By Anthony Adongo Apubeo
Navrongo (U/E), March 23, GNA – A group ‘Friends of Navrongo and Dr Paarechuga’, has filed nominations for Dr Jacob Anankware Paarechuga, a Senior Lecturer at the University of Energy and Natural Resources (UENR) to compel him to contest in the National Democratic Congress primaries in the Navrongo Central Constituency.
The Senior Lecturer who had picked nomination forms to contest in the primaries was persuaded by some members of the public to rather channel his rich academic experiences into the academia instead of venturing into partisan politics.
Dr Paarechuga considered the idea and had planned to step down but the group decided to mobilise resources to file the nominations on his behalf on Wednesday to compel him to contest the seat to lead the party in the 2024 elections in the area.
The group are made up of youth, farmers, women, indigenes and non-indigenes of the area who believe in the leadership qualities of Dr Paarechuga.
According to the group, Dr Paarechuga was a born leader who was humble and had the interest of the people in the Constituency at heart which was key to transforming the Constituency and improving the livelihoods of the people.
Mr Hillmann Yakubu Ndamba, one of the members of the group told the Ghana News Agency in an interview that Mr Sampson Tangombu Chiragia, the incumbent Member of Parliament had not failed woefully as MP, however, they believed that Dr Paarechuga could do better if given the nod.
He said without being in any political position, Dr Paarechuga had been able to help a number of the youth in the area to secure jobs and scholarships to study outside the country, which was helping to empower the youth in the area.
Mr Ndamba explained that despite the rich educational experience of Dr Paarechuga, he still humbled himself, interacted and listened to the concerns of the constituents and worked to find solutions to those that he could, adding that “this is something that is missing in the current MP”.
He said although MPs by their mandate were supposed to enact laws, the MPs also owed it a duty to lobby and facilitate development for their constituencies and noted that Paarechuga had a track record of bringing development to the constituency
“Dr Paarechuga currently does not have a political authority but has been able to help a lot of people and that is why we believe that he will do more, given the nod to lead us as our MP.
“We are saying that Dr Paarechuga will be able to perform the oversight responsibility as an MP more than the current MP because it is not always about laws but what extra mile will you go to help your constituents,” he added.
Mr Abass Ayaaga Atiah, another member of the Friends of Navrongo and Dr Paarechuga, indicated that youth unemployment, education and lack of support for farmers in the area had been the major challenges in the area.
He said without any political leadership, Dr Paarechuga had shown that he had the youth, farmers and other vulnerable groups at heart and always strived to improve their lives and would do more if given the mandate to lead the constituency.
He said the Navrongo Central Constituency “needs someone who is young, vibrant and can help us and Dr Paarechuga has all these qualities and ranks higher than any of the other contestants”.
GNA