Bagbin to contest seat for fifth time

Page 15, Feb 15, 2008
Story: Emmanuel Adu-Gyamerah
THE Minority Leader in Parliament, Mr Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin has declared his intention to contest the Nadwoli West seat which he has occupied since the country returned to constitutional rule in 1992.
He is one of the few MPs in the House who has seen it all in the country’s legislature during the Fourth Republic and would be contesting the seat for the fifth time.
While people are of the opinion that after occupying the seat for four conservative times, it was time he bade farewell to the House, Mr Bagbin told the Daily Graphic in an interview that he had no intention of doing so now.
“Why should I quit now when it is clear that the National Democratic Congress (NDC) is on the verge of winning yet another historic election?”, he argued.
He described the Nadwoli seat as “a safe seat” for the NDC due to his performance for the past 15 years.
Mr Bagbin stated that although the New Patriotic Party (NPP) would do all it could to unseat him, it would be fighting a loosing battle just like previous elections.
He explained that during the 2004 elections, both the President and his vice pitched camps in his constituency at different periods and were not successful in their bid to unseat him.
Mr Bagbin added that this time the District Chief Executive of the area, Wing Commander Eric Dakora, who was a former member of the NDC had been made the NPP parliamentary candidate to contest him.
“I will floor him just as I have done to others in the previous elections”, he said and called on Ghanaians to stand up against any attempts by the NPP to use its incumbency to win the impending elections.