Member of Parliament (MP) for South Tongu Constituency in the Volta region, Mr. Kobla Mensah Woyome, is likely to lose his parliamentary seat in the 2016 polls if he does not work on his conduct and competence, Today can report.
According to residents of the area, the constituency which is perceived to be an electoral “World Bank” of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) lacks social and infrastructure developments such as markets, schools, roads and potable water.
The situation, the residents said, has had adverse effects on the community with a population of over 52,000.
The South Tongu constituency is one of the strongholds of the NDC.
It garnered 29,972, representing 92 per cent of votes in the constituency in the first round of the 2008 elections and got 32,122 representing 91.86 per cent in the run-off whilst its parliamentary candidate got 28,193, representing 86.1 per cent.
In the 2012 election, the NDC polled 36,989, representing 92.93 per cent, while its parliamentary candidate polled 32,785, representing 82.58 per cent.
Speaking in an interview with Today during a visit to Gadotse and Adutor on Wednesday, January 20, 2016 the constituents complained that the incumbent MP, who apparently is a brother to business man, Mr. Alfred Agbesi Woyome, was not doing enough to ensure that South Tongu has its fair share of the national cake.
The aggrieved residents of Galotse, Gbugbla, Adutor, Gamenu, Gbadagbakope, Agave-Afedome, Agbagorme , Sogakope, Agbakope and the surrounding communities within the South Tongu therefore dared politicians of the ruling NDC, particularly the incumbent MP, not to step their foot in the said areas to campaign during the 2016 electioneering campaign season.
Dwelling on the maxim: “No road, no votes,” the visibly enraged residents explained that the roads from Dambala to Galotse and from Sogakope-Sokpui to Agave-Afedome as well as from Dambala to Adutor in the South North District over a distance of nine miles, along 14 farming communities with over 52,000 people in the constituency were in deplorable conditions, making life unbearable for the people, especially during the rainy season.
According to the residents, because of the bad nature of the roads, the inhabitants, mostly farmers, find it difficult to even send their farming produce to the market centres, as drivers were unwilling to ply the roads in the rainy season.
The residents lamented that armed robbers always take advantage of the nature of the roads to rob commuters of their belongings at gun point.
According to the residents, most of the tomato farmers run at a loss at the end of every year, as most of their harvest go rotten because drivers refuse to ply the roads to bring them to the markets.
They emphatically stated that considering the ordeal that they go through, there was no need for them to vote for the incumbent MP, who only visits the area during electioneering campaigns to canvas for votes.
In the tour to Gamenu and Gbadagbakope, the fishing communities within the constituency, the residents blamed the sitting MP and President John Dramani Mahama for neglecting them, lamenting that the only access road to cross the footbridge of the river Volta which connects the two communities was not motorable, hindering the people from accessing social services such as health care and education.
They further lamented the bad nature of the roads in the area and attributed it to rampant attacks by armed robbers and pleaded with President Mahama to provide the people in the communities with adequate security and a modern market to enhance their trading activities.
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