2012 vice-presidential candidate of the Progressive People’s Party (PPP), Madam Eva Lokko, has indicated her readiness to cause an electoral tsunami in the Osu Klottey Korley as she formally enters the fray to contest the Osu Klottey Korle parliamentary seat in November 2016.
Consequently, Madam Lokko has picked forms to file her nomination to vie to become the PPP’s parliamentary candidate for the Osu Klottey Korle constituency for 2016.
Ms. Lokko, who announced her bid at a news conference in Accra yesterday, intimated that she is the right candidate to represent constituents of Klottey Korle in Parliament.
She went on to stress that her conviction to become the MP for Klottey Korle was not just because she is a native of Osu, born and bred there, but also has the requisite qualification to offer the right leadership and provide better representation than what the people are getting currently.
Flanked by the National Chairman and the Chairman of the PPP Council of Elders, Mr. Nii-Allottey Brew-Hammond, and Mr. Mike Eghan Snr., respectively, Ms. Lokko, who was a former Director-General of the Ghana Broadcasting Cooperation (GBC), said Osu Klottey Korle, which used to be a flourishing place many years ago, has now been thrown backwards in terms of development.
According to her, after 59 years of independence, hardship, joblessness and widespread social problems were widespread in the constituency which development requires a hands-on kind of leadership to take the constituents out of the economic and social abyss.
She stated that the PPP could no longer sit down to allow the poor state of development to fester hence her decision to vie for the seat in Parliament.
Madam Lokko said Ghanaians were tired of empty promises that only result in monuments that do not put food on the table, pay school fees nor ensure preventive healthcare among other things.
She argued that the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the New Patriotic Party (NPP)-the two political parties-which have held the Osu Klottey Korle seat at various times, have both failed the constituents.
She said the constituents were tired of the same political parties shouting at each other every chance they get, accusing each other of being corrupt.
In her view, the two parties (the NDC and the NPP) were the same in character but different in name.
Since 1996 the Osu Klottey Korle seat has swung between the ruling NDC and the opposition NPP.
The EGLE party won the seat in 1992 but relinquished it four years later.
In 2012 NDC’s, Nii Armah Ashittey, polled over 30,000 votes thus over 50% of valid votes cast to retain the seat for his party.
Despite the dominance of the two leading parties, Madam Lokko said she was not scared to take on both the NDC and the NPP, saying she has what it takes to beat them in a clean contest.
Intra-party contest in both the NDC and the NPP has left the two parties with divided fronts.
Factions in NDC are currently battling in court over who should be the party’s parliamentary candidate for Osu Klottey Korle for the November 7 polls.
The NPP had had their turn in court already following a bitter parliamentary primary there.
Madam Lokko is convinced the chiefs, elders, opinion leaders and the people of Osu Klottey Korle deserve better than the kind of leadership the two parties have offered them.
She therefore, promised that the PPP will offer “honest and incorruptible leadership” to the constituents of Osu Klottey Korle.
“Enough is enough,” she declared and said “it is time for good governance. It is time to put Ghana and its citizens first and the Progressive People’s Party is going to do just that.”
She also revealed the PPP has taken stock and laid down its strategies for election 2016 and that each member of the party has a vital part to play to bring PPP victory.
Madam Lokko intimated that her part was to run as the PPP parliamentary candidate from Osu Klottey Korle.
Madam Lokko is the first Satellite Communications Engineer in Ghana, first woman Broadcast Engineer in Ghana, first woman Engineer at Ghana Broadcasting Corporation and the first and only female Director-General of GBC since its inception in 1935.
She has had international exposure having worked for 13 years in the UN system including the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM UN-WOMEN) United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS).
She served UNDP’s 144 Country Offices worldwide, managing 18 sub-Regional Information Managers.
Madam Lokko is the founder/CEO of Totally Youth, a not-for profit NGO, supporting unemployed youth into jobs and businesses.
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