A former Presiding member of the Obuasi Municipal Assembly, Lawrence Nana Obeng Bondah has picked a nomination form to contest the NPP Parliament primary in the Obuasi West constituency slated for January, 27th 2023.
Popularly known as Nana Bondah, the aspiring PC has also served as the Assembly member of the Anyinam electoral area and has been credited for spearheading some developmental projects in the electoral area and the Obuasi Municipality.
He is going into the contest with two (2) other people including the incumbent Member of Parliament Hon Kwaku Agyeman Kwarteng who is hoping to serve his fourth term in Parliament after entering the legislative house in 2012.
Speaking with the media, he said he was in the race to give the people of Obuasi the befitting representation they needed in Parliament. He said the incumbent MP has been allowed to serve the people of Obuasi for 3 consecutive terms hence the time has come for him to give way for others to serve the people.
” Hon. Kwaku Kwarteng has done his best and has been duly recognized by the party with some appointments including Deputy Minister of Finance but the time has come for him to also give way for others to also serve our people “.
He said though some roads and hospitals have been built under the leadership of the incumbent MP in the last 12 years, he believed a lot could have been done since in his view, the infrastructural gap keeps on widening while the youth of Obuasi are grappling with unemployment.
Message to the delegates
- Employment
Lawrence Nana Obeng Bondah bemoaned the rate of unemployment among the youth of Obuasi stressing that, the NPP played a major role in the comeback of AngloGold Ashanti but could not fathom why the current MP has not been instrumental in the recruitment of the youth of Obuasi into the Obuasi mine.
” This is something I will focus on when I get the mandate from my delegates and the people of Obuasi. We have the expertise to work in Obuasi but our leaders are not doing enough to push our youth into AGA. This is something I will take up as a project and ensure our boys get jobs at the Mine”.
- Establishment of technical University
The aspiring PC of the NPP said he will lead the establishment of a Technical University in Obuasi. He said Obuasi’s with its rich history as a mining town needed a technical University to train those who aspire to be in the Obuasi Mine and those who would want to be artisanal miners.
He said based on his track record as somebody who played a key role in the establishment of the KNUST-Obuasi campus as a Presiding member, he has what it takes to spearhead the establishment of a Technical University once given the mandate.
- Establishment of MP’s office
Nana Obeng Bondah chided the current MP for his lack of accessibility stressing that Hon. Kwaku Kwarteng hardly attends public functions in Obuasi. ” When was the last time you saw the MP at any public function as Media practictioners” . Nana Bondah quizzed”.
He said to avail himself to the constituents, he will establish an MP’s office with a Secretary. This will enable him attend to the pressing needs of his people.
- Restore NPP’s electoral gains
The former Presiding member again accused the Member of Parliament for not doing enough to protect the electoral gains of the New Patriotic Party. He said under the leadership of Hon. Kwaku Kwarteng, the NDC is becoming more popular and gaining grounds in Obuasi.
This he said, is due to the apathy within the party, a situation he said will be a thing of the past once he is given the nod to lead the party into election 2024.
- Bring back unity within the party
The NPP in the Obuasi West constituency is saddled with lack of unity, backbiting, victimization and autocracy according to the PC hopeful. A situation he said does not bode well for the party.
“Now, people are not able to voice out their grievances for fear of victimization. This has led to divisions in our party. I will lead a campaign to restore unity. I have done this before, when I was the Presiding member, I brought Assembly members together to support the current MCE”.
He again lamented over the party’s inability to build its own party office. He said the incumbent MP has failed to build a party office for the constituency after 12 years of becoming MP.
He called on the party delegates to support his bid by voting for him to enable the party ‘break the 8’.