the NDC, but he was also one of many important anchors in the AFRC and PNDC regimes which are the forebearers of the great NDC. On this score, we pause to ask, is it a crime that Mrs. Irene Mensah's father is towering figure, even in posthumous terms, in the NDC, the party Emmanuel Allotey, whose whole family tree is known to be NPP, is seeking to lead?

Now about this write-up being a so-called comparison of records between Hon. Irene Mensah and Mr. Emmanuel Allotey, we find it very interesting that the writer flaunts all of the position that Mr. Allotey has served in, in the NDC. Eeeiii, since when did service in the party become a bragging right? And the writer sought to pass off Mrs. Irene Mensah as an ordinary latter day NDC upstart. We genuinely believe you are ignorant about who Hon. Irene Mensah is, so here is seizing a teachable opportunity for your sake: Yes, she is the proud daughter of the late WO 1 Edmund Ayitey, but beyond that, she is also the Founder and originator of the Pentecost University College Branch of the Tertiary Education and Institutions Network (TEIN) of the NDC. Irene Mensah spent her own money and energy to form PUC TEIN at the peril of being sacked, during a dangerous time when the NPP's Kufuor was President. How many pro party organizations has Mr. Allotey started for NDC? We are not talking about serving in positions that someone else' sweat has created here.

And lest we forget, Hon. Irene Mensah was also in charge of the NDC Government's laptop distribution on PUC campus between 2008 and 2009; she has long been involved in party affairs, you just have no idea.

Anyway, the reason we do not flaunt these is because our campaign is based on the thinking that holding a position or doing something for the party is a privilege, not a bragging right! Now that Emmanuel Allotey is bragging with the fact that he has served in executive positions in the party, we shudder to think what he will do next time if he becomes a PC! He probably will start a war of words with Hon Zanetor Rawlings because he, Allotey has served in more executive capacities than Dr. Rawlings whose only claim to relevance is her father?

Allotey's writer claims and we quote: “Mr. Emmanuel Adotey Allotey* was a rock Video branch chairman from 2010 to 2014. He contested for PC in 2012 and 2015 respectively. Prior to that, he was a branch organizer and a secretary from 2007 to 2010. He was also a polling agent for the 2008 general election in all the two rounds and voted at the Gbawe cluster of schools where land - guards and the police exchanged gunshots at the peril of their lives. Mr.Allotey* put his life on the line for the love he has for our party at this constituency. He was a member of the election coalition team in 2012.”

Ok, but if we may ask, how have his service in these positions helped our party in Anyaa Sowutuom? How come under Mr. Allotey's numerous ‘heroic and important services” in various capacities in the party, we have still not won the Anyaa Sowutuom seat? In American English, there is a proverb that goes; “You do not fix it when it is not broken.” The reverse is just as true – you fix it when it is broken!

The wind of change is clear, Anyaa Sowutuom is ready for a woman from NDC to represent the Constituency in Parliament, and every well-meaning NDC member knows this from the trend of events from years down the line, why are Emmanuel Allotey and his team fighting history's own handwriting?

Mr. Allotey tried being PC twice and failed, do you not think that he owes it to common sense to at least encourage others, if not give way? And while whoever the writer of that offensive article is, is mauling over this, can we ask simply why the constant attacks on Irene Mensah? Obviously, she is not the only one in the race for the Parliamentary ticket of the NDC!

Oh, we know why human nature makes us attack what we fear! Even so, in the panic attacks, we ask that circumspection is exercised because this is still a family affair. If Mr. Allotey and his camp are truly in this race with the intent of winning the seat for NDC, then what is the purpose of attacking and dividing the front of the party ahead of the Parliamentary election itself?

And as for the claim that status in a party is not hereditary and therefore Mrs. Irene Mensah's father's track record cannot be imputed to her, we invite you to go and make the same case against Hon. Dr. Zanetor Rawlings.

This distraction was just what it was, a distraction. Sorry if we have created room for offense. We did not mean to. But we do not apologize because we are timid either, we do so because we cherish being on the side of God, truth and common sense.

Long live Irene Mensah, Long live NDC, long live Anyaa Sowutuom.

From #Team IreneMensah

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