AN ASSEMBLY OF STOOGES AND BOOTLICKERS: THE ERA OF DENNIS ARMAH-FRIMPONG, DCE, AGONA EAST
Agona East is obviously a place to watch out for in the upcoming Parliamentary elections in 2020. The good old Professor Yankah ,who is touted with a lot of projects in the District, comes face to face with the two term incumbent member of parliament for the constituency.
As an orphan Constituency , the ruling government can only boast of a District Chief Executive (DCE) who will discharge his duties in respect of the agenda of the government at the district level.
As a representative of the government, he will need the support of the assembly to deal with matters of national interest that will inure to the benefit of the party at large.
One would admit that considering the political dynamics and the role of government appointees in charting the developmental agenda of the ruling party in government and at the district level it is always imperative and critical to consider the kind of persons appointed to fill such portfolios.
The district Assembly is a critical branch of government that must always be in the position to decentralize government policies through competent people.
Hon. Dennis Armah Feimpong, the District Chief Executive for Agona East is on the verge of taking decisions that will once again cause a lot of damage to the strength of the party in the assembly.
In 2017 when he was appointed as the DCE for the district he managed to appoint government appointees of his interest who endorsed his candidature as one of the processes he has to go through.
The manner in which the appointment was done unilaterally was met with a lot of misunderstanding and misfeelings from the executives of the constituency and a lot of party faithfuls.
Let me provide the records of the said appointees who are yet to create a recipe of disaster for the government and the party in the new assembly.
ALBERT QUAINOO
This man happens to be the longest serving assemblyman in the district, he has been to the assembly for four terms. He also doubled as the Finance and Administration (F&A) Convener for the just ended assembly.
Without him background in Accounting, he could not contribute in anyway to improving the finances of the Assembly.
In the just ended assembly elections, he lost miserably in his electoral area. On record, he had just one vote at Asamoakwaa, polling station which has a total registered voters of about 5000, in his electoral area.
The main reason for his defeat across the various polling stations was simply because of his gross incompetence.
It was practically real that he was a bad candidate and the entire electoral area were dissatisfied with his performance.
His choice by the DCE once again was pivoted on the fact that, he is a close ally.
HANNAH ASAMOAH.
The biggest scandal to have ever happened to the NPP Agona East was to vote this young lady who has brought division and reduced the level of momentum in the youth as the Constituency youth Organizer.
She also doubles as the district school feeding coordinator and currently the government appointee from Asafo Electoral area.
Her appointment was equally greeted with disappointment and grief from her own electoral area knowing her strong background in the NDC.
It’s not strange that a lady who defected from the NDC in 2012 to NPP will be made the district school feeding coordinator, constituency youth organiser and a government appointee for the same electoral area she campaigned vigorously against Nana Akuffo Addo.
The DCE is known to be a close ally of this lady(a stoogee).
Agona Asafo electoral area is strategic electoral area in the Constituency giving the historical antecedents of elections between the NPP and NDC in that electoral area. Any decision taken must be strategically positioned to consolidate the gains made by the NPP in 2012 and 2016.
This brought about a serious problem that is still persistent.
It is the same misfortune that is about to take place once again if care is not taken. Must the interest of the DCE be superior than the Party? The NPP must think through this.
DARLING ARMAH-MCKENZIE
Popularly known as the Mugabe of Agona East district Assembly. If political experience is anything to go by, then Hon. Mackenzie, a direct brother of the DCE, will be the best person to be relied on when it comes to the assembly concept. However, experience also testifies that, he is one person who will always compromise on the position of the NPP Government for one reason, Money.
He was the assemblyman for Adwenpaye-Brofoyeduru electoral area in Nsaba. He has been the candidate for four terms and has served in various capacities at the district Assembly.
When Agona East and West were together as Agona District, Mackenzie was there.
This time around he decided to hand over the baton to another person.
Mackenzie was once the Research and Elections Officer of the New Patriotic Party in Agona East.
He controversially abandoned his post and switched to the camp of the NDC in the 2016 elections. He is currently under suspension per the sanctions hereby metted out by the party’s disciplinary committee of the Central Region.
It is politically becoming a reality in Agona East that the DCE is appointing Mackenzie as a government appointee in the new assembly to be constituted which could be a dangerous recipe.
The chronicle of events and how they have unfolded over the period must be critically be taking into consideration if the NPP is interested in consolidating the gains the party has made and also to chalk subsequent success especially in the upcoming 2020 elections.
What is needed in the Assembly is not family and friends or stooges. It needs vibrant, competent and hard-working representatives who will properly chart the course of government and the district.
A DCE who could not be be interested in having an NPP MP, but rather interested in satisfying the interest of an opponent, could only parade a brigade of bootlickers for his own satisfaction and not that of Party and Government.
