By Joyce Danso
Accra, Nov. 16, GNA – Ralph Poku-Adusei, a private legal practitioner, and Managing Partner at Trent Legal Amansie Chambers, says he will contest the Bekwai Constituency Parliamentary seat on the ticket of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the December 2024 Polls.
The Bekwai Constituency seat is currently being held by Joseph Osei Owusu (Joe Wise), the first deputy Speaker of Parliament.
Osei Owusu has made known his decision not to contest the seat any longer after representing the constituency for sixteen (16) years, in four different Parliaments (2008 to 2024).
The National Executive Committee of the NPP, in a statement issued on Friday, 10 November 2023, has scheduled the date for the conduct of the Party’s Parliamentary Primaries in constituencies where the Party has sitting MPs.
The date for the conduct of the primaries is 20 January 2024. Nomination shall open on 20 and close on 22 December 2023.
The lawyer, with 13 years of practice, is credited with several socially impactful projects in the Bekwai municipal area, which have gone a long way to improve the living standards and social connectivity of the inhabitants of the constituency.
According to Lawyer Poku-Adusei, his vision for Amansie is to create a municipality free from poverty, where everyone would have access to the basic needs of life, chances for advancement, and the capacity to live honourably as espoused in seven key thematic areas.
The areas include Job creation, Poverty alleviation & livelihood improvement, Agriculture (commercial & mechanized), Infrastructure Development, Youth Employment, Education and Pensions.
Lawyer Poku-Adusei said he would prioritise education to break the cycle of poverty by improving access to high-quality education for all children in the Municipality, enhancing infrastructure, providing scholarships, and implementing programmes to improve educational outcomes.
According to him, he would lobby through government and the private sector (local and international) through advocacy and a well thought through plan to get scholarships, recruitment slots and corporate sponsorships to enhance education in the municipality.
He also proposed creating an enabling environment and providing resources for entrepreneurship, skill development, and job creation to create sustainable means of subsistence.
To enable people and families to escape poverty, the NPP Parliamentary aspirant said he would set up vocational training facilities, assist small local enterprises, and allow access to microfinance programmes, which he has already started.
Lawyer Poku-Adusei said he also appreciated the value of a strong social welfare system and easily available healthcare.
To guarantee the health of our community, he would work in conjunction with pertinent stakeholders to improve social protection programmes, build out healthcare infrastructure, and advocate for preventative healthcare practices.
Lawyer Opoku- Adusei said he intends to make healthcare accessible to his constituents by building CHIP compounds and other healthcare interventions to bring healthcare closer to the constituents, thereby reducing the pressure on the Bekwai Hospital.
Infrastructure Development is on top of the agenda for Lawyer Ralph. To enhance the quality of life for residents of the Bekwai Municipality, he proposes to concentrate on infrastructure development.
“This involves enhancing transportation infrastructure, maintaining a steady supply of water and energy, toilet facilities, and funding sustainable housing programmes,” he added.
He proposed to drive both local and foreign investors to the constituency to put up recreational centres, shopping malls, manufacturing companies and tertiary institutions to boost economic activities and subsequently address the issue of Youth unemployment in the constituency.
Another area Lawyer Ralph Poku-Adusei intends to address is the issue of pensions to help people in the constituency who retire from active service with or without any form of pension.
He proposed to intensify pension education and encourage his constituents to contribute either formally or informally to SSNIT. Further, he proposes to set up a cooperative society for the people to benefit from.
He alluded to the fact that caring for the aged, disabled, and vulnerable was a shared responsibility, and every effort must be put into making their lives worthwhile through value adding programs and interventions.
The interventions of Ralph Poku-Adusei in the Bekwai Constituency have been both in support of the NPP and the people of the municipality.
Among the interventions to the party are a donation of a sum of GHc 100,000.00 and 1,000 bags of rice to NPP Bekwai delegates for the 2023 Easter celebrations, provision of financial support for the aged (elderly) who have served the party in Bekwai but are inactive due to old age and poor health.
Lawyer Ralph has also provided financial support to Bekwai Constituency executives to embark on a “Thank You Tour” after the party’s internal primaries in 2022. In the same year, he provided financial support to Muslim polling station executives in the Bekwai Constituency during Eid Al-Adha to support their celebrations.
Other support interventions of Mr. Poku – Adusei are financial support to Bekwai Constituency delegates, at the National Delegate Conference held at Koforidua, presentation of GHc 205,200.00 to the Bekwai Constituency executives to be shared to Electoral Area Coordinators, Polling Station Executives as support for Christmas celebrations, GHc 30,000 to NPP Bekwai Constituency towards the building of the constituency office, among others.
He is a member of the Ghana Bar, the Bar of England and Wales, and the International Bar Association. Ralph’s alma maters include: The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, UK; Manchester Metropolitan University, University of Law, UK (formerly The College of Law of England and Wales, UK) Ghana School of Law, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Ghana among others.
Lawyer Opoku-Adusei is an entrepreneur with 15 years in business leadership, the founder and chairman of the Board of Directors of First Cedi Investment Ltd, a real estate development company in the Greater Accra Region.
Opoku- Adusei is also the proprietor of First Cedi Micro-Credit Enterprise, which provides lending services to the communities within and around the Bekwai municipality in the Ashanti Region.
GNA