The winner of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Weija/Gbawe parliamentary primaries held last Saturday, Mrs Tina Naa Ayeley Mensah, has refuted claims by the incumbent that the elections were rigged.
Reacting to the incumbent Member of Parliament (MP), Mrs Rosemund Comfort Abrah’s decision to contest the election results, Mrs Mensah said, “If there is any experience about losing, then I Tina Mensah, I have it more, but you should always try to be a good loser and not a bad one for that matter.
“I know how it is when people lose. It is when you carry the election into your heart. When you are going for elections you should know that it is two things; either you win or you lose, so you should accept that even before you enter it. If you think you are supreme and will win win win, this is what happens to you.” Results
She rebutted Mrs Abrah’s assertion that the Weija/Gbawe primaries were rigged, saying nothing happened and she did not understand why the incumbent was questioning the results.
Mrs Mensah told the Daily Graphic last Tuesday that the primaries were the third time she had contested a position with Mrs Abrah. The “first one was in Takoradi where we contested for the national women’s secretary. I beat her, and the second one was when I came in late 2012 and she (Mrs Abrah) got it and I supported her,” she stated.
According to Mrs Mensah, the delegates’ album that was in contention was the same album used on October 18, 2014 to elect the NPP flag bearer, Nana Akufo-Addo, and which she took part in putting together as the constituency secretary, a position she resigned only to take part in the primaries.
“This is the album that the national office provided and not the constituency or the region, and directives came from the national office that they are using the very register that they used for the October 18 elections,” she said.
Mrs Mensah also stated that none of the delegates was disenfranchised or told that his or her name was not in the register on the voting day, to even suggest that there was something wrong with the album (register). She, thus, expressed surprise at the incumbent’s allegations.
Similarly, in an interview with the Constituency Youth Organiser, Mr Robert Nii Armah Tagoe, he dismissed the allegations, saying there were no irregularities and that the incumbent had “lost totally. If we rig the elections, we will lose to the National Democratic Congress (NDC),” he said. Mr Tagoe added that nobody did anything wrong but the incumbent was contesting the results because she just did not want to accept them.
“Most of the delegates are saying that they don’t like her and the masses of the community are saying they don’t like our MP,” he chipped in to suggest that most of the constituents wanted a change. Call for unity
Mrs Mensah, nonetheless, urged all her party members in the constituency to unite behind her for the party to retain the Weija/Gbawe seat in the 2016 Election.
“I am calling for unity and a united front. Also my doors are open to everyone to come in and they shouldn’t hesitate to come to me with their problems, issues and what not,” she said in an interview with the Daily Graphic.
Mrs Mensah said her primary objective after winning the primaries was to bring on board every member of the party to have a united party.
“The bigger picture is the 2016 Election and that is what we are going to fight for now,” she stressed.
<<Print>>