Jeff Tetteh Kavianu, a former member of parliament for Upper Manya Krobo in Eastern Region who represented the National Democratic Congress (NDC), has been making multiple attempts since Monday to file his nomination forms at both the constituency and regional offices. However, he has been unsuccessful.
The former Member of Parliament accused the party executives of going into hiding on purpose as part of a larger plot not to accept his nomination form as he stages a comeback to challenge the sitting Member of Parliament, Bismark Tetteh Nyarko, who defeated him in the primary elections four years ago.
The incumbent Member of Parliament is Bismark Tetteh Nyarko.
After rushing there in an effort to file an allegation that the Upper Manya Krobo constituency office has been locked since Sunday, March 19, 2023, after the MP filed his nomination forms, the visibly worried former lawmaker was seen stranded at the Eastern Regional Secretariat of the NDC on Wednesday. He had rushed there in an effort to try and file the allegation.
His hopes were dashed, however, when he arrived at the regional secretariat and no one was there to receive the form. The deadline for filing had already passed at 5:00 p.m. on Wednesday, March 22, 2023.
“I was at the constituency office Monday where nominations were to be filed; the office had been locked from Monday until today, and I called the Regional Secretary, who is in the person of Baba Jamal Konneh, and I told him that this is the message of what we have been witnessing at the Asesewa constituency office; he asked me to continue going to the office, and I was giving him feedback.”
I was at the office Monday where the nomination was to be filed; the office had been locked since Monday. He requested that, in the event that they were unable to accept my application, I report to the regional office in order to hand in my paperwork.
He continued, “And I began calling him [the Regional Secretary] yesterday, but he did not answer any of my calls, text messages, or WhatsApp messages, and he has not answered any of my calls since then.”
Unfortunately, the administrators are here, and I came to meet the Vice Chairman, Hon. Ransford Boakye, so I have been at this location (the Regional Secretariat) since the morning to submit my forms. The Regional Secretary gave the administrators the instruction to not receive the forms and to not submit any forms at the regional level.
He presented proof in the form of copies of the completed nomination form and other documents, including the receipt from the bank indicating payment of the GHC40,000 filing fee.
Jeff Tetteh Kavianu issued a call to action to the National Chairman and the General Secretary of the NDC, urging them to immediately intervene in the situation to ensure that fairness prevails and prevent any consequences on the unity of the Upper Manya Krobo constituency.
Because of Bismark Tetteh Nyarko’s exceptional performance in terms of developmental interventions in the areas of education, health, road rehabilitation, women empowerment, and the provision of police stations and streetlights, among other things, the Upper Manya Krobo Constituency Executives of the NDC declared their support for him to run unopposed prior to the opening of nominations this year.
This was done before the nominations were even made available.
The constituency executives proceeded with their plan to hand over a check for GHS 6,000 to the MP in order to pay for the nomination form.
Upper Manya Krobo constituency is a stronghold of the NDC; however, in 2016, the opposition New Patriotic Party candidate Joseph Tetteh won the seat for the first time since 1992.
Tetteh defeated the then-incumbent NDC MP Jeff Tetteh Kavianu, who polled 10,544 votes, representing 42.67 percent of the total vote.
It has been determined that the constituents’ lack of unity and disenchantment contributed to the loss.
Bismark Tetteh Nyarko of the NDC won the parliamentary election in 2020 with 14,967 votes, which is equivalent to 54.04% of the total vote. His opponent, Joseph Tetteh of the NPP, received 12,307 votes, which is equivalent to 44.44% of the total vote.